Kindermusik With Angie

Summer Music Activities

2010-06-24T13:45:00.000-07:00

There’s no better way to enhance your summer fun than to blend music into your daily life. Studies have shown that learning while exercising the right brain with activities such as music helps improve creativity, memory, and language learning.

Did you know that involvement in music and movement activities from an early age helps children develop good social and emotional skills as well? Social and emotional development has also been linked to school-readiness and even higher academic testing scores.

An easy way to blend music, movement, learning and fun for your child this summer is to enroll him or her into a Kindermusik summer camp. To find a class near you, click on kindermusik.com or give Kindermusik with Angie a call: 503-708-2827!

For a few ideas to incorporate music into your family’s activities, read the activities section below!

Babies 0 to 18 mos

Light and motion are incredibly important to your baby’s development. You can help your baby improve his or her visual literacy by encouraging his or her eyes to move. Spread out a blanket under a shade tree and lie on the blanket with your baby. Watch the motion of the tree branches as they sway in the breeze. Watch the clouds go by and sing a favorite song. It doesn’t matter if you’re a “good” singer or not, your baby will love the sound of your voice.

You might just find the perfect sing-along song on Kindermusik’s “Wiggle, Waggle, Loop-de-Loo” CD.

Toddlers 18 mos to 3 yrs

Ask your toddler what kinds of sounds different animals make, repeating the sounds with him or her. Get creative with your choices, what sound does a grumpy gorilla make? Then talk about comparisons: roaring lions versus chirping robins. If you have an older toddler, add an extra challenge by having him or her make the sound of an animal that is associated with their hiding place: buzzing like a bee if they’re by the flower bed or croaking like a frog if they hide under a bush.

The perfect song for this activity might just be found on Kindermusik’s “Frog Went A-Dancing” CD.

Big Kids 5 yrs & up

Go on a treasure hunt in your own backyard! Collecting things is a favorite preschool activity. Children in this age group are expanding their memory skills and the joy of finding a new or interesting item is particularly rewarding. Start out by deciding on a category that won’t be hard to find (leaves, rocks, etc.) or take along a notebook and you can write down the colors of the cars parked on the street. Once you have a goal, start your search! After you’ve done this a few times, come up with more specific and more challenging objects to seek. Below are a few additional ideas:

Head outside and look for things that are purple, or polka-dotted or try to find smooth things, or bumpy objects.
Play a music game. Try to fit songs into categories. Is it fast or slow? Loud or soft?
Decorate an empty shoebox for your collection!
If it’s too hot to go outside, give your preschooler a piece of paper with the name of a category on it. Have him or her draw pictures of items that fit into that category.

Kindermusik’s “Rupert the Wrong-Word Pirate” CD might just have the perfect “tune” to accompany this activity — after all — pirates LOVE treasure hunts!

Find these CDs, songs, activities, and MORE at play.kindermusik.com

Join in the Fun this Summer!

Games for Babies: Beak-it

2010-06-21T10:37:00.000-07:00

This Article was originally posted Friday, May 14th on the Studio3Music Website. I will be posting a series of articles about exercises and games we can do with our babies and toddlers.

In my Village Classes, we’ve been exercising little arms, legs, and brains to one of my favorite poems.

One Misty Moisty Morning

One misty moisty morning,
When cloudy was the weather,
I chanced to see an old man dressed all in leather.
He began to compliment
And I began to grin.
How do you do?
How do you do?
And, how do you do again?

When we get to the repeated “How do you do?” section, we stop the exercises and “beak-it” the babies on each word “you.” Beak-it? Yes! The touch is paired with language, either the poem above, or a simple “beep” or “beak-it.”

- posted by Miss Anita, From Studio 3, who loves the look of glee on a baby’s face during a “Beak-It! Game!” web site: http://studio3music.com/category/games-for-babies/

You can learn this game and many more exercises in our fabulous children's music class: Kindermusik Village. Sign up today! Call 503-708-2827

Reading with Toddlers

2010-06-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

This is a great article about reading with our toddlers! It offers suggestions of ways to get started and the benefits to our children when we read to them.

The main thing to keep in mind about reading with toddlers is that it has more to do with pointing and talking than with sitting still and listening.

There are many great options for toddler books. Board books fall into two categories: storybooks and content books. A good toddler storybook often shows the sequence of common routines—such as bedtime, taking a walk, or bath time. Helen Oxenbury’s Tom and Pippo series is a great example. A toddler and his imaginary companion, a sock monkey, go through simple activities together under the loving care of mom and dad. While reading storybooks, take time to talk about what is happening and make connections to what your family does that is either the same or different. Books that incorporate touching and feeling, like Pat the Bunny and any book with flaps, create moments for interaction that are ideal for this age.

Board books by Sandra Boyton combine humorous stories with learning concepts, such as animal sounds, and opposites. Your child’s ability to remember and her vocabulary are growing tremendously, and books that introduce first words and emotions feed her desire for information. The structure of a book helps her organize what she is learning. (It is a good idea to save alphabet and counting books for another year or so.)

Parents read to share their own love of books, to bond with their child, to stimulate their child’s language development (among other great reasons). All of these goals can be reached with a toddler by following these recommendations.

How to encourage reading in a toddler:

Keep durable books in a visible and easy-to-access location.
Allow your child to choose what to read whenever possible.
Provide your child a variety of books—story, learning, humorous, rhyming books.
Build several moments for reading into your daily routine.
Resist taking away reading time as a consequence. (“Mommy will not read a bedtime story tonight if…)
Limit television viewing.

How to manage reading with a toddler:

Be willing to read only parts of a book and pages out of order.
Read when asked.
Let your child hold the book and turn the pages.
Sit close to your child, as much as possible, while reading.

While you are fostering a love of books, disregard the commonly held idea that you must read to your child for a set amount of time (20 minutes) in one sitting everyday, or that you are a failure if you can’t get your toddler to sit still to “read.” Home literacy has a lot to do with having dynamic conversation, using a varied vocabulary, and modeling a love of reading. If, in your literacy rich home, you continue to make books available and offer to read on a routine basis, your child will take interest. At some point, the momentum to read together will shift from you to your child…and then be ready to sit down with a pile of picture books.

Credits: 60 second parent website: great articles! http://www.sixtysecondparent.com/_webapp_218785/Reading_with_Toddlers

Parenting a Shy Child

2010-06-17T07:20:00.000-07:00

I thought this was a great article. My son is not shy at all, a bit hesitant in new situations, but then fine as he gets is bearings. However, I was a very shy child growing up. But I was shy because I was a big kid--bigger than everyone--until they started passing me up in Jr. High School. I could have used some of these suggestions and helps while I was in elementary school.

Many children are shy – it's not uncommon at all. However, dealing with a shy child as a parent can be difficult. While there is no shame in being shy, if you continue to let your child be shy, they can later be robbed of important life opportunities. For this reason, it's important that parents find ways to help bring their child out, helping them to overcome the shyness that they are dealing with. Of course, it's easier said than done to help your child get over being shy. Here is a look at tips and advice that parents can use to help out when it comes to parenting a shy child.

Why Is Your Child Shy?

The first thing you need to do if you have a shy child is to ask yourself why your child is shy in the first place. There are various reasons that your child may be shy. Take a look at when you notice your child being shy. Are they shy all the time, only shy when meeting someone new, shy in large groups, or shy when having to make presentations? If you are able to figure out the situations when your child is shy, you will be better able to overcome this.

You also need to consider the fact that your child may be dealing with more than just a bit of shyness. Various medical conditions and other conditions may be confused with shyness in a child. Your child could be dealing with a problem like Asperger's Syndrome, autism, anxiety, or even learning disabilities. Take a careful look at your child and their actions. If you think there may be an underlying problem other than shyness, make sure they get the professional attention that they need.

Be a Role Model
Another important tip for parenting a shy child is to be a role model yourself. You may be surprised at how much your child learns from you. They learn by watching what you do, so it is important that you are a good role model for them. When you are in social situations, be friendly to others, introduce yourself to other people, and compliment strangers, friends, and family members. There are some things you should avoid too. Don't criticize other people in public, don't berate your child for being shy, and don't avoid people because you are nervous. This only sends the wrong message to your child. Even if you are a shy person yourself, to help you child, you need to overcome that and work on setting the example for your child. Not only can this help your child learn important social skills, but it can help you overcome shyness in your own life as a parent.

Start Early with Social Skills

Good social skills don't just randomly occur in children – they are taught. This means that you need to work on these skills with your children, and the earlier you begin, the better. Shyness increases as children age, so you need to start young with your child. Not sure how to encourage social skills in your young child? Start out by having play dates so your child gets the chance to interact with other children at a young age. Take time at home to practice social skills, such as giving compliments, introducing people, or even shaking hands with others. Teach kids about friendship and how to be a good friend. These are all simple ways that you can teach young children important social skills that will help them to overcome shyness later in life.

Help Your Child Learn About Respect and Tolerance
People who are shy are often more judgmental – of themselves as well as others. If you are judgmental yourself, this will teach your child to become this way as well. When you are criticizing others, you are teaching children that when they go out, people are going to judge them as well, which leads to even more shyness. This causes them to withdraw into their own world of shyness. It is important that you instead teach your child about respect and tolerance for other people. Teach them to respect people even if they do have shortcomings. Let them know that no one is perfect, but people are worthwhile and should be tolerated in spite of imperfections. Compliment other people instead of tearing people down.

Also, you need to avoid referring to your child's shyness in a negative way, which is a way of judging your child. While shyness should not be an excuse for behavior, you need to avoid labeling your child as shy in a negative way. Instead, find ways you can compliment your child while helping them to overcome the shyness that they are dealing with.

When You Need Help
There are some cases where your child may simply be dealing with shyness. However, there are times when this can be a more serious problem, such as severe social anxiety disorder. Sometimes children can go beyond simply being shy and they may become depressed, lonely, isolated, and they may even feel hopeless. In some cases, this may lead to panic attacks when they are put in social situations. This is not a simple problem to ignore. If you feel that your child is dealing with more than simple shyness, do not wait to get help. It may be a good idea to find a good psychologist that is trained in treating these problems in children.

Parenting a shy child can be tough, but if you work on it as a team with your child, they can overcome shyness, which will be helpful later in life for them. Use these tips and ideas with your child and remember, if it seems that your child is more than just shy, get the help that your child needs.

Article found here: http://www.more4kids.info/2413/parenting-a-shy-child/
More4kids is a Parenting resource dedicated to helping encourage children's intellectual and growth.

Put some music into the mix this summer!

2010-06-16T07:13:00.000-07:00

There's no better way to enhance your summer fun than to blend music into your daily life. Studies have shown that learning while exercising the right brain with activities such as music helps improve creativity, memory, and language learning.

Did you know that involvement in music and movement activities from an early age helps children develop good social and emotional skills as well? Social and emotional development has also been linked to school-readiness and even higher academic testing scores.

An easy way to blend music, movement, learning and fun for your child this summer is to enroll him or her into a Kindermusik summer camp. To find a class near you, click here.

For a few ideas to incorporate music into your family's activities, read the activities section below!

Babies (0-18 mos):
Light and motion are incredibly important to your baby's development. You can help your baby improve his or her visual literacy by encouraging his or her eyes to move. Spread out a blanket under a shade tree and lie on the blanket with your baby. Watch the motion of the tree branches as they sway in the breeze. Watch the clouds go by and sing a favorite song. It doesn't matter if you're a "good" singer or not, your baby will love the sound of your voice.

You might just find the perfect sing-along song on Kindermusik's "Wiggle, Waggle, Loop-de-Loo" CD.

Toddlers (18 mos-3 yrs): Ask your toddler what kinds of sounds different animals make, repeating the sounds with him or her. Get creative with your choices, what sound does a grumpy gorilla make? Then talk about comparisons: roaring lions versus chirping robins. If you have an older toddler, add an extra challenge by having him or her make the sound of an animal that is associated with their hiding place: buzzing like a bee if they're by the flower bed or croaking like a frog if they hide under a bush.

The perfect song for this activity might just be found on Kindermusik's "Frog Went A-Dancing" CD.

Big Kids (5 yrs &up):
Go on a treasure hunt in your own backyard! Collecting things is a favorite preschool activity. Children in this age group are expanding their memory skills and the joy of finding a new or interesting item is particularly rewarding. Start out by deciding on a category that won't be hard to find (leaves, rocks, etc.) or take along a notebook and you can write down the colors of the cars parked on the street. Once you have a goal, start your search! After you've done this a few times, come up with more specific and more challenging objects to seek. Below are a few additional ideas:

Head outside and look for things that are purple, or polka-dotted or try to find smooth things, or bumpy objects.
Play a music game. Try to fit songs into categories. Is it fast or slow? Loud or soft?
Decorate an empty shoebox for your collection!
If it's too hot to go outside, give your preschooler a piece of paper with the name of a category on it. Have him or her draw pictures of items that fit into that category.

Kindermusik's "Rupert the Wrong-Word Pirate" CD might just have the perfect "tune" to accompany this activity -- after all -- pirates LOVE treasure hunts!

Find these CDs, songs, activities, and MORE at play.kindermusik.com

Join in the Fun this Summer!

Feelings

2010-06-16T03:49:00.000-07:00

Part Five: The Emotional Life of the Toddler

Control of emotions is one of the most complex challenges facing toddlers and their parents. children vary greatly in the intensity of how they experience and express feelings, depending on inborn temperamental factors, but it is a rare toddler whose feelings do not become intense and overwhelming at times. As parents provide both limits and loving support to their toddler, they are helping the child gradually learn ways of handling and modulating their feelings so that the tantrums of the 2-year-old ideally give way to emphatic verbal argument of the pre-schooler.

Developing competence in language and increasingly complex symbolic play skills will help this process immensely. Music as a fundamental route for the expression of human emotion, is an excellent tool for helping young children learn to identify and channel emotions. Very young children can identify and channel emotions. Very young children can identify music that makes them happy or sad, and enter enthusiastically into singing songs, or even verses within the same song that express emotion. Learning to identify loving, contented feelings and feelings of anger, fear and sadness are equally important human tasks. Musical expression of these wide ranges of emotion can help make them more manageable, less overwhelming, and much more understandable to the child who language skills are still emerging.

It is clear that many of the elements that make up a Kindermusik class enhance a toddler's ability to progress in these crucial tasks. The structure of the Kindermusik program and the opportunities it offers have the potential to directly enhance each parents ability to support his or her child in these tasks, and thus increase th joy inherent in parenting a bright, musical toddler.

Cooking with Children: Make it Fun, Safe & Memorable!

2010-06-15T17:14:00.000-07:00

Article by: Sue Adair May 17th, 2010

Sharing the kitchen with your child can not only create a lifetime of happy memories, but can also instill valuable life lessons from a young age. Through baking, cooking and even cleaning up, children can develop and express their creativity and independence; explore new foods; learn about nutrition; enhance their math, reading and science skills; and, most importantly, spend valuable quality time with mom, dad and siblings.

Below are a few tips to help make kitchen time with your little one fun, safe and memorable:

Always stress cleanliness and safety in the kitchen.
Wash hands before, after and as-needed during the process.
Provide your child with a sturdy, non-slip step stool to stand on so they are at your level.
Use kid-friendly wood or plastic utensils.
Let them choose their own apron or buy a plain one that they can personalize with fabric markers. Covering up will help cut down on the cleanup afterward.
Keep sharp knives, graters and other dangerous tools/appliances away from small hands.
Explain that only mom and dad can use the stove, oven and other electrical appliances.
Supervise your child closely. Stay in the room until the cooking is complete. If you need to leave for some reason, take them with you.
Include your child in the preparation.

Decide together what to make.
Read the recipe together thoroughly and gather all ingredients before beginning. Take them shopping with you for the ingredients and/or have them help select what you need from the cupboard.

Start out easy.
When first introducing your child to the joy of baking, use simple recipes with basic ingredients and uncomplicated instructions.

Box mixes are a great way to get started. They usually ask for only two or three added ingredients and provide easy-to-follow, detailed instructions right on the box.

As your child learns more about the cooking and baking process, feel free to introduce more complex recipes.

Let them do it.
This is a great learning opportunity for your little one, so let them measure and pour ingredients into the bowl. It’s not only a good math lesson, but also bolsters their confidence.

Taste and praise!
Learning to cook and bake should be a fun experience for your child, so always be enthusiastic about tasting their masterpiece and praise the effort and the outcome, no matter what. They’ll feel a great sense of accomplishment and be excited for their next cooking adventure!

Do you have a good story of cooking with your child? I'd love to hear it!

Abracadabra - Words Really Are Magic

2010-06-15T16:38:00.000-07:00

Part Four: The Emotional Life of the Toddler

One of the key developmental accomplishments for toddlers is communication through language. As children move into the second year of life, they begin to grasp the concept that words stand for objects and alter the even more complex concept that words can also stand for ideas and feelings. Many things go into helping this process develop. The stream of language from loving caregivers around the child is the most important.

Extending Kindermusik activities into the home with home materials such as literature books and music CDs not only reinforces the development of language, but also provides a loving ritual between parent and child.

Also helpful is the opportunity to play with toys -- which, after all, are small representations of larger objects, or symbols. A doll standing for a real baby helps pave the way for a word standing for a real object. Exploration Time in Kindermusik class is one example of associating language with objects.

Another element that contributes to language development, of course, is music. As children "tune in" to the elements of pitch, rhythm, contour, repetition and variation, they are learning to focus on the key elements of language. They are also learning about the pleasurable possibilities inherent in the human voice, and about how sounds carry meaning. For example, in the Our Time curriculum, songs with vocal play are fun for children to sing, but are also helping them develop essential language skills. As children grasp these concepts, they fall in love with the magic of language and the joy of being able to communicate their thoughts and needs through speech.

Jr Rose Festival Parade

2010-06-13T06:55:00.000-07:00

The day started off VERY wet!

It just poured as we were setting up for our families

Thank goodness for Husbands who help!

Miss Missy and her family

My husband Keith

The dads helped set up the tent, blow up balloons and more!

Lots of Balloons!

Watching the beautiful dancers while waiting for parade to start

Our Banner Holders

These little girls held the banner all through the parade and while waiting at various points through out the day, Yeah girls!!

Walking in the Parade

Ava and Angie

My little sweetie from Our Time class
Who also happens to be my little cousin!

We had so much Fun, hope you'll join us next year!

The Quest for Control

2010-06-11T06:49:00.000-07:00

Part Three: The Emotional World of the Toddler

The granddady of developmental theorists, Sigmund Freud, talked about the major task of toddlerhood as being the acquisition of control over toileting. While most developmental scholars now have a much wider view, it is still important to keep in mind how crucial the issue of devleoping control for a toddler–control over body functions, over physical activities, over feelings, and over the world around the toddler.

Wise parents and educators strike a blance between structure and clear expectations on the one hand, and avoiding unnecessary regimentation and sources of conflict on the other. Toddlers do best when they are invited and attracted into ctivities, and diverted into other activities, rather than required to participate in them. Happily, their incredible curiosity and motivation to learn makes thier easier when the activities in quesion are as nturally appealing as music and movement.

In Kindermusik Our Time, children are invited to participate in activities, but at no time is there an expectation of performance. Activities such as the object and instrument exploration in Our Time remove any performance expectations because the parent becomes the teacher in a playful interaction that is controlled by the child’s desire to participate.

How can I help my child in his/her development? Part 1

2010-06-10T12:13:00.000-07:00

Here is a great post by my friend Vanessa about how to help our children in thier many levels of development.

That is one question many parents should ask themselves all the time. Parents have the most influence on their child’s development, but sometimes they don't know what to do. In order to know how you can help your child, first you need to know what areas are involved in their development. Let’s review 4 major areas.

Motor Development - A motor skill is a learned sequence of movements that combined, produce a smooth, efficient action in order to master a particular task. Motor skills can be divided in two areas: gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Gross motor skills include the use of large muscles such as arms and legs. Gross motor skills make you move in different positions such as lifting the head, rolling over, sitting up, balancing, crawling, walking and jumping. It usually develops from top to bottom. Fine motor skills include the use of smaller muscles to manipulate small objects, transfer objects from hand to hand, and other various hand-eye coordination tasks. Fine motor skills may involve the use of very precise motor movement in order to achieve an especially delicate task to do something. Some examples of fine motor skills are using the pincer grasp (thumb and forefinger), picking up small objects, cutting, coloring, writing, or threading beads.

Cognitive Development - This is the are that develops the ability to learn new knowledge and to process, understand, and apply this knowledge to different ends. Developing this area helps a child improve his/her capacity for mental activities such as reasoning, interpreting, comparing and contrasting, evaluating, judging, inferring, predicting, sequencing, and visualizing. It also helps children master specific content knowledge relating to vocabulary, mathematics, and science.

Social-Emotional Development - This is the development of skills relating to how one interacts with other people and how one behaves oneself. The capacity for empathy, the understanding of social rules, and friendships are some of the skills a child will learn to master as they grow.

Communication Development - This is a process starting early in human life, when a person begins to acquire language by learning it as it is spoken or signed. Children's language development moves from simple to complex. Infants start communicating by crying but as the child gets older, new meanings and new associations are created and vocabulary increases as more words are learned.

Next time I’ll share specific ideas that parents can do to help their children in each one of these areas!

Credits!
vcabrera77 June 8, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Categories: Child Development
URL: http://wp.me/pPyYT-3Y
photo: http://www.kindermusik.com/

Did you learn something new today? Let us know!
Add a comment to this post

Hold Me and Let Me Go!

2010-06-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

Part Two: The Emotional World of the Toddler

Another major task for toddlers that can confuse parents at first is resolving the conflict between their passionate desire for closeness to their parents--after all, they are still barely out of babyhood--and their equally fierce drive for independence. The mantra for many toddler is "Me DO" or as one toddler sputtered all day long, "Self!" Yet, when the going gets tough, the tough get going right back to mom's or dad's lap. Some call this the "rubber band" stage because it seems like the toddler is pulling outward and then snapping back.

Activities such as Music and Movement Story Time in the Our Time curriculum provide toddlers this opportunity. A child can move into the circle during Story Time and actively participate if he wishes, or he can stay close to mom or dad and listen to the story being rad. Given this security, most toddlers will naturally move to greater, and more appropriate, independence as they approach pre-school age.

The Emotional World of the Toddler: A Magical, Musical Place

2010-06-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

An Introduction to the Emotional World of Toddlerhood: A Magical, Musical Place
by Melissa R. Johnson, Ph.D.

Toddlerhood is a time of life that challenges both developmental psychologists and parents with its fascinating mixture of change, growth, joy and frustration. Between the ages of 18 months and 3 years, the child leaves babyhood behind and emerges as a verbal and (relatively) competent pre-schooler. During this transition process, the changes that occur physically, cognitively, socially, emotionally, and in communication skills are amazing and, at times, overwhelming.

Toddlerhood has gained a reputation as being difficult because this is a period of tremendous energy and great capacity for movement and activity in the child, while at the same time it is the period when children are just barely beginning to acquire the rudiments of self-control and to accept the need for limits.

One of the most rewarding challenges for parents during this period is selecting activities that introduce the toddler to new learning experiences without overwhelming his or her capacity to adapt to change. This is particularly important because successful activities, like the ones presented in Kindermusik curricula, support and strengthen the parent-child relationship, while activities that are developmentally inappropriate can stress it further. Knowledge of some of the key emotional tasks of the toddler years can help increase the joy and reduce the frustration of working with this age group.

What Makes A Parent-Child Relationship Close?

2010-06-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

Mom Wisdom comes in many forms. Mamapedia Voices proudly showcases useful and insightful posts by selected writers, from up-and-coming mom bloggers to well-known mom experts.

Photo by: Jerome Rothermund
June 7, 2010
Article by Ellen Galinsky of "Mind in the Making"

The following article is how to make a parent-child relationship close. I found this article to be very thought-provoking. It made me think about my relationship with my own mother. We were never very close and I was never able to be honest and communicate in an open way; I always thought that when I had a child I would never be that way. However, my mom and I become much closer after I adopted my son, we finally had something in common--we both were madly in love with my son!
Now that my son is nine years old I've had plenty of years and opportunities to practice my resolution to provide open communication with my child. I'd like to say we have perfect open communication, but that wouldn't be totally true, but I do try to let him be totally honest with me and say whatever is on his mind, as long as it isn't too mean or "snotty". I also try to be open and honest with him at an appropriate level. We have fabulous conversations on the way to school in the morning--he talks about funny things that happen at school and about his fears and concerns. Hopefully during the years to come he will keep feeling safe to talk and confide in me especially as we approach the adolescent years. After reading, please share your thoughts!

“Why do you think you are so close?”

“I had that kind of relationship with my own mother,” I answered. “I connect to my daughter the way my mother connected to me.”

“What did she do?” my daughter’s colleague asked.

“I was always free to tell her when things weren’t working between us and why,” I answered.

It would have been my mother’s birthday last week—so I have been thinking of her a lot. Her birthday is at the end of May—the time of year when the spring flowers have faded and the summer flowers are bursting forth. As the day of her birthday dawned, my sister and I wrote to each other about her—as we always do—remembering Mother’s birthdays in her 90s, eating “pink-and-yellow-rose decorated store-bought cake” until we all felt sick and fell asleep on the chairs that are now in our homes, not hers. We also wrote about how we continue to talk with her, even though she isn’t here.

But the conversation with my daughter’s colleague took me back to Mother when I was a rebellious and moody pre-teen, a time when I was prone to slam doors, not speak for hours or to yell, rather than talk. Like most pre-teens, I was not easy. And yet Mother navigated my moods with true grace. She would NOT listen to me if I were rude or mean. But if I could bring my complaints to her without being nasty, she would listen.

And so I did. I told her when she wasn’t being fair in the way she treated my sister and me. She told me that I had a point and she worked hard at changing. I told her that I desperately didn’t want to go to the school she had selected for me to attend. She told me that education was extremely important to her and I had to give it a chance. So I did. Throughout her life, I was able to talk to her about what mattered most to me. And throughout her life, she was able to talk to me about what mattered most to her.

I didn’t realize how unusual this was until I began spending the night with friends and saw that some of them weren’t able to talk to their mothers and fathers the way I was able to talk with my mother.

And I didn’t realize that not all kids are trusted and expected to be good until I went to the school Mother wanted me to attend and saw that this school didn’t really trust us; in fact, they expected us to do things that were wrong.

I remember looking at my Mother then with new-found respect. And when my own daughter stormed at me during her growing-up years, I tried hard to keep the door open to hearing her feelings. But I always continued my mother’s rule—strong feelings could be expressed and listened to as long as they were said in ways that weren’t mean and weren’t rude.

I now realize that my mother and I use the skill of perspective taking—attempting to understand what others think and feel without imposing our own perspectives on what’s on their minds. But I only realized this when I was researching and writing my latest book, Mind in the Making.

And my thirty-something-year-old daughter and I continue to talk with each other this way. She tells me what she thinks and feels and I tell her what I think and feel—many, many times a day.

So I thank my daughter for connecting me to her colleague and giving me the chance to reconsider closeness my closeness with my family across the generations. This is a conversation worthy of continuing and expanding.

If you have or had a particularly close relationship with a parent, what did he or she do to make it close? Or if you have a particularly close relationship with one or more of your children, what are you doing to foster that relationship?

Share your thoughts below- I’m very curious to hear!

We're so much more than music ...

2010-06-06T09:44:00.001-07:00

Kindermusik educator Maria Condon holds 24 hour concert with Kindermusik children and helps raise 14,000 Euros for Haiti earthquake victims.

Maria Condon, Waterford's first Kindermusik educator (Waterford, Ireland, that is!) came up with the idea as a fundraiser for the earthquake victims from Haiti. The Concert was the first ever of its kind in the county and possibly in the whole of Ireland to the best of her knowledge. Maria's Village, Our Time and Young Child classes took part on the Sunday morning as well as all of her piano, voice, and flute students. Other local educators' students participated as well. It was a phenomenal success and has raised just under ?14,000 to date!

Maria stayed up for the whole 24 hours along with local piano teacher Catherine Fitzgerald and her "orchestra" of helpers! The Kindermusik kids part of the concert was a REAL treat, and they performed to a packed audience of 180 people. The concert was held in the newly built Town Hall Theatre.

"It was a fantastic showcase for Kindermusik," Maria exclaimed, and would have no hesitation in doing something similar again. It will be lovely for the Kindermusik children when they grow up and look back in years to come and know they went down in history of Ireland as the first Kindermusik classes ever to take part in the first 24 hour Charity concert. "We make a life by what we give" and it was a concert they will never forget.

For more info on Maria's programme see http://www.musicforkids.ie/. A big thank you to the E Hyland (http://www.creativeimages.ie/) who photographed the children and captured such an important event. Well done Maria and the Kindermusik children involved. All us us at Kindermusik International and Kindermusik UK/Ireland are very proud of you!

Music Training can Remodel the Brainstem and Improve Learning

2010-06-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a great article about how music training can affect not only the cerebral cortex, but also the brain stem. This is brand new research, scientists have always thought that the brainstem was fixed unchanging; however, this new research is proving this old idea wrong. Please read below, it is a very inspiring article! Tell me what you think after you've read it.

New research out of Northwestern University’s Neuroscience Laboratory drastically changes our understanding of the brain.

The study, to appear in the April issue of Nature Neuroscience reveals that musical training not only alters the wiring of the cortex of the brain but also the brainstem.

Classical neuroscience teaches that the brainstem (the very
bottom portion of the brain that attaches to the spinal cord) is
basically a fixed and unchanging structure. This study clearly
indicates otherwise.

Additionally, the study also shows that children exposed to musical training have better equipped auditory processing for speech sounds. Nina Kraus, senior author of the study notes:

Increasing music experience appears to benefit all children — whether musically exceptional or not — in a wide range of learning activities. Our findings underscore the pervasive impact of musical training on neurological development. Yet music classes are often among the first to be cut when school budgets get tight. That’s a mistake.

Interestingly, the team at Northwestern has found in previous research that some learning disabled children have abnormalities in their brainstem that lead to impaired processing of sound and that furthermore these deficits can be improved with auditory training.

"We’ve found that by playing music — an action thought of as a function of the neocortex — a person may actually be tuning the brainstem," says Kraus. "This suggests that the relationship between the brainstem and neocortex is a dynamic and reciprocal one and tells us that our basic sensory circuitry is more malleable than we previously thought."

http://www.smart-kit.com/s473/music-training-can-remodel-the-brainstem/

How To Have Fun This Summer!

2010-06-04T06:52:00.000-07:00

Announcing: A Special Drop-In Class this Summer!

Please join us on Monday Mornings at 10:00 am Starting July 5th for special classes at my home studio for the summer: 5950 SE Kelly St, Portland! To sign up call 503-708-2827 today!

Bringing children of all ages together provides a dynamic and integrated learning experience for everyone. So we took favorite Kindermusik songs and activities like “Shake, Shake the Apple Tree” and “hammocking” and rolled them into a fun, family class where each child is welcomed and valued and family “together time” is celebrated and cherished.

Family Time Curriculum Description

Age Range: newborn through 7 years

Class Structure: 8 classes in a semester for the summer
Class Length: 45 minutes each week
Class Size: 6-7 families with at least one caregiver per family
Cost: Drop-in fee $5.00 per class or $40 for semester
Home Materials: including a Family Activity Guide, Hand and Finger Puppet, Two CDs of music from class, two instruments, and two literature books cost: $60.00

What Families Experience in Class:

Singing -- From the first “Hello” song to the last “Goodbye,” exploring a variety of musical styles and genres leads children to find their own voice. Plus singing helps with memory and recall, physical development, creativity, and socialization.
Assorted Movement -- Whether moving as a family, as a class, or as individuals, Family Time movement activities enhance coordination skills, create opportunities for imitation and exploration, and give everyone something to smile, rock, bounce, or dance about.
Story Time -- Reading aloud to children stimulates their curiosity, expands their knowledge, and broadens their understanding of language.
Family Jam -- Children as well as adults will love selecting a unique instrument and joining in one big class jam instrument play along session each week.
Musical Concepts -- Fun engaging activities bring out the musicality in everyone, from the youngest member of the family to the oldest. Families learn more about music as they learn more about each other.
Expert advice -- A Kindermusik educator explains how the musically based activities enhance each child’s complete development.

Learning continues at home -- With the home materials, the learning and bonding continues at home with the child’s best teacher—the parent!

In Make Way for Music, families will sing, dance, and move their way through an exploration of several elements of music: beat and rhythm, concepts and contrasts (such as staccato and legato, high and low, the major scale, and arpeggios), the human voice, instrument families, and ensemble. They’ll engage in developmentally appropriate activities that the whole family can enjoy together, including fingerplays, songs, circle dances, story time, and family jam.

Sign Up Today!
Call 503-708-2827
Free set of egg shakers to all
who sign up for the semester!

Join the Kindermusik community of parents, caregivers, families, and educators!

2010-06-03T23:00:00.001-07:00

The Community and Philosophy behind Our Program

At Kindermusik, we truly value the idea of "community." Our community is made up of moms, dads, caregivers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, and, of course, kids! We're passionately committed to bringing music into the lives of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and young children.

Guiding our community is the Kindermusik philosophy, which is founded on years of research and the following fundamental beliefs:

A parent or loving caregiver is a child's first and most important teacher
All children are musical
The home is the most important learning environment
Music nurtures a child's cognitive, emotional, social, language, and physical development
Children flourish in a child-centered environment where activities are developmentally appropriate
Educators value the learning process-not the performance-of music making
Every child should experience the joy, fun, and learning that music brings

So, are you ready to sign up for a Kindermusik class near you?

How Scarves Make Babies Smart!

2010-06-02T14:28:00.001-07:00

Scarves are the Ultimate Multi-Sensory Toy!

When moving with scarves and music the visual sense is stimulated by the bright colors, (babies love to track with thier eyes), the auditory sense is stimulated by listening to the music, and the sense of touch is also stimulated by the feel of the silky material on our skin. And this all happens at the same time.

In all my classes we love to play with scarves, it is a favorite activity! It is so much fun, we move expressively, play peek-a-boo and dress up with them. But did you know that playing with scarves helps your children's brains to develop ?

The best toys for babies are often common household items.
There are many activities you can do with babies using a silk scarf or a scrap of fabric.

According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children, good toys for young children are ones that "match their stages of development and emerging abilities." Infants do well with toys that help them develop motor skills (pushing and pulling, lifting and dropping, reaching and crawling), learn language, and find out about the world they live in.

Therefore, the best toys for babies are simple, uncomplicated ones that assist them in gaining all these seemingly small but important skills. There is no need to buy a bunch of expensive "educational" toys for this purpose. Many fun, engaging, and educational activities can be done with common items already in the house - like a simple swatch of fabric or a scarf.

Suggested Fabric Play Materials

silk scarves
fabric remnants
cardboard boxes (cereal boxes, shoeboxes, etc.)
ribbon or yarn

Learn Object Permanence
The idea that objects still exist even when they can no longer be seen is called object permanence. It is essential to baby's developing cognitive skills since only after baby can imagine an unseen object, can she remember, reason, and plan. You can help baby develop object permanence by playing peek-a-boo with a silk scarf.

Alternatively, the peek-a-boo game can be played with a small toy. First, show baby the toy. While baby is watching, place fabric over the toy. Say, "Where's the toy? Can you find the toy?" If baby does not reach for the fabric, uncover the toy yourself while excitedly saying, "We found it!"

Practice Gross Motor Skills
Pulling and pushing toys helps baby develop balance, whether she is standing, sitting, or lying on her stomach. To create a pull toy, tie 10 scarves or pieces of fabric together into a long strand. Stuff the strand into a box. Close the lid, but leave a bit of fabric sticking out. Encourage baby to pull on the fabric and watch the strand get longer and longer until the entire strand is out of the box. 1

Fun with Scarves!

Here is a list of versatile ideas for using scarves:

Play Peek-A-Boo! (of course!)
Scarf Parachute - Make a scarf toy parachute.
Scarf Knapsack - Make a knapsack to carry your stuff by tying all four corners of the scarf together.
Scarf Blindfold - Use a scarf as a blindfold and play "Blind Man's Bluff."
Scarf Blankie - Use the scarf as a comforting "blankie" at home or on the road.
Knot Scarves - Practice tying simple knots in a scarves.
Static Scarves - Use a scarf to experiment with static electricity following these directions.
Scarf Games - Use a scarf in place of a ball or beanbag for indoor games. It slows down the action and makes many games easy, safe, and fun for little ones. You can also use it to gently "tag" people in various games like "Tag- You're It" and "Tag Football."

Here's an idea: one person runs around with a scarf tied to their ankle, and the other person tries to step on the end of it. Play Tug-of-War with a scarf.

Make a Scarf Puppet - Simply drape a scarf over one hand to create an imaginary puppet. Or make a Scarf Marionette!
Scarf Dress-Up - Use scarves on the head (as a bandana, headband, turban, or ponytail holder), as a belt or sash around the waist, as a shawl, or over one eye (as a pirate). Use a scarf as a mask (like a bandit), or tuck one end in the back of pants to make a "tail." Pretend scarves are jewelry - and make a bracelet or necklace. Use scarves as a bandage or sling. Scarves make great capes allowing imagination to take flight!

Note: To be safe, never tie a scarf around a young child's neck. Use safety pins to fasten scarves to clothing.

Scarf Flag - Use a scarf as a flag or to wave goodbye to someone.
Scarf Rope - Tie a bunch of scarves together to make a scarf rope.
Scarf Leash - Tie a stuffed animal to a scarf and drag it along the floor.
Scarf Pendulum - Tie different size toys to the end of a scarf , then slowly and gently swing it back and forth. Observe how the motion changes with each toy.
Scarf Pulley - Place the scarf over a doorknob, tie objects to each end, use it to create a pulley.
Scarf Forts - Use scarves to create walls for forts made with furniture or blocks. Juggling with Scarves - Preschool-age children can develop pre-juggling skills that help to improve concentration, eye-hand coordination, tracking (a pre-reading skill), fine motor skills, and they get a cardio-vascular work-out too. Start by learning to toss and catch one scarf. Then, as coordination develops (which may take a long time) progress to 2 and 3 scarves. Click here to watch a pictorial demonstration. You'll also want to check out this list of fun things to do as you juggle one or two scarves.
Scarf Paint Brush - Use a scarf dipped in washable paint to make artistic patterns on paper.
Scarf Vision - Hold a scarf up to the light and see how things look through it.
Make a Scarf Kite - Use these directions to make one just like Ben Franklin used!
Scarf Toy Trampoline - Have 2 or more people hold the corners of a scarf and bounce a toy up and down in the middle of it, like a trampoline. 2

A fun activity for your toddler
Dancing with your toddler is fun, and adding scarves to the mix brings the entertainment to a whole new level. This game will be a hit with your 15-month-old, who's in a "milestone period" - a time of very rapid development - and is particularly interested in moving in new and different ways. This is great for 15 month olds, but older and younger kids will enjoy it, too!

Children learn to develop gross motor skills, rhythm, color identification, social play, and language while having a great time!

What you'll need: A variety of music and several scarves. But save your long winter scarves for bundling up; light, fashion scarves work best (your local thrift shop might be a good source if you don't have any). You can also use handkerchiefs, cloth napkins, or bandanas.

Clear some space, turn on the music, and join your toddler on the floor. Drop the scarves at her feet, keeping one or two for yourself. As your child watches, make your scarf "dance" in time to the music. She might just observe for a while, or she may join right in by shaking her own scarf.

As you dance your scarves, try playing peekaboo in time to the music. Place a scarf over your head and let her grab it. Or drape one on her head and let her pull it off.

Switch out the music so that you can try different tempos. Float your scarves gracefully for slow music and jiggle them jauntily for quicker music. Work on colors by saying, "Do you want a turn with the blue one?" or "Is Mommy under this pink scarf?"

Finally, try a little teamwork by having her hold one end of the scarf while you hold the other, and dance in place or around the room. You can also hold her in your arms while you dance with a big scarf, swirling it back and forth around the two of you.

When you're done, encourage your child to help you put the scarves in a bag. And keep the bag in a handy place (but not one where your toddler can get to it); as your child continues her rapid growth, she'll enjoy playing this game again and again, and she'll find all kinds of inventive ways to dance with the scarves.

Note: Scarves and other long, string-like objects pose a strangulation hazard, so make sure to watch your child carefully and never leave her alone with them.

Couple of Kindermusik Ideas for playing with scarves:

Lap Baby: Adult can lie baby in her lap or outstretched legs and move scarf around baby's body.
Crawler: Adult crawls or sits with baby and explores different ways to move the scarf with the music.
Walker: While baby holds the scarf, adult helps him move it to the music. Suggest that the scarf hide behind the back during the silence. Some babies may move independently with their own scarves. Encourage adults to continue moving also.

What is your favorite way to play with scarves? Leave a comment or tweet @Angelmusik!

1 http://ping.fm/QrNd1 Baby Games to Play with a Silk Scarf: Simple Developmental Activities for Infants Jul 24, 2009 Nicole Fravel
2 http://ping.fm/H6clo Newborn Workout and Exercise Program Fun with Scarves! By Diane Flynn Keith, on January 8th, 2009
3 http://ping.fm/LGPvW Let's Play! Scarf Dance by Evonne Lack Last updated: January 2009

Fun, Safe Activities for Moms and Newborns

2010-06-02T13:41:00.001-07:00

Here is a great article about activities to do with your newborn. Read this article and see if you agree with the author: It was written Apr 30, 2009 by Julie Warrenfeltz

Giving baby more sensory-motor stimulation during the first month will hasten development, giving him a developmental advantage.

Develop your baby's reflexes and senses while getting him moving and exercising from day one. Newborns are developing rapidly and you can foster that development through some fun and easy daily activities that will develop reflexes and motor skills.

Develop Reflexes
Reflexes are automatic responses to the environment that protect one from dangerous or harmful things in that environment. Newborns need to develop these reflexes before developing more complex brain function.

Visual Reflex: Take baby into a completely dark room and turning on the light. When the pupil contracts, turn the light off, wait 10 seconds, and turn the light on again. Repeat the process 10 times, up to 10 times daily. At the end of 20 days, baby should begin noticing dark and light contrasts.
Startle Reflex: Make a loud, unanticipated sound, such as dropping a pan on the floor or banging blocks together, several times each day until the startle reflex is given in response to the sound.
Babinski Reflex: Drag the blunt edge of a coin or finger down the foot, running from the big toe to the heel. Look for baby's toes to turn up and fan outward. This exercise can be done several times each day.

Develop the Sense of Smell and Taste
Because infants are on a strict diet of formula or breast milk, parents often overlook developing these senses from infancy and subsequently have difficulties getting a child to eat foods like vegetables and meats. Developing these senses early can thwart food battles later.

Sense of Smell: Stimulate and develop baby's sense of smell by placing a strong smell, like an orange, under the child's nose. Say the name of the substance to reinforce language skills. This can be done up to 10 times each day, using the same odor for up to a week.
Sense of Taste: Baby's taste buds can be triggered by placing a drop of food in the infant's mouth either with a cotton swab or the tip of the finger. Administer the same taste several times each day for approximately one week.

Encourage Crawling

Despite modern sentiment, infants have an amazing ability to move given the opportunity. While pediatricians recommend that infants be placed on their backs to sleep, during waking hours, an infant should spend as much time on his belly as possible.

To get your baby moving under his own power, place the infant on a specially designed crawling deck during most waking hours. Allow baby to use his fingers and toes to propel himself toward the end of the deck. Each day baby will go further and traverse the deck more frequently.

Begin Developing Language Skills

From the moment baby arrives, mothers instinctively talk to babies, but often listening is not as prevalent. To encourage language development, say something directly to your baby, making eye contact, and wait for up to 60 seconds to see if the baby responds. When baby responds with the slightest sound, say something else and wait for another response. Repeat this process often and regularly throughout each day. Practicing the rules and patterns of conversation will encourage baby to "converse" with you more frequently.

Stimulating your baby's senses in the manner outlined will help him develop crucial reflexes while helping him to speak and walk at an earlier age. Provide your baby with a solid developmental foundation early to help him develop into a strong and healthy child.

What do you think, do you agree with this article?
Give me a tweet: @Angelmusik

Crayons or Markers?

2010-06-02T04:35:00.000-07:00

Crayons are a great tool for developing tactile and proprioceptive (muscle and joint) skills.
Crayons encourage us to use fine motor muscles in our hands and fingers to bear down firmly in order to produce color.
Crayons also allow us the opportunity to decide whether to produce dark or light color tomes. Markers don't have these advantages.

Carol Kranowitz, M.A. and Joye Newman, M.A., "Growing an In-Sync Child"

How Children Learn Words!

2010-05-26T11:16:00.001-07:00

How many words do you think your children learned this week?

The answer varies. While babies are in a recessive language stage and take in every word and label, toddlers are in an expressive stage with a vocabulary that grows to several thousand words by the age three. Preschool-aged children are in a storytelling stage and love to learn and express new words that way.

By reading together, your children will internalize basic skills and concepts important for true literacy, such as expanding vocabulary, promoting critical thinking, and providing predictability.

The Power of Reading: When you read to children, you are building pathways in their brains needed for successful reading experiences. They will develop auditory perception that allows them to think about how words sound. Listening to stories helps children enhance their vocabularies and use longer sentences; it increases their attention spans, ability to focus on what is being said and gives them a desire to read.

As you read together, ask specific questions about the characters and the action of the story and the colors and shapes of the illustrations. Then try leaving out key words or phrases, allowing toddlers and preschoolers to "help" by contributing the missing words while toddlers can assist in turning the pages. Keep your baby engaged by "bouncing" to the repeated phrases through out the book.

A Rough Guide for Language Acquisition:

Expect first words between 12 and 18 months.
There will probably be a "spurt" of language development before 2 years.
Anticipate hearing 4 to 5 word sentences by 4 years.
Grammar should be correct most of the time by 4 years.
"Other people" will understand almost everything your child says by the time he or she is 4!.

List of on-line resources to help teach your children how to read!

Games, printouts and information to help children learn to read! http://www.starfall.com/
Great selection of books to help with reading/language acquisition that you can buy or go check out at the library http://www.kaplanco.com/childrens-books.asp
HELP: Head Start English: Language Learners website: excellent list of book for children learning English or any child. http://www.hellp.org/tools/docs/list%20of%20children's%20books.pdf

Get your Children Moving!

The Movement-Vision-Reading Connection: Our visual sense works when our eyes are actively moving. When the body and head move, the vestibular system is activated, and so the eye muscles are strengthen as they move in response. The more the eyes move, the more the muscles of both eyes work together. Later on, this eye teaming will enable toddlers to focus on objects as well as to track and then help them to be able to concentrate later as they learn to read in school.

An Exercise in Sensorimotor Learning

(which helps the movement/vision/reading connection)

I've Been Workin on the Railroad:

In this activitiy children hear actions being labeled, gross motor and locomotor skills are being developed and they also learn stop and go movements. All these skills help the brain to strengthen neural connections which increase the child's learning ability.

SAY: First we need to fix the RR track!

DO: Clasp hands together and raise them over one shoulder as if lifting a heavy hammer. Bend at the waist and thrust arms down, as if hammering. Label all actions then begin singing first part of song.

SAY: Whew! That was hard work. We deserve a break; let's run around the room while we sing Dinah won't you blow!

SING: Dinah, won't you blow section while running. Freeze and stop singing after the final note of this section. SAY: Stop! Back to work on those RR tracks!

PUT IT TOGETHER: Start the song again, singing and moving to the "I've been working...."section followed by the "Dinah won't you blow section". Do the hammer motion to slow part and then running during Dinah part. Repeat

I've Been Workin on the Railroad

I've been workin on the railroad all the live long day.
I've been workin on the railroad just to pass the time away.
Don't you hear the whistle blowing?
Rise up so early in the morn
Don't you hear the Captain shouting, Dinah blow your horn?
Dina won't you blow, Dinah won't you blow, Dinah won't you blow your horn
Dina won't you blow, Dinah won't you blow, Dinah won't you blow your horn

Please leave a comment or Tweet @Angelmusik

HOW TO TAME TODDLER TANTRUMS

2010-05-25T11:23:00.001-07:00

Mom Wisdom comes in many forms. Mamapedia Voices proudly showcases useful and insightful posts by selected writers, from up-and-coming mom bloggers to well-known mom experts.

Photo by: Jared Smith
What? Well Behaved Children who Never Tantrum
May 25, 2010, by Danielle of "Free to be Parenting"

I am sharing this article because it's good to learn about different methods of child rearing--we learn from each other and other philosphies. I had lots of trouble with my son having temper tantrums when he was a toddler, so I started feel a little put out by this article, but it has some really good points. I hope you will read it and give me your thoughts and opinions.

I know it sounds like a mythical creature, but Yes, they exist, children who are well behaved and never tantrum. You think next I will tell you about the unicorn in my back yard. (His name is Gary and I feed him rainbows.)

There is a growing segment of the population that has abandoned punishment and rewards for something more effective, that results in well behaved kids who do not do what we have come to believe is "normal", namely tantrums and rebellion.

This all started in the 60's, yes I know you're thinking, "Okay hippie, Peace & Love, yeah I get it." But unlike some of the ill-fated and Ill-conceived ideas of that time, parents (hundreds of thousands of them) have found that these "methods" actually result in happy kids who almost always do what parents ask of them. Not only that, but these parents find that they enjoy parenting and family life a lot more than their contemporaries.

So if these parents are not using the tried and true systems of merits and demerits, what are they doing? There are volumes of books on the subject, but the following is a brief synopsis.

1. When their kids have emotional moments these parents "listen & validate". Psychiatrists might call this active or reflective listening. These parents let their kids be sad (cry) or angry (yell) while listening with empathy. For example- It's time to leave the park. Kid cries and the parent says, "Oh, it is hard to leave the park, you were having so much fun" Kid says still crying, "yeah I want to stay" Parent- "Yeah, you want to stay and have more fun." The conversation continues (as they leave), goes back and forth with the parent acknowledging the kids' experience. The kid expresses all of his sadness about leaving. Done, move on.

When this is a parent's modus operandi, kids rarely, if ever, tantrum because a tantrum is basically an accumulation of disappointment, sadness, frustration, anger, etc. that has been stored up until one final drop of disappointment,etc. spills the bucket and it all comes pouring out. (One Exception- Some kids have been taught by their parents that tantrums are an effective way to change a "no" to a "yes". In this case, tantrums are just a means of getting a desired result.)

You can doubt me on this, but my certainty overcomes your doubt because I know what I know. And I personally know hundreds of families who have children that do not tantrum and I would guess there are many thousands more.

Now, if your kid tantrums, THIS IS NOT an indictment of your parenting. You are doing THE MOST challenging "job" on earth and you are doing it well! The decisions you make on this job have mortal consequences and you only get "on the job" training. So, if you have managed to keep most of your children alive, you get an A++ by me and anyone else who has ever undertaken the duty of a parent.

2. These parents meet their kids needs for respect and attention (bonding/connection). They treat kids with the level of respect they would treat someone they admire. (There is really too much to say on this topic for me to do it here, so I will have to leave it at that.)

Then, they give kids the attention that kids need. This means regular one-on-one time with each kid. Special time that is spent doing something that really makes the kids feel loved and connected. You might think, "OMG, I don't have that kind of time", but if you consider that these parents do not have to spend time cajoling, bribing, dragging kids to do what they have asked nor punishing them for uncooperative behavior, you can see how that would free up a good amount of time.

Again, there are volumes of books about how to really connect with kids and the cooperation that results. My purpose here is just a brief summary of the concepts.

3. When these parents have the occasion of "mis-behavior" from their kids, they look for the root cause and address it. For example- Is the kid hungry or tired? Do they need my attention right now? Do they need more control over choices in their life? Do they have an allergy or sensitivity? (Yes food allergies and additives can affect behavior) The list can go on. The point is that there is a cause and the parent can help the child address it.

4. Okay, you might think that without punishment these children run wild and never learn how to be in the world, but the opposite is true. These parents are the Ultimate Disciplinarians. Discipline means to instruct or teach. (Go ahead get your Websters, I'll wait.) These parents DO teach their kids how to behave well. Because of the relationship they have with their kids, they actually have influence and when they advise a child to "whisper in the library". The kids actually listen and learn how to behave in that situation. (One caveat- They also have an understanding of what is age appropriate. i.e. Telling a 1 year old to "whisper in the library" and expecting it to stick would likely be an unrealistic expectation.)

The point is these parents are continually disciplining (by modeling & explaining) their children how to be respectful, caring, helpful and most importantly how to make amends or restitution for their mistakes. True discipline.

These parents and their kids won't stand out in a crowd, they look just like you and me. They watch Sponge Bob and eat pizza, although maybe less so than the general population. But you may spot them from time to time if you look carefully. They are the ones with smiles on their faces who seem unruffled (or even joyful) in the presence of children.

Danielle Koprowski, ACPI Certified Coach for Parents, has been working with parents and families for more than 5 years. She lives her passion through Free To Be Parenting, inspiring parents to learn how to deeply enjoy parenting. Visit Free to be Parenting to get a Free Positive Parenting Course.

Give me your opinions and thoughts about this article!

Let's Play

2010-05-24T22:16:00.000-07:00

Play is fun! But play is also a whole lot more.

Humans have played since earliest times, and philosophers and scholars have thought about it for centuries. More than 2,000 years ago, Plato suggested, “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”

Play is essential for learning and human development.

Play:

Sharpens our minds

Helps us grow

Keeps us healthy

Boosts our creativity

When children play, they learn to:

Solve problems

Make decisions

Express themselves and communicate with others

Recognize boundaries

Children who play do better in school and become more successful adults.

When we don’t play, we are:
Less creative and productive
More sedentary, more easily fatigued, more susceptible to obesity
More likely to encounter social problems and emotional stress

Play also helps us understand history and culture. The way we play shows:
Who we are
What we value
How we regard others
Change over time
Future possibilities

Excellent website with information about toys, education and fun; and the information for this post is from: http://www.museumofplay.org/about_play/index.html

Let's Get UnBalanced!

2010-05-23T10:35:00.001-07:00

Mamapedia Voices

Mom Wisdom comes in many forms. Mamapedia Voices proudly showcases useful and insightful posts by selected writers, from up-and-coming mom bloggers to well-known mom experts.

Let's Get Unbalanced: Digging into Work
Photo by: Perfecto Insecto
May 22, 2010
by Peri Pakroo

I just found this article about finding balance in our lives, especially if we are stay at home parents with a small business that we run out of our homes. What I love about this article is that she talks about not having balance and making that work. I really appreciate that, because balance in my life seems impossible. I am still a new business owner-- trying to get my teaching studio established and I have nine year old son with learning disabilities that I've had to deal with this year. So please read below and discover that we don't have to be in balance all the time (yeah!).

“Master multitasker” has always been part of the job description for us parents. Add self-employment to the mix, and the juggling act gets even crazier. Being responsible for all the details involved in running even a small firm seems to double the number of balls in the air. And business owners also need to find quiet, focused time to work on big-picture business strategy and direction (and I’ll come back to this in just a bit). With all these competing claims on our time and attention, it’s little wonder that the challenge of keeping a semblance of balance between our work and personal lives is a perennial issue for self-employed parents.

But as great as it feels to hit that sweet spot of balance, since kids have entered my self-employed life I often find myself practically desperate to dive deep and get lost in the business — to throw balance to the wind, even for just a few days. Of course, as any mom or dad knows, kids (especially little ones) make this nigh impossible, particularly if you work from home. I look back on the days when I’d live and breathe a project for days or weeks on end and that reality seems as remote a possibility today as my pre-pregnancy waistline.

Sure, work/life balance is important in the long term (I’ve written and talked quite a bit about it as a small business author and consultant). But sometimes a business owner — particularly those who have no employees — needs to get into “the zone” to get things done. For instance, a graphic designer might need to dig in and lay out a 100-page annual report on a tight deadline. Or a CPA might need to get a raft of client tax returns done as April 15 looms. The owner of a small retail store may need to catch up with generating sales reports after a busy holiday season. But finding the time to hunker down for a big project often feels like trying to solve some impossible math equation.

The problem is, getting into the zone takes at least a couple uninterrupted hours — for me, ideally three or more (better yet, a few days in a row). But fat, juicy time chunks like these are frustratingly out of reach for parents of little ones. Bottom line: kids are zone-killers.

I’m starting to think that sometimes what I crave more than balance is the opportunity to get unbalanced once in a while and immerse myself in work, even if just for a few days. But with a nursing 6-month-old and a preschooler, it’s just not gonna happen.

For me and many self-employed parents I know, working at night is one solution. These days, I do my best work after the kids go down ’round 7-ish. I can get an easy three or four hours uninterrupted work time and still get to bed at a reasonable hour (reasonable for us night owls, at least). If I have a deadline to meet or other important project, I can really get into the zone, working till 2 or 3am. I pay for it in the morning, but a good part of the morning is nursing time anyway which frankly doesn’t require a whole lot of mental effort on my part. So, for now, it works.

However. Even when we manage to get our client projects done, catch up with the bookkeeping, and meet the deadlines — all without letting our children starve or run wild in the streets — there’s more to do when you’re self-employed. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, running a business — even a small one-person firm — involves more than just getting the essentials done. An enormously important (if often overlooked) part of the role of a business owner is to steer the ship, take account of the big picture and define a strategic direction for the business.

Now, I realize that a lot of small solo operators, freelancers and the like tune out at the words “strategic direction,” thinking that I must be talking about big companies with fancy boardrooms full of high-powered executives hashing out market studies and sales reports and all those things “other” businesses do. Not so! Defining your market and strategy, and regularly revisiting and refining those definitions, is important even for microbusinesses like freelance writers, photographers and consultants. I’ll explain why in a future post.)

Of all the tasks on a busy business owner’s plate, it’s the big-picture, strategic work that most often gets the shaft. And it’s easy to understand why. Strategic analysis and big-picture thinking are precisely the kinds of activities that are best done “in the zone.” You won’t be able to take a mental step back from your business and effectively evaluate what it’s doing and where it should be headed in the stolen moments between feeding your kids, swapping out 2T for 3T clothes in the closet, or preparing snack for the preschool class.

Plus, as you are undoubtedly aware, there are always more pressing issues in a business that end up trumping the strategic work. If you are forced to choose between meeting a client deadline or taking a half-day to wrangle with big-picture issues, the client deadline sensibly wins out.

But over time, lack of attention to the strategic side of things results in drift, lack of focus and missed opportunities. At worst, a business owner might fail to see a significant shift in the market that leaves her business out in the cold. By the time sales plummet and the owner realizes what has happened, it very well might be too late to turn things around.

To avoid this happening to you, here’s my advice: The next time you allow yourself a little work bender, dedicate it to some strategic work. Pull yourself out of the day-to-day trenches and put some careful thought into where your business is, and where you’d like it to go. Catch up on your business reading, keeping an eye out for trends and opportunities that may have escaped your notice. Maybe a big new company is moving into your town that represents a possible big customer — or a formidable competitor. Maybe there is new technology affecting your industry that isn’t yet being used by your local competition, giving you the opportunity to establish an edge over them. Whatever it is, give yourself a little time to zone out of the day-to-day minutae (I like to call it “making the donuts”) and tap into the bigger picture of your business.

Also remember that staying connected to other folks and steadily growing your network is a great way to keep tabs on what’s going on in your field. Business owners — especially solo operators — can easily get isolated if they don’t actively reach out and network. Have lunch with fellow business owners and media contacts, attend trade shows and conventions, and interact online (you already know that Mamapedia is a great resource). When you do this regularly you’ll be up to speed on the latest trends, putting you in a great position to make strategic decisions.

Nope, it’s not easy to find the time to do this. But think about how you otherwise manage to get the essentials done, like filing your taxes or finishing client projects on time. The main change you might have to make is simply seeing the strategic, big-picture work as just as important as making the donuts. If you start thinking of strategic work as an essential ongoing task, you’ll be well on your way to figuring out a way to escape the daily distractions, get into the zone, and steer your business to success.

Peri Pakroo is a business and communications consultant, specializing in legal and start-up issues for businesses and nonprofits. She has started, participated in, and consulted with start-up businesses for 20 years. She is the author of The Women’s Small Business Start-Up Kit (Nolo) and top-selling business books. Peri is also a new Mom.

Even Newborn Infants Can Feel the Beat

2010-05-22T06:37:00.001-07:00

I am always looking for articles on how music affects babies and toddlers. I found a couple great articles from the Discover website at http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/01/27/even-newborn-infants-can-feel-the-beat/ The following is a fantastic article on how even the tiniest of babies can feel a beat and notice changes in music.

Babies just a few days old can already identify a rhythmic pattern, and their brains show surprise when the music skips a beat, according to a new study.

Researchers played recordings that used high-hat cymbals, snare drums, and bass drums to make a funky little beat while monitoring the infants' brain activity with non-invasive electroencephalogram brain scanners, and found that newborns respond to a skipped beat in the same way that adults do.

The ability to follow a beat is called beat induction. Neither chimpanzees nor bonobos - our closest primate relatives - are capable of beat induction, which is considered both a uniquely human trait and a cognitive building block of music. Researchers have debated whether this is inborn or learned during the few first months of life, calibrated by the rocking arms and lullabies of parents.

While the researchers who conducted the new study say their findings are evidence that beat induction in innate, others argue that the newborns could have already learned to identify rhythmic patterns by listening to their mothers' heartbeats while in the womb.

In the study, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 14 sleeping newborns were exposed to repeated recordings of a rock drum accompaniment pattern and to four variations of that pattern. Babies were usually exposed to patterns with a downbeat. On rare occasions, the downbeat was missing. Of the 306 consecutive drum sequences presented to newborns, one in 10 lacked a downbeat. Each newborn wore scalp electrodes during the study. Drum sequences missing a downbeat elicited a signature, split-second brain response that has been linked in adults to the violation of one's expectations.

Lead researcher Winkler says the findings suggest that a rhythmic sensibility is very important for infants' brain development, and says it may help them respond to the rhythmic and repetitive baby talk that lays the foundation of all future language learning. Therefore, evolution may have favored brains wired to rock for learning purposes, said Winkler, and "music went along for the ride".

It’s hiding!

2010-05-21T05:24:00.001-07:00

Object Permanence

It’s hiding, it’s hiding. In this week’s Village Class it was like watching little scientists testing a hypothesis and trying to understand what was going on. It was exciting to watch the change in the babies’ facial expressions as they hid the bells, uncovered them, and then hid them again.

Object permanence involves the understanding that hidden objects still exist even though they cannot be seen or felt. Infants respond differently to hidden objects-while younger infants might watch intently and react with surprise, the older baby might search for the missing object.

Bring out the natural scientist in your baby by playing simple hide and seek games at home. At bath time use a washcloth or towel to hide a squeaky bath toy. In the kitchen put a kitchen towel over the rattling measuring spoons and let the game begin!

Here’s a More Technical Discussion of Object Permanence:
Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched. Jean Piaget argued that object permanence is one of an infant’s most important accomplishments, as without this concept, objects would have no separate, permanent existence. In Piaget’s Theory of cognitive development infants develop this understanding by the end of the “sensorimotor stage”, which lasts from birth to about 2 years of age. Piaget thought that an infant’s perception and understanding of the world depended on their motor development, which was required for the infant to link visual, tactile and motor representations of objects. According to this view, it is through touching and handling objects that infants develop object permanence.

Early Research
Piaget conducted experiments which consisted of behavioral tests with infant subjects. He studied object permanence by watching an infant’s reaction when a desirable object or toy, for example, was covered with a blanket or removed from sight. Some of the infant subjects would immediately exhibit signs of confusion or dismay. Piaget interpreted these behavioral signs as evidence of a belief that the object had somehow “vanished” or simply ceased to exist. If an infant searched for the object, it is assumed that they believed it continued to exist.

Piaget concluded that some infants were too young to understand object permanence, which would tend to explain why they do not cry when their mothers were gone (“out of sight, out of mind”). A lack of object permanence can lead to A-not-B errors, where children reach for a thing at a place where it should not be. ”A-not-B error” is the term used to describe an infant’s inclination to search for a hidden object in a familiar location rather than search for the object in a different location. Older infants are less likely to make the A-not-B error because they are able to understand the concept of object permanence more than younger infants. However, researchers have found that A-and-B errors do not always show up consistently. They concluded that this type of error might be due to a failure in memory or the fact that infants usually tend to repeat a previous motor behavior.

Later research
In more recent years, the original Piagetian object permanence account has been challenged by a series of infant studies suggesting that much younger infants do have a clear sense of object persisting when out of sight. One study that focused on object permanence showed infants a toy car that moved down an inclined track, disappeared behind a screen, and then reemerged at the other end, still on the track. The researchers created a “possible event” where a toy mouse was placed behind the tracks but was hidden by the screen as the car rolled by. Then, researchers created an “impossible event.” In this situation, the toy mouse was placed on the tracks but was secretly removed after the screen was lowered so that the car seemed to go through the mouse. Infants as young as 3 1/2 months of age looked longer at the impossible event than at the possible event. This indicated that they were surprised by the impossible event, which suggested that they remembered not only that the toy mouse still existed (object permanence) but also its location. This research suggests that infants understand more about objects earlier than Piaget proposed.

One criticism of Piaget’s theory was that culture and education exert stronger influences on a child’s development than Piaget maintained. These factors depend on how much practice their culture provides in developmental processes, such as conversational skills.

Neural basis
Experiments in non-human primates suggest that monkeys can track the displacement of invisible targets, that invisible displacement is represented in prefrontal cortex, and that development of the frontal cortex is linked to the acquisition of object permanence. Various evidence from human infants is consistent with this. For example formation of synapses in the frontal cortex peaks during human infancy and recent experiments using near infrared spectroscopy to gather neuroimaging data from infants suggests that activity in the frontal cortex is associated with successful completion of object permanence tasks.

There are six stages of Object Permanence. These are:

Reflexes – the baby is learning how its body can move and works.
Primary Circular Reactions – the baby will continue to look where an object was for only a few moments. They will ‘discover’ their eyes, arms, hands and feet in the course of acting on objects.
Secondary Circular Reactions – the baby will reach for an object which is partially hidden. this has been taken to show it realizes that the whole object is still there. If an object is completely hidden however the baby makes no attempt to retrieve it.
Co-ordination of Secondary Circular Reactions – a baby will search for a hidden object. They will however look to where it was last hidden even if it is now hidden somewhere else.
Tertiary Circular Reaction – in this stage the baby will try new actions to get new results.
Invention of New Means Through Mental Combination – the child fully understands object permanence. They will not fall for A-not-B errors. If a toy is hidden in a matchbox then the matchbox put under a pillow and then, without the child seeing, the toy is slipped out of the matchbox then the matchbox given to the child the child will look under the pillow upon discovery that it is not in the matchbox.

You know your child has achieved Object Permance when they start experiencing seperation anxiety and stranger anxiety. They now remember objects and specific people that are not present. They will search for toys that have dropped out of sight. They are able to call up a mental image of what (or who) they are missing. They don’t want the stranger, because the stranger is not you.

notes from: https://www.kindermusik.com/Teach/TL_Resources/Databank/Docs/DewDropsWK7.doc, http://www.drgreene.com/azguide/separation-anxiety#ixzz0oZJp5M3U, ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_permanence,

Please leave a comment or tweet @Angelmusik:

Can You Feel The Beat?

2010-05-20T19:56:00.000-07:00

At the very core of our lives is the beat. It is a mystical thing, this repetition of sound over and over. It is amazing, the fascination that springs from what seems to be a boring and simple activity: clapping or keeping an even and steady beat. It’s not the most exciting part of playing music but it’s crucial to a well performed piece; a fundamental building block of music.

The most fundamental property of music is beat, an underlying, unchanging, repeating pulse. Feeling and moving to steady beat develops a sense of time and the ability to recognize and coordinate movemnts within in time.

The beat is something that we all like to keep, and you don't need to have any musical knowledge to do it. We all have clapped our hands, danced, nodded our head or just tapped our toes in time to music. This simple act is at the very heart of music making. Many professional musicians will tell you that the distinction between a good musician and a poor one is how well they can feel for the beat. This "feel" is crucial and it is strongly affected by early childhood experiences. You don't even have to have music to keep the beat, although every opportunity should be taken to keep the beat to music when it is performed or listened to.

Before outlining activities, there are a few basic principles for keeping a beat, The first rule is to concentrate on keeping the beat very steady. It should be emphasized with children that the beat is not a speed contest to see who can go fastest. It is, rather, an exercise in keeping together a very - even - steady - beat. For many of the activities that will follow, it is essential to keep the beat as slow as possible. For children at an older age you can even point out the truth that the slower you keep the beat the more difficult it is to it keep steady.
So the-

challengeisnothowfastyougo,

but how slow you

can go and still

keep the

beat stea-

dy.

Steady beat is different from the Rhythm Patterns of a specific song: Rhythm Patterns are patterns of sound that fit within the steady beat. To illustrate this, tap as you sing each word of “The Muffin Man”. The ability to keep a steady beat is developed over time, and can be started with very young children. This skill is required for walking, talking, using a pair of scissors and bouncing a ball, as well as many other abilities.

Feeling and moving to steady beat develops a sense of time and the ability to organize and coordinate movements within time. Feeling and moving to steady beat develops a sense of time and the ability to organize and coordinate movements within time.

To illustrate a steady beat, tap with each underlined syllable as you sing the song:
Do you know the Muffin Man, the muffin man, the muffin man.
Do you know the Muffin Man, who lives on Drury Lane.

Observe, Notice, Question, and Expand - Repeat The following few postings include fun ways to “catch a beat” – appropriate to the age / ability of your child. Any of the ideas for younger children can be used for older children. When adding new skills or concepts, keep in mind the goal of increasing their self-concept as a competent musical person.

Try to remember to use these BEST TEACHING METHODS:

Observe first (watch to see what they already know, or if they remember what they learned last time)
Verbally NOTICE THEIR actions (label, comment, and imitate what they are doing);
Initiate activities to expand on what they are doing well and are motivated to do. Start by asking questions: “What else can you do? Can you ___? How ____ can you do it? Where else can you tap it?” You can even make connections “That looks like a _____ !”
Invite and help them try something new, “Can you do it like this?” Let them try to imitate, but if having difficulty, assist them physically to get the idea, then let go and see if they can do it.
Sit back and watch to see what they have learned. Then repeat the skill in a multitude of ways to reinforce their abilities, for example, swishing hands high / low, or swishing feet.

The Progression of Abilities in Keeping a Steady Beat

The ability to react to the beat in music is an important learning process. Many young children are able to steadily tap to an “inner beat”. Yet they may have difficulty changing their “inner beat” to correspond to the pulse of music or a drumbeat. Encourage, but don’t impose an external beat too early, it may result in tension, resistance, or loss of confidence in their abilities. Encourage practicing a beat in a variety of ways. Realize that children will progress through these developmentally appropriate stages as they grow and develop their abilities:

Let them experience a steady beat, by tapping on their knees or other body part.
Start your own beat and verbally encourage them to imitate.
Have them walk or march (without recorded music), and watch carefully for their “inner beat”. Imitate their beat with hand movements, drum, sticks, or tongue clicks, then pace a rhyme or song to their own “inner” beat.
Play music with a strong beat, and “catch” the beat with their hands on top of yours (clapping or tapping), or with them bouncing on your legs, etc.,
With your hands over theirs, start beat, but remove hands after a few beats.
While singing, practice with variety of hand movements and body movements.
While singing, practice with percussion instruments.
With recorded music, practice with movements and instruments
Use beat to play simple accompaniments on melodic instruments, ie. xylophones.

3 Principles of Beat Keeping Activities

Priciple No. 1 is "Keep the beat even and steady"

Clapping Activity for Learning Steady Beat:
Count to four and clap your hands to the count going as quickly as you can and still keep an even, steady speed. Count to yourself to four over and over again in time to your clapping. Keep this up until you feel comfortable in your count.

Concentrate on making sure the beginning of each syllable comes right on the clap. The tendency is to anticipate your clap with the beginning of the word coming before your clap. Try NOT to do that. Concentrate on the sounds of your voice and hands! Try to begin the sound of the number you count with the sounding of the clap. ( This is called hand-mouth coordination!)

When this feels comfortable keep on counting to four at the same speed in your mind or out loud, but slow down the clapping so that you now clap on the numbers "one" and "three" only. If the steady, fast beat keeps going in your mind, the beat should now be slower and quite even. (Keep up your hand-mouth coordination!)
Now try and clap on the number "one" only. Once that's easy, try it on every other "one."
-----------------------------------------------

Principle No. 2: Keeping the beat takes considerable coordination:
Many teachers try to get children to march to the beat, but this is not easy for very young children. It requires them to move the left foot and then the right in sequence while concentrating on the beat. In very general terms, for the first years of school it is best to use beat keeping activities that repeat the same motion over and over. Hopping up and down and slapping the lap with both hands are samples of beginning activities in beat keeping. Even clapping is more difficult than these activities, as it requires spatial coordination in making the hands meet.

Only gradually will activities move into keeping the beat using a natural sequence of movements - like slapping first the left hand and then the right, stepping, marching or skipping. Finally a true sequence of movements may be attempted e.g. slap lap, clap hands, snap fingers; slap lap, clap hands, snap fingers etc.
---------------------------------------------

Principle No.3: Physical movement should be a part of the activity in most instances:
Many activities will be more fun and will help children feel of the beat if you use a physical beat keeping activity to accompany the oral activity, marching for example.

Marching is a great activity for learning steady beat!

Marching is so good for children as they get a little older: this helps them to learn steady beat, they have their feet to the floor sending those beats right up their bodies to their brains, physical activity, seratonin and adrenolin producing music-making – DO IT NOW! Studies have shown that children who can find and keep a steady beat become better readers! Fred Rogers said that children are born with the beat. Makes sense, since mom's heartbeat is so close in utero.

Your child experiences steady beat when you rock or pat him to a song. This synchronized movement then allows him to actively apply this concept and internalize a sense of steady beat. Steady beat awareness is important to the development of smooth speech flow and lays the foundation for walking with coordination, bouncing a ball, and even using scissors. Musically, it will allow your child to sing, dance, and play instruments in a group.

Do you have the beat?
Notes from: http://www.kindermusik.com/Teach/TL_Resources/ParentPerspectives/docs/fdd.pdf,
http://www.macaronisoup.com/Song.htm,http://www.macaronisoup.com/Song.htm

HOW TO TAME TODDLER TANTRUMS

2010-05-18T04:12:00.000-07:00

Toddlers Throw Temper Tantrums!!

My son used to throw terrible tantrums. When he got frustrated or overstimulated he would just blow up, screaming and jumping up and down, hitting and kicking. I could barely bring myself to take him out in public because I never knew when he would blow. Guess what? He grew out of it and I learned how to cope with it and now he is nine and tantrum free! Of course at nine we have new issues, but that is for another article.

An article written by Dr. Sears has some great information and advice in how to deal with Toddlers and thier Tantrums. Even though my son is older, I found this information to very useful. http://www.askdrsears.com/html/6/t063300.asp

Most toddlers throw temper tantrums. It's a typical stage of child development. To understand why your toddler throws a fit, put yourself in his place. A toddler has an intense desire to do things, but his mental and motor skills have developed more quickly than his ability to communicate. Because he doesn't yet have the verbal skills to express his frustration, he does so by throwing tantrums. But you should know that tantrums often come in two flavors: manipulative tantrums and frustration tantrums.

If you feel that your child is using tantrums as a tool to get his own way, give him verbal cues and use body language that says you don't do tantrums. Be aware that toddlers know how to push their parents' buttons. If you are a volatile person, it'll be easy for your child to trigger an explosion from you, ending in a screaming match with no winners. You send a clear message when you ignore his fits or walk away. This teaches him that tantrums are not acceptable. This is part of toddler discipline.

Frustration tantrums, on the other hand, require empathy. Take these emotional outbursts as an opportunity to bond with your child. Offer a helping hand, a comforting "it's okay." Help him out where he feels frustrated at not being able to accomplish a task. This way you establish your authority and build your child's trust. Direct his efforts toward a more manageable part of a task. For example, if he throws one of the common "I'll do it myself" fits about putting on his sock, you slip it halfway onto the foot, and he can pull it on the rest of the way. Sit down with him at eye level and caringly say, "Tell mommy what you want." That encourages him to use words or body language to communicate his feelings and needs so that he doesn't have to act them out in displays of anger.

Identify the Trigger

Tantrums are usually at the worse time for parents: when they are on the phone, at the supermarket, or busy in some other way. Think about it. The very circumstances that make a tantrum inconvenient for you are what set your toddler up for an outburst. Keep a tantrum diary, noting what incites your child. Is she bored, tired, sick, hungry, or overstimulated? Watch for pre-tantrum signs. If you notice a few moments before the flare-up that your baby is starting to whine or grumble, intervene before the little volcano erupts.

Don't Take it Personally
You are neither responsible for his tantrums nor for stopping them. The "goodness" of your baby is not a reflection on your parenting ability. Tantrums are common when a baby starts to strive for independence.

Stay cool

Temper tantrums in public places are embarrassing, often making it difficult to consider a child's feelings. Your first thought is more likely to be "what will people think of me as a parent?" If you feel trapped and embarrassed when your child is throwing a fit in a supermarket, don't lash out. She is already out of control and needs you to stay in control. Just calmly carry her (even if she's kicking and screaming) to a private place, like the bathroom or your car, where she can blow off steam, after which you can quietly settle her down.

Plan ahead
To expect a curious toddler to be the model of obedience in a supermarket when he is tired and hungry is an unrealistic expectation. Shop when you both are rested and fed, and let him be your helper from the safety of his belted shopping-cart seat. The morning is usually the best time for toddler behavior; in the afternoon he's more likely to be tired and hungry.

To help parents gain perspective on the tantrum stage, we've divided fits into "biggies" and "smallies." Staying in the carseat is a biggie. It is non- negotiable and all the theatrics in the world will not free the safety-contained protester. But whether she should wear a red shirt rather than a blue one is a smallie. A clothing mismatch isn't worth a fight.

Occasionally, a very strong-willed child will lose control of himself during a tantrum. If often helps to simply hold him firmly, but lovingly, and say, "You're angry, and you have lost control. I'm holding you because I love you." You may find that after a minute or more of struggle, he melts in your arms as if to thank you for rescuing him from himself.

In general, don't ignore a frustration tantrum. Turning away from her behavioral problems deprives her of a valuable support resource, while you lose the chance to improve your rapport with your tantrumer. Once your toddler develops the language skills to express her needs in words, you'll be able to close the book on the tantrum stage. This usually happens between two and two- and-a-half-years-of-age, depending on your child's language development.

UNDERSTANDING THE TANTRUM-PRONE CHILD
Some kids are more inclined toward tantrums than others. Children with high needs, strong wills, and who have trouble controlling their emotions are more likely to fall into tantrum behavior. They have more difficulty achieving equilibrium, an inner emotional balance that helps people bounce back from life's many setbacks and regain composure. These babies have problems emotionally in two ways: they are more prone to blow their lid, and they are less able to put the lid back on once it has blown.

Some of the traits that make children more prone to tantrums, such as sensitivity, persistence, determination, and creativity, can be very beneficial to a child's intellectual and social development. One of your tasks as a parent is to channel these qualities to happier ends. Now that you appreciate why your usually sweet baby occasionally turns sour, here is how to head off tantrums and deal positively with them when they occur.

Words before action. Words give power over feelings and frustrations. Parents who talk with their babies and toddlers, teaching them language in the daily flow of living, are equipping them to handle the moments of frustration and strong feelings. If a toddler can be given a word or two to say in a moment of conflict, he will often be able to cooperate with you because saying that word gives him mastery over the concept he's struggling with.

3 WAYS TO PREVENT TANTRUMS

1. Practice attachment parenting

We have noticed that infants who are carried a lot and whose cues are sensitively responded to are more mellow, less prone to tantrums, and are able to ride the waves of emotional upsets without falling apart so drastically. Because they operate from an inner peace, they are less prone to impulsive behavior or angry outbursts. Children, however, who are parented with less attachment are less able to recover from emotional storms. Attached parents can read their child so well that they naturally create conditions that minimize tantrum behavior. Practice as many of the attachment styles of parenting as you can, as often as you can. Making it easier to deal with temper tantrums is one of the immediate payoffs of attachment parenting.

2. Minimize the triggers
Tantrums usually occur at the worst time for parents: you are on the phone, at the supermarket, busy with your agenda. Think about it. The very circumstances that make a tantrum inconvenient for you are what set the toddler up for a tantrum. Wise parents avoid situations that lead to emotional overload in their children. Keep a tantrum diary, noting what sets your child off. Is he bored, tired, sick, hungry, or overstimulated? Prepare a behavior chart. Making this chart will help you analyze what you know and observe about your child. Behavior charts also help you create conditions that encourage calm behavior. You may discover that tantrums occur most often before naptime or bedtime, or when parents are busy making dinner. They may happen when you return home from a play date at a friend's house all morning. The chart may show that the child behaved well during meal preparations when he was allowed to help and nibble. Learn from this bit of childhood history so that you don't have to repeat it. When you discover a tantrum-prevention technique that works, use it again.

Even with your best efforts, tantrums will still erupt from time to time. Try to diffuse them early. Know your toddler's pre-tantrum signs - body language that signals the coming storm. Our Lauren has a short fuse. The slightest setback can cause her to fall apart. When she is trying to retrieve a stuck toy from beneath the couch, I stand by and watch as she pulls on the toy, her face getting redder and murmurs some angry sounds. I intervene early, after only one or two unsuccessful attempts on her part to retrieve the toy. Once those murmurs begin, she can no longer think straight. With our children who had more patience at that age, I would stand in the background and let them work on their problem a bit longer. In parenting the tantrum-prone child you must learn to strike a balance, knowing when to stand by and let the child work through the difficulty on her own, and when to intervene. Be careful, though, not to protect your child from ever being frustrated. It would be impossible for parents to arrange life so nicely for a child who is already of a mild temperament that he would not be getting a healthy share of frustration. Then he'll enter the next stage not knowing how to say "no" to himself, or handle frustration . A child will not learn how to solve problems unless he has problems.

3. Know your anger buttons
Some toddlers, behaviors push parents' anger buttons a lot, and some parents have very sensitive buttons. The combination of the tantrum-prone child and a parent with a short fuse is at risk for major conflicts. You'll learn quickly how a mature response to your child's tantrum can mean the difference between your child raging, totally out of control, and your child being normally frustrated. Identify which behaviors cause you to blow easily. Assess how you react to your toddler. If you regress to tantrum behavior yourself, seek professional help to get your buttons reset.

HELPING TODDLERS HANDLE TANTRUMS
Even after you do your best to create an attitude within your child and structure the environment in your home to prevent tantrums, they still occur. Here's what to do when the little volcano blows, at home, in public, or at Grandma's house:

Don't take it personally. Normal tantrums are a result of your child's development and temperament, not your parenting. Tantrums are due to frustration (your toddler is trying a complicated engineering feat, and howls when it goes wrong), so don't ignore this need for help. Take this tantrum as an opportunity to connect: By helping your child out of a tight spot, you build authority and trust. Offer a helping hand, a comforting "It's okay," and direct his efforts toward a more manageable part of the task (for example, you slip the sock halfway onto the foot, and then he can pull it on all the way).
Verbalize. Children just need to blow off steam. You can help your child by verbalizing for him what he can't say himself: "You are mad that Mommy won't let you have candy."
Holding therapy. Other times, when they have lost control, they want someone bigger and wiser to take hold of them lovingly and securely take charge. Try: "You're angry and I'm going to hold you until you get control of yourself because I love you." Soon the tantrum will fizzle and you will feel your flailing child melt into your arms as if thanking you for rescuing him from himself.
Feel your way through the tantrum
Avoid forceful restraint. If holding makes your child furious and escalates the tantrum, loosen your hold or quit holding. Your child needs support, not anger. (Forcefully holding onto your child when your child needs to release from you is controlling too much.)

The tantrum-throwing child under two will most often need the holding approach. He can't talk about his problems. Your strong arms in place around him give the message that since he's out of control you have stepped in to help him hold himself together. You may or may not be heard, but you can speak softly near his ear with reassuring phrases like "Mama's here. I'll help you. Show me what you need," and so on. Don't coddle and don't allow his kicks and flails to hurt you. If you can't contain him and he hurts you, calmly put him down next to you and stay as close as you can without letting him hurt you. When to hold the child and when to just be on stand-by is a tantrum-by-tantrum call.

Time-out the tantrum. If neither ignoring the tantrum nor comforting it seems appropriate, remove the child from the triggering circumstance and call for a time-out. For example, if your child throws a tantrum in the supermarket, calmly pick him up and head for the car.

For tantrums at grandma's house (often the ones that embarrass parents the most because it is in the presence of their own parents and in-laws that they feel the most scrutinized), it helps if you are able to share your tantrum strategy ahead of time so Grandma knows not to sabotage your approach, and also so she knows you really are in charge of her grandchild and she can just relax and watch you parent. It might be similar to what she did when she was a mom, or it might be very different. But it will help your perspective on things if she says to you something like, "He's just like his dad. I had lots of days like this, and we both survived." Then you can both share a laugh and you may get to hear some wisdom from one who's been there.

MANAGING TANTRUMS IN OLDER CHILDREN

As a child nears three years of age, tantrums lesson because he now has the language to express himself, and he's busy developing in other areas of his life (such as imagination is blossoming, and more fears are surfacing. Tantrums may reappear at four with a surprising twist. A four-year-old is smarter, stronger, louder and more adept at pushing parents' buttons. The child now realizes he has his own power in the family, and that can be threatening to some parents. It is important not to squelch an emerging personality by overreacting.

Give a positive message. Give your child clear messages of what you expect. Be positive and specific in your instructions: "I expect you to be polite at Grandma's. We can show her your new books and maybe she'll read one to you. After lunch, we'll go home." This is more meaningful to a child than "I won't tolerate tantrums, and I expect you to be good." You can't reason with a child during a tantrum, but you can before it occurs.

Give your child other outlets for emotional overload other than tantruming: "Use your words instead of your body to get what you want." Help him use his body positively -- lots of opportunities for motor activities and outdoor play. (Get an old mattress or a mini-trampoline to bounce on.) Play lively music to dance to and have jumping contests. Encourage him to draw what he's feeling on a "tantrum table." After a tantrum, ask him to "draw angry pictures about what you feel." You can do this yourself when you're angry and talk about what you're doing: "I'm drawing angry lines and angry faces!" What really helps is for your child to see you manage your temper tantrums. When you're angry, try lying on your bed, kicking, and hitting the bed. Or, say "We're going on an angry walk. Get in the stroller." If you are beginning to realize this is a problem area for you, now that you have little eyes and ears soaking up your every move, you will want to get help on managing your anger. Having children forces adults to take stock of their own emotional maturity. We've all been there to one degree or another, so don't be embarrassed to admit, even to yourself, that there are changes you would like to see take place in you, so you can be a calmer parent.

Don't reinforce tantrums. Don't let your child use a tantrum as a means to an end. If he knows that as soon as he gets within grabbing distance of the candy at the check-out counter in the supermarket all he has to do is pitch a fit and you'll give in to quiet him down, then he's already conditioned to begin his act as soon as you approach the counter. Next time explain before you enter that high-risk area: "We are not buying any candy, so it won't do you any good to fuss. You can help mommy put the groceries on the counter. Remember, we're buying frozen yogurt to have at home." A friend tells us she handles private and public out-of-control tantrums differently. In private, she becomes so bored by the tantrum that it soon stops. In public, she says sternly to the child, "You may not embarrass me," -- and the child believes her.

Just Say No! One day I was with our then five-year-old, Lauren, at the supermarket check-out counter. (I reason that if the store is silly enough to risk putting candy in front of children, the management deserves the behavior they have caused.) Lauren threw a tantrum in protest. I kept saying "no" to the candy request. Finally, she got the message that "no" means "no", finally! The clerk later whispered to me "I wish more parents would say "no" to their children."

Ignore it? Whether or not you ignore a tantrum should depend on what you think the cause is. If you judge that the child is pitching a fit to gain your attention, ignore it. By you not reinforcing tantrums, your child will get the message that this behavior is not acceptable: "It gets me nowhere, I might as well be a nice person" (Then be sure to reinforce the nice person.) If you're going to ignore the tantrum and walk away, leave your child with the message that you are available: "Eric, you must really be angry. When you calm down, I will try to help." Then you walk away, though not far, and allow the child to regain his composure. Shouting "shut up" and storming off closes the door to communication and escalates a tantrum.

Instead of walking away from the tantrum, you could try the homebase approach. Stay nearby the scene and keep busy: read a book. Don't get drawn into the tantrum or start arguing. If the tantruming upsets your harmony or the child wants to get physical, you need to walk away. A phrase we use is: "That's disturbing my peace." Remember, a tantrum will go on as long as it can hold an audience. Big audience reactions will be rewarded with an encore. Sometimes, announcing "I'll be here when you're ready to calm down and talk" is enough to motivate the child into changing characters.

He is now big enough to hurt you
When a two-year-old goes out of control, you can usually physically take charge. This is not so with the four-year-old or older. He is now big enough to hurt you. You may feel like locking him in his room, but a safer option would be for you to lock yourself in your room until he is able to calm down. If you feel angry enough to hit your child immediately separate yourself from your child. Some mothers have put a child in a room and have found that the child destroys property. If he destroys toys, remember they are his toys, and you will not replace them. If he destroys parts of the room (breaks a window, dents walls, and so on), he will be shocked at his own angry power the first time it happens. It will most likely not be repeated because it is so scary. The older child can be required to work off what it costs you for repairs. If this destructive behavior does happen again, you will need professional help to sort it all out. There is just too much anger there. A sudden onset of tantrums is a clue to put on your detective hat. There is likely to be a problem going on in your child that needs solving.

One mother we talked with, who is also a psychologist, acknowledged her large part in escalating tantrums. She would keep talking, and engaging the child in battle. What she learned was she should have stopped talking and just done something to bring the tantrum to a close.

HANDLING TANTRUMS IN PUBLIC

Just like at home, kids throw tantrums in public when they don't get their way. Let's say you take your child to the supermarket and he feels he absolutely must have a candy bar. When you say "no", there is a clash of wills that can result in a tantrum. Many public places, such as stores and amusement parks, are overwhelming for children because there are so many things they want but can't have. At home, you can walk away and say, "I'll come back and play with you when you give me your nice voice. If you want to scream, you can go outside." But in public, if your child's volcano erupts, you can't just ignore it because his behavior is disturbing other people.

In a soft voice say, "I know you're upset, but it's time to calm down". Stay in control because if she picks up that her tantrum is getting to you, and it probably is because you're concerned about what other people are thinking, she'll scream even more. Your anxiety reinforces hers. If she doesn't calm down, take her to the car. If she won't walk, carry her. Once there, hold her, look her in the eyes and say, "I know you are out of control. I am in control and am here to help you. I understand you are really upset because you want that candy bar (or whatever else prompted the tantrum), but here are the reasons why you can't have it. We can talk about it more once you calm down. But until you do, we are going to sit here." Eventually, he will get bored sitting there and quiet down.

Even though it seems easier to just give the kid the candy bar and get out of the store, everyone's looking at you, and you're wondering, "What did I do wrong? Mine is the only child out of control." However, your child has to learn that tantrums are not a means to an end, otherwise, he'll pitch a fit the next time you're in a similar situation.

Don't think other people are judging you. Nowadays, with lots of parents on the go with their kids, people are more accepting of public tantrums because they've been there, and if you can remain firm and calm in the face of a tantrum, I think people appreciate it. Yes, a few people may stare, but usually no one will say anything. Just focus on your child, and tune out everyone else. In fact, other shoppers appreciate parents taking a firm stand with their children. One time after saying "no" to our five-year-old, Lauren who wanted a candy bar at the checkout counter, the clerk said to me: "I wish more parents would say "no" to their children."

Plan ahead
"When we're finished shopping, we'll get an ice cream cone. Help mommy finish shopping." Let your child help you pick out canned goods, etc. When little hands are busy, little minds get less upset. Hunger and fatigue can trigger tantrums, so make sure your child is fed and rested before you go out. Boredom can also drive a tantrum. If you're shopping or running an errand, keep her mind and body busy so she won't have time to be bored: "I need you to help mommy pick out a dress."

KINDERMUSIK SIGN AND SING CLASS
Another way to deal with and prevent toddler temper tantrums is to learn to communicate with your baby before he or she becomes a toddler.

Benefits for Your Child and You

Communicate with your child even before she can form the words.
Ease a child's frustration by helping her communicate what she needs, speed language development, and enhance long-term learning abilities.
Reduces temper tantrums since small children can communicate thier wishes and needs
Know when your child is most ready to interact and learn.
Learn sign language teaching methods, such as making the sign on a child's body, on the floor, or hand over hand.

Through songs, toys, and loving playtime between you and your child, Kindermusik Sign & Sing shows you more than 50 signs your child can use to communicate with you. Using research-proven methods shown to speed language development in hearing children, you'll see how sign language can ease frustration and enhance long-term learning abilities for your child.

Songs and fingerplays. Already accustomed to fingerplays and rhyme-songs—such as "This Little Piggy"—you'll easily substitute American Sign Language (ASL) signs in familiar songs, improving your child's language skills, fine motor skills, and strengthen fingers for zipping zippers and using scissors.

Learn when you play. You'll never have to memorize a list of signs. This curriculum gives you the ASL signs that are most useful to you, and most interesting to your child. So playtime and everyday items around the house—ball, bubbles, mom and dad—become theobjects of learning in the classroom, and sign language becomes a natural, happy part of your child's day.

Hearing children who know signs, learn language almost twice as fast. As early as 11-14 months old, hearing children exposed to sign language put little sentences together faster than non-signing children, who do not begin to combine words into short sentences.

Do you have a Toddler who is in the Middle of the Tantrum Years? Share your best tantrum story!

How Toddler's Social Skills are Affected by the Arts: Part 4 of a 4 Part Series

2010-05-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

Social Skills are Not Natural Skills; They are Learned:

By watching others, testing, and interacting with others, children learn what behaviours get which results; how to manipulate their world; what roles are and how they adapt; what the limits are etc. They are learning about dealing with frustration, patience, delayed gratification, self-esteem, confidence, and the ability to take risks.

What they are learning now is the basis of how they will interact with others when they are at age16--they are learning about becoming self-disciplined. Providing opportunities that are challenging and stimulating but not beyond their ability helps them to build self-esteem. How situations are handled can build empathy for others. They need freedom of choice matched with dependable boundaries. Finally, a loving environment increases thier ability to learn!

Talk to toddlers about everything you are doing and thinking (helps them with problem solving skills as well as social skills and self-praise)
Role-model the skills you want them to copy
When appropriate, don't solve issues for them--help them find solutions to try
Don't judge, demoralize, punish---when they act inappropriately it is because they haven't learned the appropriate way yet
Acknowledge interactions with others, attempts at tasks, accomplishments, risk-taking
Create story books together (they can draw the pictures), discussing an issue they are having (ex. separation anxiety during child care: include pictures of parents at car and at their work; start the sentences with "I like it when.." and "It makes me sad because..." and end off the story with the information about when the parents will return: time, during what activity etc)
Give lots of hugs, snuggles, smiles, reassurance, love!

Suggested Activities: for Toddlers to Become Social Beings:

Sing, dance and play music related to children’s cultures.
Have food tasting or prepare a treat related to children’s cultures.
Invite family members to share family traditions.
Invite children to bring in photos or keepsakes of familytraditions.
Visit a museum or library and borrow artifacts, books, music and art related to a variety of ethnicities.
Make an effort to expose children to cultures other than their own.
Play games related to multicultural traditions.
Always provide pictures, puzzles and books which include children and adults of various ethnic backgrounds.
Provide dolls of various races and clothing from differentcultures in the dramatic play area.

Here is a link to a Great article "Children as Social Beings," about how children become social beings
http://collab4kids.homestead.com/socialbeings.pdf

Prosocial Behavior

(notes from "Kindermusik and Social/Emotional Development" see link below)

What is it?

Prosocial behavior goes beyond simply “being social” and instead describes acts that specifically show recognition of and empathy for the feelings of others. It involves ethics, sharing, cooperation, caring gestures,
and compromises for cooperation and group harmony. In studies, prosocial behavior seems linked, not surprisingly, to both listening skills and expression skills, as both are necessary to making connections with others. Children who demonstrate prosocial behaviors are more likely to play well with others, express recognition of the feelings of others, and even engage in conflict-resolution behaviors.

Repeatedly and undeniably, the demonstration of good prosocial behaviors has been statistically associated with teachers’ assessments of children’s school-readiness, with the development of positive friendships and relationships in school, and even with greater literacy skills, as demonstrated in testing.

Children who can communicate their needs, recognize emotions, and produce appropriate solutions to interpersonal conflicts have an easier time forming positive relationships and benefit more from the learning environment of school. Social development and academic development are inextricably connected.

How it works in a Kindermusik class

Simple observation makes it clear that music activities like those in Kindermusik provide a wonderful opportunity for social interaction and positive connections. Group activities foster opportunities for cooperation, conversation, coordinated movement, hand-holding, and the abandonment of inhibitions. As a whole, groups who have engaged in musical activities are more confident and better adjusted than groups who engage only in traditional, non-group, non-musical activities.

In addition, research suggests that music activities enable children to better decode the musical aspects (such as rhythm, stress, and intonation) of speech, and even to better identify emotions and tones in spoken language.

All of these skills—listening, decoding speech, connecting with others, adjusting to a group—are essential to the development of what one study defines as “social competence”, or the capacity for children to engage successfully with other children, to set and meet social goals, to develop friendships, and to gain entry into the peer groups they choose.

“The preschool period is a particularly important time for the development of social skills,” the researchers state. “It is at this time when children begin to expand their social interactions beyond their parents and take on the developmental task of building relationships and acceptance with their peers.”

Excellent article: Kindermusik Music & Social-Emotional Development
Please leave a comment or send me a tweet: @Angelmusik

11 ways to REALLY listen to your child

2010-05-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

Oringially posted by my friend Vanessa Cabrera77 on May 4, 2010

A few days ago I read this (I can't remember where!) “We were given two ears but only one mouth, because listening is twice as hard and important as talking”. Well, it's true! And then I thought about children and kids have lot to say... a lot! Sometimes adults don’t think that children have anything important to say or that they can’t learn from children. So often times they do all the talking, they lecture, preach or, worst of all, ignore them!

Listening to your children will help them grow up to be adults with increased self-esteem because you will make them feel like what they have to say is important. However, children are not always sure how to communicate their feelings, so they might be saying or acting out completely different from how they actually feel. Active listening can help you, help them figure it out.

So here are some tips to REALLY listen to your child when they have something important
(or not) to say:

Stop what you are doing- Don't be distracted doing something else.
Look at your child-Sit at his/her level.
Pay attention to your child's nonverbal language-Does the child look happy, sad, afraid?
Be silent. It might be hard, but it is important that they have time to express themselves. It will also give you time to understand the situation before reacting.
Use simple acknowledgement responses that show you are listening- For example, "I see". "Oh". "Uh-Huh". Hmmm."
Use door-openers; phrases that encourage further talking- "Tell me more", "Go on", "How do you feel about that?", "I know what you mean", "Then what?"
Listen for and name the feelings you think you hear from what your child is telling you-"That made you pretty mad, didn't it?", "You seem really happy about that!"
Use problem-solving phrases when needed- "What do you wish you could do?", "What do you want to happen?", "What do you think will happen if you do that?"
Don't feel that you must advise or help your child come up with a solution all the time- The value of listening is in the listening itself.
Let them know you are available.
Don't try to deny, discount, or distract the child from the feelings they are expressing.

Listening helps parents and children avoid the power struggle cycle. Instead of arguing, listen. Show your understanding while maintaining your position. Listening builds stronger relationships, shows respect and helps the child explore his/her own feelings and thoughts on a deeper level. It builds their sense of empathy.

Are you ready to listen to your child?

BEWARE: PIRATES!!

2010-05-14T17:17:00.000-07:00

Ahoy there Mateys!

Ye be invited to a Kindermusik Pirate Party

At The New Day Center for the Arts

5516 SE Foster Road, Portland, OR

TOMORROW 5/15/10
Saturday 10:30 - 11:30 am

RSVP: 503-708-2827

kindermusikwithangie.kindermusik.net

kindermusikwithangie.blogspot.com

Pirate boys &girls ages 2 and up

$5.00 per Child, Adults free!

All scallywags on board!
Come sailing the seas with us in this
high-spirited morning adventure.
Dance a sea shanty, a treasure hunt
for pirate gold, face painting, snacks,
and take home some treasures!

Hand-Clapping Songs Improve Child's Cognitive Skills

2010-05-13T19:07:00.001-07:00

Many childhood songs incorporate hand clapping. Now, there's research to prove that those simple sing-a-longs help a child's motor and cognitive development.

The firsthand study, conducted by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), in Israel, reveals the impact these activities have on a child's development.

When comparing early-age elementary students who are exposed to hand-clapping songs to those who aren't exposed to these activities, the differences were striking. "We found that children in the first, second and third grades who sing these songs demonstrate skills absent in children who don't take part in similar activities," explains Dr. Idit Sulkin.

The research states that hand-clapping songs are an integral part of development.

Dr. Warren Brodsky, a music psychologist who supervised Sulkin's doctoral dissertation, said these findings confirm that when a child does not have exposure to these types of activities, he or she is more vulnerable to develop dyslexia and dyscalculia.

"There's no doubt such activities train the brain and influence development in other areas," said Brodsky.

During this study, Sulkin visited several first, second and third grade classrooms for 10 weeks. She placed some classes in music appreciation programs, or hand-clapping song training. While another group remained in environments without musical stimuli.

"Within a very short period of time the children who, until then, hadn't taken part in such activities caught up in their cognitive abilities to those who did," she said. However, the advancements only occurred for children in hand-clapping classes. Through Sulkin's self-observation, she realized that early-age children are attracted to hand-clapping-like songs.

"The hand-clapping songs appear naturally in children's lives around the age of seven, and disappear around the age of 10. In this narrow window, these activities serve as a developmental platform to enhance children's needs - emotional, sociological, physiological and cognitive. It's a transition stage that leads them to the next phases of growing up," said Sulkin.

And while the firsthand study was limited to children, Sulkin also questioned adults to see the effect music and hand-clapping exposure has on them. She realized that adults also see positive effects from hand-clapping. Sulkin noted that even though many adults may feel silly about these exercises, "they report feeling more alert and in a better mood" once having performed them.

By Rochelle Oliver, Associate News Editor, PsychCentral.com

How the Toddler's Motor Skills are Affected by the Arts Part 3 of a 4 Part Series

2010-05-13T05:19:00.001-07:00

Toddlers are not only becoming aware of their bodies but are gaining control and learning about its potential and its limits

Toddlers, through moving, learn how to walk, run, climb, sit, balance, kick, throw, draw--they learn about how they affect objects and their own bodies, they learn about distance and speed, and force
Climbing over, under, and through objects develops motor skills and problem-solving skills as well as physics and science concepts (cause and effect; distance, force etc.)
Large muscles develop before small muscles
Active play improves ability to make judgments, to deal with frustration, provides a sense of accomplishment
Motor development is the most visible source of self-appraisal--it is easy to see what one can DO, and that they are doing it better than before

Provide opportunities to run, crawl, play with balls and other tools, as well as times to sit (controlled muscles). Space and obstacles/challenges builds problem-solving abilities

Provide not only space to explore, but also the proper skills to interact with objects
Build a mountain of pillows for climbing --it's safe, it's soft, it's fun
Give them buckets, trays, and cups and lots of beans and rice (etc.) to pick up (supervised of course)--building small motor skills
Provide a bag of rags and a ball; let them play with the rags, dumping and tossing them everywhere; have them get the ball without stepping on the rags and returning it to the bag; help them put the bags back in the bag (in/out; sensory; motor control). They will love to do this over and over again (as they do all activities)
Decorate a plastic container to look like a bird or animal; have toddlers tear (or use scissors if they are ready) to make little pieces of paper to "Feed the bird"
Provide beanbags for tossing and for balancing on their shoulders, arms, hands, head, knees
Make a bowling set out of pop bottles and a newspaper ball
Create an obstacle course out of old shirt sleeves by sewing up one end and placing old squeaky toys inside-- let them crawl or walk on the train of sleeves, finding the object inside and making it squeak
Have a 'pocket dance' where the children dance with their hands in the pockets: great upper body motions involved in this

MUSIC AND MOTOR SKILLS:
Given the rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic patterns inherent in music, musical stimuli is an effective external
timekeeper and means to structure functional movement on a variety of levels. In particular, rhythm acts as an
“entrainment” stimulus to cue patterned movements such as walking. Additionally, pitch patterns can simulate
and cue spatial positions, while harmonic patterns cue force and strength. Below are classroom-tested tips to

Use of Rhythmic Instruments
Musical instruments can be used as a motivating way to encourage grasp/release, bilateral integration, eyehand coordination, crossing midline, cause & effect skills, and basic motor imitation. Instruments with both a high visual appeal and a pleasing auditory sound will be most effective to encourage sustained participation.

Strategies include:

Holding an instrument across midline and having the student reach with the opposite hand to produce a sound.
Using instruments that require mallets, such as drum or woodblock to improve functional grasp.
Mallets can be adapted with built-up handles or Velcro to assist.
Using smaller rhythm instruments such as finger cymbals, castanets, or a mini-keyboard to target fine motor skills.
Placing a highly preferred instrument at a distance and having the student walk the specified distance or reach to obtain the instrument.
Having the student play an instrument to the beat for the duration of a song in order to sustain purposeful movement or increase strength.

Music and Handwriting
For pre-writing activities, engage students in free drawing while listening to a fast or slow piece of music, trying to match the drawing to the music style and pace. For students who are writing but are difficult to motivate, provide them the lyrics to their favorite song to copy; allowing them to sing or listen to the song as a reward when completed.

Use of Recorded Music or Singing
In addition to music’s ability to increase motivation for movement, research also supports rhythm as an efective timekeeper to structure movement and increase coordination. Rhythmic music at a pace appropriate for the student’s motor skills can be used during gait training (walking) or other patterned movement activities in which the student is encouraged to move with the beat.

Calming music, or the student’s preferred music can be used as a distractor during challenging or non-preferred motor tasks during which the student typically displays frustration or anxiety.
Theme Songs can be used to pair with various motor tasks for a play-based approach. For example, a Beach Boys surfing song could be played while the student is standing on a bolster, or“Row Your Boat” could be sung while a student is rocking back and forth.

Notes from: http://www.childrenspublishing.com/TIL_Motor_CP.pdf

How Music Helps Children Learn

Music is a natural part of life for toddlers. They might sing to their stuffed animals, tap their feet to the rhythm of nursery rhymes, and enjoy the sound of their parents singing to them — even if mom and dad can't quite carry a tune.

But this early introduction to music does more than entertain. It can kickstart learning, serve as an important cue in a child's routine, and offer lifelong benefits.

Music contributes to what experts call "a rich sensory environment." This simply means exposing kids to a wide variety of tastes, smells, textures, colors, and sounds — experiences that can forge more pathways between the cells in their brains.

These neural connections will help kids in almost every area of school, including reading and math. Just listening to music can make these connections, but the biggest impact on comes if kids actively participate in musical activities.

Of course there's another reason to introduce music into your toddler's world: It's enjoyable for both of you. That will come as no surprise to parents who sing songs with their child, sway and twirl together to favorite CDs, or listen to lullabies as they rock their child to sleep.

I Got Music, I Got Rhythm
Between the ages of 1 and 3, kids respond best to music when they actively experience it. Passive listening (like in the car) is fine, but look for opportunities to get your child rocking, marching, rolling, tapping, clapping, and moving to the beat.

Share songs that go along with simple hand motions or dance moves, like The "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "The Wheels on the Bus," "Two Little Blackbirds," or the "Hokey Pokey." For younger kids, a parent's lap is a great place to put music and movement together. Have your child face you and be sure to smile as you bounce your knees to chants like "Trot, Trot to Boston" or "To Market, To Market."

If you don't know a lot of kids' songs and rhymes, you can borrow books, CDs, and DVDs from the local library. But also feel free to make it up as you go along. Create your own silly songs and hand motions. Try to use your child's name in the song or rhyme. Or just turn on some music and dance together. Show your toddler how to move with the music by twirling quickly to a fast song and swooping slowly to a song with a longer, slower beat. Introduce props like scarves, balloons, or stuffed animals to dance with.

Listen At this age, kids can sporadically keep time — you'll notice this if you give a toddler a pot and a wooden spoon and sing a song or play some music that has a steady tempo. You can encourage this by grabbing your own spoon, inviting your toddler to bang out a rhythm, and then imitating what he or she does. Extend the game by tapping a slightly more complicated rhythm and inviting your child to follow or by asking your child to tap on different surfaces — the floor, your back, a pillow — and seeing what sound these different taps make.

Music Can Teach Songs are a lot more fun than flashcards and can teach toddlers important facts and skills. For instance, singing the ABC song can help a child learn the alphabet, "This Old Man" teaches counting, and "There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly" helps with rhyming and memory.

And you can encourage creativity by singing new words to familiar tunes like "Drive, Drive, Drive Your Car" for "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" or by inserting your child's name in "Did You Ever See a Lassie?"

You're likely to find your child favoring a few songs and rhymes and wanting to hear them again and again. While this may become dull for you, your child is on to something. Repetition helps kids learn.

It's important to note that toddlers won't learn to read or understand music at this point. They won't pick up individual notes, for instance, but will experiment with different pitches. You may notice your toddler singing made-up songs that slide from high to low and back again. Usually these songs will not have a regular rhythm.

Kids this age also are learning about keeping a steady beat and making coordinated movements — skills that are critical to math and reading later on. Encourage this development by tapping the beat with your foot while you sing and by chanting simple nursery rhymes.

Adding Instruments If you'd like to introduce an instrument, keep it simple. Very young toddlers will enjoy instruments they can shake — bells, rattles, shakers, tambourines, or rain sticks. As your child gets older and a little more coordinated, try rhythm instruments that can be banged, like drums, cymbals, or xylophones.

Listen Some 2- to 3-year-olds can use simple wind instruments, like a recorder, a pipe whistle, or a kazoo. Many companies now make musical instruments that are appropriately sized and shaped for little hands and that are safe for toddlers — check the label when you buy them.

Kids usually don't start formal instruction to learn an instrument until they're older, but you might have heard of the Suzuki method. It's geared to kids as young as 2 or 3 for the violin, but parents must be present for the lessons and involved in both the instruction and the learning process.

If your child does begin formal instruction, make sure it is with a certified instructor at a reputable school and that the instrument used is adapted for a young child. And, of course, you'll want to have reasonable expectations of how much a child can master at this young age.

Music Can Soothe Once your toddler is familiar with music, it can be a source of comfort and soothing. Don't be surprised if you hear your child singing in bed or while playing, or serenading dolls or stuffed animals, especially if you have made a habit of singing to him or her yourself.

When music is part of the everyday routine, these songs can help your child know what to expect and feel more secure. For instance, if you always sing a lullaby at bedtime or naptime, your child will come to see this as a cue for "go to sleep."

Here are some other ways music can help your child make transitions through the day:
Picking up toys ("toys away, toys away, it's time to put the toys away")brushing teeth ("brushing, brushing, brushing teeth," sung to the tune of "London Bridge Is Falling Down")taking a bath ("Now it's bath time, now it's bath time, yes, it is" sung to the tune of "Are You Sleeping")In addition, you can use music to alter your child's mood — and your own. While soft, gentle music seems just right for bedtime, louder, bouncier music could be just the boost you both need when it's time to clean up the toys.

Listen to All Kinds of Music: Kids' music CDs are great, but don't forget to share your own favorite music with your kids. A toddler who loves Beethoven or Bruce Springsteen? Why not? Folk music and music from other cultures also can be good choices for kids. When you try new music, ask if your child likes it and discuss your opinion as well.

Though toddlers aren't likely to be ready for a night at the opera, you might be able to find live performances suitable for kids. Museums, libraries, and bookstores often host child-friendly events. Outdoor concerts where kids can run around without disturbing anyone are also a good bet.

You might also enroll your child in a music class. If you do, be sure the class is developmentally appropriate — for kids this age, that means it shouldn't last more than 45 minutes and it should be something you and your child do together. Classes are a fun way to enjoy music together; they're also good sources for music and activities to enjoy at home. Check the music department at your local university if you need help finding a music class.

Even if you do take a class with your child, remember that you are your child's first and most important teacher when it comes to music — and so much more. To help your child really benefit from a music class, be sure to bring the music and games you learn there into your home.

Kindermusik Most Trusted Name in Music
With 30 years experience in developing early learning curricula and products, Kindermusik is the world’s most trusted name in music and movement classes for children newborn to seven. Kindermusik curricula are based upon the principles of early development applied to developmentally appropriate practice as defined by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Plus, the Kindermusik philosophy is rooted in the work of early childhood development experts like Piaget, Montessori, and Greenspan.

Kindermusik's full curricula offer your child seven years of musical learning that involves every aspect of your child’s growth and development: language, motor skills, social skills, cognitive development, emotional growth, and musicality. Throughout the Kindermusik experience, a trusted and trained Educator will guide you and your child through every musical and developmental milestone and help you understand what is happening all along the way. Each semester, a new set of At Home Materials brings the experience out of the classroom and into your every day routines and rituals.

Come experience for yourself why more parents around the world choose Kindermusik than any other music and movement program.

Sign up for a class today! http://www.kindermusikwithangie.kindermusik.net/

How the Toddler's Intellect is Affected by the Arts: Part 2 of a 4 Part Series

2010-05-12T02:25:00.001-07:00

Every thing toddlers see / hear / feel / taste / do is either building new neuro-pathways or strengthening present ones

Some pathways, if not used during the early years will disappear
Everything is new to them: every person, every texture, every object, every action, every smell, etc
What they do now is the basis for all learning: problem solving, basic concepts, questioning, testing
Toddlers need to be talked to, asked questions of, challenged, rewarded, read to
They are learning about the basic math concepts: in/out; over/under; big/little; soft/hard; up/down; red/green; fast/slow; heavy/light etc.
They are learning about real vs. imaginary
Through experience they learn that although things may be out-of-sight they have not disappeared
They are learning that symbols represent real things or communications
Pre-reading skills are being built: comparing sounds (ball/fall; basketball = basket - ball)

Some Activities to Enjoy with your Toddler:

Provide them sticky tape (all kinds) and let them explore
Set up challenging obstacle courses for crawling through, under, over, around (Labeling actions improves language)
Provide numerous sensory activities: allowing exploration, dumping, mixing, pouring, feeling etc
Play games that require memory skills and repetition (ex. hide an object under a cloth)
Toddlers love to repeat activities time and again experimenting with what they learned (or thought they had learned: was their theory correct?)
Label objects with words and pictures
Couple oral language with hand signs to assist them with communicating. Kids can wave before they can say bye-bye!
Provide a multitude of materials and activities which enhance understanding of the basic concepts: blocks, boxes and bags of objects, music (at varying tempos and intensity), dolls, food
Make a "boo-tube" together: place an object (that creates a sound, if possible) in a see-through tube; cover one end of the tube with paint or decorated paper (they can decorate it); let them rock the tube back and forth, making the object inside disappear and re-appear
Peek-a-boo boxes can be made out of small containers by gluing a picture inside for them to find

How Kindermusik Helps Build Intellect through Music and Movement

The Kindermusik method, which is taught by thousands of licensed instructors around the world, focuses on music and movement as fundamental factors in early childhood development.

For parents wondering when they should introduce their child to music, Prof. Lee Willingham, coordinator of the music education program at Wilfrid Laurier University, has a quick and easy answer: "There is no wrong time, except too late." "It's amazing that a child's brain seems to be hard-wired to respond to music," he says. "You don't have to infuse kids with music -- it's already there, waiting to be awakened."

Willingham says there has been a flood of public and scientific interest in the cognitive benefits of music since the Mozart Effect became widely known in the late 1990s.

Though the Mozart effect itself refers to a study in which university-aged students seemed to fare better on spatial-reasoning tests after listening to Mozart, many studies followed, examining more specifically the effects of music on children.

Music, combined with rhythmic motion (especially playing two-handed instruments such as guitar and piano), has been shown to aid development of the corpus callosum, the connection between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

Other studies have shown links between playing simple instruments at an early age and development of spatial reasoning and language skills.

Researchers at Hamilton's McMaster University recently used magnetoencephalography brain-scanning technology to determine that children aged four to six who took music lessons showed more changes in brain activity than those who did not. Even the act of bouncing babies to the rhythm of music has been shown to help children compartmentalize and make sense of the world around them.

"I think we have enough evidence to say that a child who doesn't get music is being deprived -- I will say that boldly and unapologetically," Willingham says.

Though experts unanimously agree exposing children to music is beneficial, opinions vary on how it's best done. The Suzuki method, taught at the Suzuki String School in Guelph, emphasizes building performance skills on an instrument such as violin or piano through a nurturing lesson style.

Programs like Kindermusik emphasize singing, dancing and playing to help children grow mentally and emotionally.

The number of options might seem overwhelming to parents, but it needn't, says Bill Labron, director of the Beckett School in Kitchener. The school's Early Childhood Music program uses a blend of a number of different teaching styles -- including Orff, Eurythmics and Dalcroze -- to introduce children as young as three to music. "At that age, they can learn to carry a tune and develop a sense of rhythm," Labron says. "It provides physical, emotional and mental stimulation. If people can make that investment in their kids, the benefits are wonderful."

Why Choose Kindermusik?

It’s true that research shows music helps children become better learners, and that even a newborn emotionally responds to music. Parents respond, too: 99% of Kindermusik parents would recommend the classes to other parents*.

However, all the research in the world can’t accurately capture the look of pure delight in your child’s eyes when she experiences the sights and sounds of Kindermusik, both in the classroom and at home.

With 30 years experience in developing early learning curricula and products, Kindermusik is the world’s most trusted name in music and movement classes for children newborn to seven. Kindermusik curricula are based upon the principles of early development applied to developmentally appropriate practice as defined by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Plus, the Kindermusik philosophy is rooted in the work of early childhood development experts like Piaget, Montessori, and Greenspan.

Our full curricula offer your child seven years of musical learning that involves every aspect of your child’s growth and development: language, motor skills, social skills, cognitive development, emotional growth, and musicality. Throughout the Kindermusik experience, a trusted and trained Educator will guide you and your child through every musical and developmental milestone and help you understand what is happening all along the way. Each semester, a new set of At Home Materials brings the experience out of the classroom and into your every day routines and rituals.

Come experience for yourself why more parents around the world choose Kindermusik than any other music and movement program.

*Harris Interactive, November 2005

Toy Hall of Fame

2010-05-11T13:51:00.001-07:00

What's in the National Toy Hall of Fame?
Posted on May 11, 2010 by juliesmusicbrioso

The Strong National Museum of Play, located in Rochester, New York has a terrific website, including their National Toy Hall of Fame: http://www.museumofplay.org/nthof/inductees.php There are currently 44 toys listed, with information about each toy and why it is included.

In order to be named to the National Toy Hall of Fame, the toy must meet the following 4 criteria:
1.. Icon-status: The toy is widely recognized, respected, and remembered.
2.. Longevity: The toy is more than a passing fad and has enjoyed popularity over multiple generations.
3.. Discovery: The toy fosters learning, creativity, or discovery through play.
4.. Innovation: The toy profoundly changed play or toy design. A toy may be inducted on the basis of this criterion without necessarily having met all of the first three.

There are all kinds of toys that you might expect, from balls and jump ropes to Frisbees and Play-Doh. The one that was most fascinating was the stick. Here is an excerpt of what the Strong Museum had to say about it:

The stick may be the world's oldest toy. Children find sticks an endless source of make-believe fun. Sticks can turn into swords, magic wands, majorette batons, fishing poles, and light sabers. When children pretend with sticks, they cultivate their creativity and develop their imagination. Children build with sticks, bat balls with them, and walk with them. They are the original building blocks for creative play. Sticks also promote free play-the freedom to invent and discover. They encourage playing outside instead of inside. Sticks are all around us; they are natural and free.

What "old school" toys would to your top 5?

The Toddler and the Arts: Part 1 of a 4 Part Series

2010-05-11T08:00:00.001-07:00

Music enhances brain development, especially since it stimulates the connection of 'sensory-cognitive-motor' development building the neuro-connections stronger and more complex
Art activities can develop sensory stimulation, patterning, and conceptual awareness
Role-playing helps toddlers understand their world: experimenting and practicing roles--they can express how they feel about other people; they can practice with rules;
Music activities enrich memory abilities

Here are activities to bring the arts to toddler's every day life:

Toddlers love to bang on pots and pans and oatmeal boxes--builds creativity, motor development, sensory awareness, and rhythm.
They love to march, and dance to music (don't forget the Classical Stuff!). Provide scarves, instruments, and ribbons to dance and march with
Finger painting is F-U-N! Try finger painting in a bag (place paints in a re-sealable bag and 'paint' by drawing with fingers on the outside of the bag)
Provide a box full of hats and gloves and shoes to dress up in--provide a full-sized mirror so they can see what they look like
And don't forget sensory material: cornmeal, shaving cream, pudding, ice, rice, water, sand, flower, bells, Easter grass, sandpaper, silk, cotton balls
Attach some "mac-tac" to the wall (sticky side out) and provide a variety of materials for mounting on their mural: magazine pictures and words, ribbons, popsicle sticks, pebbles, buttons, textured paper and material, pre-cut shapes
Make musical shakers out of any container. With two shakers of each sound, they can compare and find the matching sounds
Play "SH!!!! Shakers" by keeping one shaker empty. Have them find the SH!!! Shaker (the silent one).
Chanting Box: place two of several different objects inside a box (objects that have names of 1, 2, and 3 syllables long). Have child pull out 4 objects creating the words for a chant (Ex. leather mitten, leather mitten, blue shoe, cup) This builds not only language skills but the rhythm of speech and of music
Sing songs and do fingerplays: repetition of these songs develop memory skills, rhythm, and language
Sing, chant, act, and speak with varying voice tones and pitches -- developing sound discrimination skills

How Kindermusik brings the Arts to Toddlers

Simply put, Kindermusik is a music and movement program. Each week in class we play, listen, and dance to music that will impact you and your child in profound ways. That’s because every song, story, and two-step has a carefully chosen purpose in this creative curriculum—one that’s designed to stimulate and strengthen the vital neural wiring taking place in your child’s mind, right now. A Kindermusik educator will guide you every step of the way so you know how each activity contributes to your child’s overall growth and development.

The latest research with proven methods—that’s Kindermusik, too. Our child-centered curricula incorporate ongoing, in-classroom studies with our own, 30-years’ experience in music and child development. Plus, we’ve combined the best music learning methods found in Orff, Kodaly, and Suzuki.

“Take-home” books, instruments and CDs from class let you take learning with you wherever you go. All while strengthening the emotional bond between you and your child.

So whether it’s twirling under a sea of scarves, experimenting with age-appropriate instruments, singing about a scampering squirrel, creating a musical ensemble, or snuggling in your lap during story time, Kindermusik speaks your child’s language and offers her (and you!) the best music and movement class available.

Behold . . . the Power of Kindermusik!

We know we’re being dramatic, but I’m afraid we won’t apologize . . . because the research about music and children’s development is truly jaw-dropping. In the last couple of years, the eyes of the research community have turned increasingly to music, and the marvels and mysteries they have discovered are nothing short of amazing (though perhaps not exactly surprising to people who’ve regularly witnessed its effect). The bottom line: early, positive, age-appropriate experiences with music—like Kindermusik—can have a remarkable and research-proven impact on children’s learning, including language and literacy skills (e.g., vocabulary, comprehension, listening, expression); social and emotional development; mathematics and pattern-recognition skills; and even ability to plan, guide, and self-regulate behavior. It’s a lot to keep track of, so we’ve summarized the latest research on the benefits of Kindermusik-style music and movement experiences. Take a look . . .

Music & Literacy
Early music experiences can have a significant impact on literacy and reading. According to experts, learning to read depends on acquiring a variety of skills, including phonological processing, oral language, and comprehension.

Toys! Toys! Toys!

2010-05-10T20:25:00.001-07:00

Part of the fun of having a baby is shopping for the toys. Take a peek at this quick list to see what babies like to play with.

Babies learn by interacting with loved ones and by exploring their surroundings. Babies' brains are constantly developing connections that are created by what they see, hear, feel, taste and smell. The following toys stimulate our babys' senses and help our babies learn.

Toys that babies can enjoy!

Music: Babies are never too young for music. Sing songs, play CD's with nursery rhymes, and buy a musical mobile. Expose your baby to a variety of music and see what type he prefers.
Baby gyms/activity centers: These offer a lot of interesting stimulation. The bright contrasting colors and interesting shapes and sounds they make stimulate your baby's brain. As your baby grows and learns how to reach out to grasp at objects, these activity centers become even more interesting. Change them around as much as you can to keep your baby's attention. Many have clips that you can put different items on - take advantage of this and get creative with it. Play mats that have different textures are also a good idea.
Soft toys: These are fascinating to babies. They love soft toys with distinct facial features. Soft toys come in a variety of textures, which provide a way for babies to learn through their sense of touch.
Mobiles: These come in a variety of different styles, shapes, sizes and colors. If you want a visually stimulating one, you'll have to do a "sight test." Most mobiles have lovely attachments but what's the use if all your baby sees is a boring underside of a toy. Get under the mobile or hold it above your head to see what your baby will really be looking at! If it looks interesting and if it has a good variety of contrasting colors - then you've got a winner!
Toys with noise: Rattles and wrist toys are great for babies up to 6 months of age. From about 4 months, he'll enjoy playing with "squeaky" toys that he can squeeze to make sound. This is an excellent toy for learning cause and effect.
Balls: soft balls covered in textured materials that have little chimes or bells in them are enjoyed by most babies. Just slowly roll the ball back and forth in front of your baby - she'll delight in the sound and movement of the ball. As your baby grows, she'll learn how to roll the ball all by herself.
Books: Reading to babies is such a valuable activity. Choose books that are short and uncomplicated. Make sure the pictures are simple and have contrasting colors. Board books and cloth books are fun for this age. Bath books are a good idea too. To enhance your baby's sense of touch, introduce simple touch and feel books. Talk about the feel of the different textures.
Shape sorters: From about 9 months of age, your baby will enjoy using these toys as they help to develop eye-hand coordination.
Nesting cups are also good for babies this age.
Building blocks: These are one of the most versatile toys around. Babies are not yet ready to build, but they will enjoy knocking down towers that you build for them! They will also gain a sense of pride when they learn how to bang them together! Choose ones that have bright colors.
Pop up toys: At around 9-10 months, your baby will most likely be able to learn how to use these simple pop up toys. They're excellent for developing cause and effect.
Musical instruments: A small drum or a xylophone is a definite winner. They teach eye-hand coordination; and it is also a good idea to show your baby how to use them because they learn by imitation.
Puzzles: As your baby approaches 12 months, you might begin introducing very simple puzzles. I'm referring to puzzles that have two pieces and ones that have simple shapes, such as a circle. Once again you'll need to show your baby how to use them.

Get Your Kids Moving!

2010-05-10T19:51:00.001-07:00

Five Ways to Get Your Kids Exercising
by Genny Heikka of "My Cup 2 Yours"

As moms, we want to do whatever we can to give our kids an opportunity to have a healthy, productive life. We save for their college educations. We take them for regular doctor appointments. We try to make sure they eat the right foods.

But what about exercise? Is it part of our kids' daily lives? Not only are kids who exercise regularly less likely to become overweight, they also have less of a risk of developing type 2 diabetes and have lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels than kids who are inactive. In addition, studies show that they sleep better and handle physical and emotional stress more easily.

And here's a key thing for us moms to consider: the exercise habits our kids form when they are young will likely be the ones they'll carry with them into adulthood.

So how can we help our kids to get moving?

1. Limit TV. Any mom knows that TV can make kids sluggish and cranky. So turn the screen off. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, kids under the age of 6 watch an average of 2 hours of TV a day, while kids and teens from 8 - 18 years spend almost 4 hours a day watching TV and almost 2 additional hours playing video games or spending time on the computer. Set limits on the amount of TV time allowed in your house. Find what works for your family and create a schedule for no TV on weekdays or weekends. The time freed up will open doors for other activities and a change of scenery can go a long way in turning that sluggishness around.

2. Get up and out. If your kids are young, be intentional about taking them outside regularly. Take advantage of local parks and nature trails. Climbing on a play set and swinging from the monkey bars can be great exercise for young kids. If yours are older, plan a hike and have them invite a friend. Or get them a new football or Frisbee and toss the first throw. Find out what sports or activities your kids enjoy and sign them up. Look into your city's Parks and Recreation department and see what classes or teams are offered. Have your kids try a variety of activities until they find one or two that they love.

3. Drive less. Is your kids' school within walking distance? What about their friend's houses? If you have young children, walk with them instead of driving. Leave the stroller at home, and leave the house early so you have time to stop and let them look at bugs or smell the flowers without being late. If your kids are older, add something they might consider fun. Walk to the movie rental store and let them pick out the movie or video game. Ride bikes to soccer practice and have them lead the way. They may not be enthused about the idea at first, but your example can be contagious. And it's good for the environment too.

4. Make it fun. Create opportunities for exercise to be fun. Come up with a contest and join in. Who can do the most pushups in a minute? Who can swim the fastest lap in the pool? Race your kids to the mailbox. Or have them race each other. My kids love it when I judge their cannon balls, rating them from 1 to 10. They'll keep jumping in and out of the pool until I tell them to stop. When kids are focused on a goal or trying to win, especially if they're trying to beat their parents, exercise can be twice as fun.

5. Set an example. Maybe the most important thing we moms can do to encourage our kids to be active is to be active in our own lives. Make exercise a priority, even if you can only fit a ten minute walk or a thirty minute exercise video into your day. It will go a long way in reducing the stress that often comes with parenting. And don't go overboard or burn yourself out. Our kids pick up on our attitudes, so simply make exercise a positive part of your routine. Invite your kids to go bike riding or play tennis. Bring them to the gym with you. Go for an evening walk. Kids learn more from what we do than what we say, and a child who grows up seeing his or her mom or dad living actively will most likely follow in those footsteps.

Or should I say running shoes?

So what about you? How do you fit exercise into your busy day, or what are the challenges you've faced in trying to do this? What are some of your kids' favorite activities? Please leave a comment!

The Power of Music

2010-05-10T06:42:00.000-07:00

What the Experts Say

Recent research tells us that music is the only activity that stimulates every area of the brain simultaneously – which is why Kindermusik carefully creates each class using music as the key to unlocking the brain – social, emotional, cognitive, literacy, fine and gross motor skills, language and musicality.

We’ve also learned that infants are born with billions of nerve cells and a nearly unlimited potential for connections between those nerve cells. Every time an infant has a sensory experience, neural pathways are formed. The greater the number of neural pathways, the greater the brain power. This process is largely finished by the age of five, making rich sensory environments vital to the brain development of infants and young children.

Children begin the process of brain development with nerve cells that have very sparse branches. During the first few years of life the dendrites (branches) of the nerve cells proliferate. Making these new neural connections is the basis for learning. Then, around age seven or eight, the neural networks that are used the most frequently are preserved, but those that are not being used and stimulated are pruned and die off. Kindermusik exposes children to a variety of rich experiences in order to maximize a lifetime of learning potential by helping to create dense, well-traveled neural networks.

Give Kindermusik a Try, so Fun and Powerful!
http://www.kindermusikwithangie.kindermusik.net/

A Pirate's Life For Me!

2010-05-09T06:03:00.001-07:00

A Pirate's Life For Me!

A pirate is lucky as can be,
he lives a delightful life at sea.
He does only what he wants to,
be it ev'rything or nothing.
It's a pirate's life for me, for me.
It's a pirate's life for me.

Away we go with a ho heave ho,
to the sea (to the sea)
to the sea (to the sea).
Away we go with a ho heave ho,
it's a pirate's life for me.

A pirate can have a talking bird
who says a lot of scurvy pirate words
like ahoy, avast and matey
and landlubber walk the plank!
It's a pirate's life for me, for me.
It's a pirate's life for me.

Chorus
A pirate can sleep the day away.
He chooses the place his boat will stay.
He can swing a sword around
and no one says, "PUT THAT AWAY !"
It's a pirate's life for me, for me.
It's a pirate's life for me.

Away we go with a ho heave ho,
to the sea (to the sea)
to the sea (to the sea).
Away we go with a ho heave ho,
it's a pirate's life for me.

Away we go with a ho heave ho,
to the sea (to the sea)
to the sea (to the sea).
Away we go with a ho heave ho,
it's a pirate's life for me, for me.

TAG: It's a pirate's life for me, for me.
It's a pirate's life for me.
(To the sea!) (To the sea!)

Words and music by Donna Rhodenizer
© 2006 by Donna Rhodenizer / Red Castle Publishing
http://www.redcastlepublishing.com/

Are you a scallywag or swashbuckler?

Helping Children Learn at Home: Math and Science Tips for Young Children

2010-05-08T16:53:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the games you play with your toddlers and preschoolers can influence their interest in learning math and science as they grow older? Young children are capable of learning such concepts as big and small, high and low, fast and slow, and heavy and light. By helping your children learn these concepts, you are helping them begin to learn about math and science.

According to educational experts from the National Science Foundation ("Helping Children Learn at Home," 1997), "young children are natural mathematicians and scientists" because of their curiosity and their desire to explore and experiment.

When parents encourage their children to ask questions and help children explore and discover the natural world, they are helping build an interest in math and science. Many experts say that children who have such experiences when they are very young develop an enjoyment for and a confidence in math and science that pays off as they get older.

Here are some ideas for what you can do to develop your preschooler's interest in math & science.

Go for a walk with your child. Take time to stop along the way and watch things that children notice, such as flowers, animals, and bugs. Talk with your child about what you see, and ask about what he sees.

Draw pictures together. Draw a picture of what you have seen, whether it was on your walk together, on your front steps, in the backyard, or from your window. Ask your child to draw a plant, an animal, or a favorite place, and then ask her to tell you about the drawing.

Turn a drawing into a story. Write down what your child says about the picture he just drew. Ask him to make up a story about the picture, and save it with other artwork and stories he has developed.

Listen to your child and ask questions about what she is seeing and doing. Children need to have time every day to tell another person about what they have seen or what they think. When you ask your child to tell you about a walk or a trip to the zoo, you are encouraging her to think and choose words.

Choose toys that help your child learn. Young children learn about the world primarily by playing. As a result, they need toys that encourage them to imagine and explore, which are not necessarily those that are advertised on television. Toys do not have to be expensive, but they should be simple, safe, and long-lasting.

Some ideas for toys include:

Balls. They can be bounced, rolled, thrown in the air, the grass, or the sidewalk. Which bounces the highest? Lowest? Which ones sink in water? Which ones float?
Blocks. Building blocks can be a great math and science toy because they help children learn about engineering and geometry. You can either buy a set of wooden, plastic, or cardboard blocks, or you can make your own out of egg cartons, cereal boxes, or wood scraps. For young children, make sure the blocks are big enough to handle easily and keep out of mouths. Have enough blocks in different shapes and sizes to build unusual structures. Have children paint the blocks in bright colors.
Puzzles. Puzzles help children learn to solve problems as well as learning about shapes, sizes, and colors. For toddlers, make sure the puzzle has some large pieces. You can make your own puzzle by pasting a magazine picture onto a piece of cardboard, then cutting it into large pieces. Or make a puzzle from one of your child's drawings. As children get older, they can do more difficult puzzles.
Plant a garden with your child. Planting a garden, any size, is a great family activity. A garden can be a patch of dirt in the yard or a container on a window sill, and it has a season of math and science lessons in it. Measure the space or container, determine where the plants will get sunlight, find out how much seeds will cost, count the seeds, measure the rows, watch the plants grow and chart their growth, pick vegetables, look for insects, and learn what plants need to be healthy.
Read to your child. Read books aloud every day. Look at picture books and talk about what you see. Alphabet and counting books are always popular, and you'll experience a sense of pride as you watch your children learn. Plan a regular time to go to the school library, pubic library or bookmobile. Enlist brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and grandparents to help read stories. Have your child read to you if he wants to or tell you a story based on the pictures in the book. Remember that it does not matter if you read in English, Spanish, or Chinese as long as you help your child develop a reading habit.
Monitor TV watching. Turn off the TV and limit viewing. Too much TV viewing takes time away from other activities. Many experts have shown that children who do things other than watch TV usually do better in math and science in school. When you do let your child watch TV, look for high-quality educational programs, and watch and discuss programs with your child to help build a habit of critical reflection.

Source:
Helping children learn at home. (1997, March 27). Pointers for Parents (National Science and Technology Week Publication SP/96-8). Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation.

Kindermusik Pirate Party

2010-05-07T05:51:00.000-07:00

Ahoy there Mateys!

Ye be invited to a Kindermusik Pirate Party

For Pirate boys & girls ages 2 and up

All scallywags on board! Come sailing the seas with us in this high-spirited morning adventure. Dance a sea shanty and treasure hunt for a pirate medallion. Get your face painted, eat some snacks, and take home some treasures!

May 15th

Saturday 10:30 - 11:30 am

New Day Center for the Arts, 55th & Foster

$5.00 per child, adults free

RSVP: 503-708-2827

jansonfamily@spiritone.com

kindermusikwithangie.kindermusik.net

Musikwithangie.wordpress.com

George Harrison's -- "The Pirate Song"

2010-05-07T05:40:00.000-07:00

I love Kindermusik!

2010-05-06T04:45:00.001-07:00

Kindermusik International: the Company Behind your Educator
Posted by Kindermusik International

These days consumers give serious pause when considering the company behind their favorite brands. With recession, product recalls, harmful ingredients, investment scams, CEOs going to jail, and so on. Whew! It's enough to make us think twice about with whom we exchange our hard earned dollars for products and services.

Making the choice to entrust our children to others is among the most important work we do as parents. As a Kindermusik parent, you rely on both the Kindermusik licensed educator and Kindermusik International, the publishing and training company behind your teacher.

Kindermusik teachers are experts in early childhood music, trained to follow a proven, research-based curriculum, and a delight for your children to be around. I have trusted these teachers with my own children and I delight in the fabulous work they do for our communities. If you go to Kindermusik, you know them well.

But Kindermusik International (KI), the company that stands behind them, is perhaps less visible to you. We are North Carolina based and 100% owned by our twenty-seven employees. We have no investors to satisfy. No dream of going public. Our dreams get fulfilled every day: doing our life's best work in service of the extraordinary music educators who teach and delight you and your child.

Before KI, many of us worked in taller buildings, wore suits and ties or dresses (as 19 of us are women), and were taught to obsess about profits. KI is our second career - the one where we work together to "do good" rather than simply to "do well." Many of us, myself included, have been on this musical mission for fifteen years or more, an uncommon allegiance in today's transient workforce. We are bound together by doing the hardest and most meaningful work of our lives.

I refer to KI as a sustainable social enterprise, not a company. Above all, we seek to do no harm: that is, always putting the needs and safety of families. This is why we invest relentlessly in product safety testing. Next, we focus our efforts on supporting our educators, for making a livelihood as a music teacher is not for the faint of heart. Finally, we aim to honor our communities: our environment through sustainable products and packaging; our world of less fortunate children through our outreach and scholarship programs.

Our goal is simple: make this world a more musical place for children - today and for generations to come. -Michael Dougherty, CEO of Kindermusik International

Blowing Bubbles

2010-05-05T20:03:00.001-07:00

Blowing out candles, blowing bubbles, blowing a dandelion, and Blow Away the Morning Dew. There was a lot of blowing in Village Class today-long and short blows. We blew on wind mills and we played with sponges and water. Next week we'll play with the sponges again and blow bubbles!

Infants who can blow bubbles and lick their lips are more likely to pick up language quickly according to a study by Dr. Katie Alcock at Lancaster University. It was found that the ability to perform complex mouth movements was strongly linked with language development. Blowing also aids in the development of the lungs and diaphragm which are used in the production of vocal sounds and speech.

Blow your way home this week.

Let your baby feel the cool breeze of you gently blowing on his hand, tummy, toes, or face while getting dressed.
Blow to cool off your baby's warm breakfast cereal.
Have bubble blowing fun!

Sing to your baby:

Blow Away the Morning Dew
Blow away the morning dew,
The dew and the dew.
Blow away the morning dew,
How sweet the wind doth blow.

Why Music is so Important

2010-05-05T13:04:00.001-07:00

Smart Moves by Carla Hannaford

Movement is essential to learning. Movement integrates and anchors new information into our neural networks.Every time we move in an organized . . . manner, full brain activation and integration occurs, and the door to learning opens.To "pin down" a thought, there must be movement. A person may sit quietly to think, but to remember a thought, an action must be used to anchor it. We must materialize it with words. When I write, I'm making connections with thought by moving my hand.When we talk about what we've learned, the physical movements internalize and solidify it in nerve networks.

Acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter, is released across synapses of activated neurons to stimulate muscle function during talking. (This) . . . stimulates and attracts dendritic growth in the area, thus increasing nerve networks. Many of us have a distinct tendency to think better and more freely while engaged in a repetitive, low concentration physical task. I've heard people say that they think best when they are swimming laps in a pool, taking a walk, or while shaving.

We have known for years that children who miss the vitally important crawling stage may exhibit learning difficulties. Crawling, a cross-lateral movement, activates development of the corpus callosum (the nerve pathways between the two hemispheres of the cerebrum).

In a study of more than 500 Canadian children, students who spent an extra hour each day in gym class performed notably better on exams than less active children.

Movement facilitates the development of increased blood vessels that carry learning-essential water, oxygen and nutrients to the brain.

From the earliest grades, school children are taught not to move their bodies during class. Furthermore, recess has been dropped from three to two times a day (if your child is lucky) and PE is only once or twice a week for 30 minutes.

Do you have a suggestion for getting our kids moving again in school?

Why Counting On Fingers Counts!

2010-05-05T06:01:00.001-07:00

Learning to count accurately and efficiently, both up and down, is a skill known as "number sense." Fingers are counting tools that you always have with you. Putting up one finger at a time will help children become familiar with numbers, which will lead to an understanding of all other aspects of math. Activities such as Hickety Pickety Buttercup give children the opportunity to practice thier number sense. (Fromboluti and Rinck 1999)

Activity:
Practice counting with fingers
Hold up one hand with your palm facing your child. Point to and count each finger. Hold up a few fingers and say the rhyme (below), inserting the number of fingers you are holding up into the words. Point to and count each finger, inviting your child to count along on their own fingers

Hickety Pickety Buttercup
(by Linda Swears)
Hickety pickety buttercup,
How many fingers do I hold up?
(Three) it is and (three you say.
Please play (three) for us today.
ONE, TWO THREE!

How many fingers do I hold up? What else can we count? Point out noses, elbows, shoes, toys, etc.

Teaching about Numbers and Counting
(Notes for teachers and parents)
Taken from: Ed.Gov: U.S. Department of Education Teaching Our Youngest: A guide for preschool teachers and child care and family providers, http://ping.fm/R4QA2

Many children enter preschool with some knowledge of numbers and counting. They can count five to ten objects accurately and can also read some numbers. But many other children have not developed this knowledge. These children in particular need many opportunities to learn the words for numbers, to count things, and to learn to read and write numbers.

Parents:
You can help your children to learn about numbers and counting in many ways, including these informal ways:

Make pointing to and counting objects part of your daily routines.
As you pass out the juice cups at snack time, point and count the cups; as you pass out pieces of paper for an art project, point to the paper and count the pieces; count boots as you help take them off; count the stairs as you walk down them.
As you point and count, get your child to count with you. Children need to hear and practice things a lot in order to learn them.

Teacher Talk

Let's all count the pictures on the wall.
Help the children learn to answer the "how many?" question.
Let's count the puzzles on this table.
Now let's count the games on the table.

Parents:

Children like to point to and count their fingers, their legs, and their ears. Help them do that.

Here are some other activities that you can use to help the children with numbers and counting:

Use different types of macaroni. Encourage them to sort the different types and then count them.
Have materials on a choice shelf such as rubber teddy bears and colored cotton balls.
Give children rulers and let them measure different things around the room.
Teach the children counting songs and rhymes. You can play counting games with many different actions such as jumping and clapping. As children learn number words, they can count more actions.
As you and the children sing counting and rhyming songs you can add and take off felt board pieces that represent objects in the song.

Teacher Talk

We're going to clap three times. (The children clap three times, counting for each clap.) How many times did you clap? (The children say, "Three times.")
We're going to jump five times. (The children jump five times counting each jump.)
I am going to clap and I want you to listen for how many claps you here. OK, now you clap the same number I did.

Parents:
Here are some ways that you can help your children learn to recognize and write numbers:

When they play with number puzzles, encourage them to say the numbers as they put the pieces in the puzzles.
Have them include numbers in the pictures that they draw and in the words and "stories" that they write. For example, "What's the street number for your house that you drew?" "Wow, you wrote a long story. Can you number all of those pages?"
Read and discuss number and counting books, pointing and counting the objects on each page.
Encourage the children to make their own counting picture books by cutting and pasting pictures of objects on pieces of paper or by using stickers. The children can count the objects and write the number of the total on each page.
Keep pencils, crayons and paper around the room so that the children can make lists.

In addition to learning about counting and writing numbers, young children need experiences that will help them to learn words and ideas that are particularly important to their future success in arithmetic and mathematics. You can help children by

Using words such as same, different, more than, less than, and one more as you compare groups of objects.
Naming the first, second, third, fourth, and last items when you talk about things in a line or a series. For example, when cooking, ask the children, "What do you think the first ingrediant will be? Ok, what is the second thing we should add to the bowl?"
Using location words: in back of, beside, next to, between.
Teaching them to learn to recognize, name, and draw different shapes, and by combining some shapes to make new or bigger shapes.
Making comparisons between objects: taller than, smaller than.
Measuring things first with measures such as string or strips of paper and then with rulers, scales and measuring cups and discussing why we need to measure things.
Arranging groups of objects according to size-from largest to smallest.
Helping them learn to copy patterns and to predict what will come next.
Matching objects that are alike.
Describing similarities and differences among objects.
Sorting objects into groups by a given feature (the same color, the same shape) or by class (animals, cars, buildings). Discuss why the groups of objects are the same.

Our Time Class: Scarves!

2010-05-04T20:06:00.000-07:00

Playing with scarves is one of the best activities for babies and toddlers. It's the ultimate multi-sensory experience. Babies track the colors with their eyes, touch the silky smoothness to get a tactile sensation, and when played with music, they also get auditory stimulation.

You can play peek-a-boo with scarves and they are great dance partners for toddlers and adults alike!

Scarves are great for expressive dance!

Whoops!

Scarves are Fun! What is your favorite way to play with scarves?

Sensory Integration

2010-05-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

Sensory Integration is the process where all the parts of your nervous system take in the information detected by your senses (sight, touch, hearing, taste, smell, proprioceptive and vestibular) and organize that information for your use.

When this process happens smoothly, you can climb a ladder, eat a piece of pie, build with blocks, interact well with other people or do a forward roll. (Maybe NOT at the same time, though!) This leads you to be happy, well-adjusted and secure.

Sensory integration is an unconscious process of the brain – we don’t think about it happening. Learning and behavior are the visible aspects of sensory integration. Reading, writing, and math require a great deal of sensory integration, and make very complex demands on the brain. If sensory integration is working well, children learn as we intend them to, and the process of learning is very satisfying to them. (There are other reasons for learning difficulties as well, but good sensory integration is necessary).

All children need sensory input and experiences in order to grow and learn. Sensations are “food for the brain”. They provide the knowledge needed to direct the body and mind.

Behavior problems such as inability to cope with stress or change, negative self-concept, fussiness or not enjoying play with other children or family members can be a result of poor sensory integration. Physical symptoms of poor sensory integration include: hyperactivity (sometime misdiagnosed as ADHD), distractability, poor coordination and muscle tone. Speech and language depends on many sensory integrative processes, so delays in speech and language or articulation problems are often indicators of sensory integration problems.

Research by the Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation indicates that 1 in every 6 children experiences symptoms of Sensory Processing Disorder that are significant enough to affect their ability to participate fully in everyday life.

If you see yourself or your child in these “symptoms”, please don’t panic! Only an Occupational Therapist or like trained professional can properly diagnose Sensory Processing Disorder. Everyone, at some point, has difficultly processing sensations. Perhaps you don’t like the sound of a shovel scraping against a rock? You don’t like the feel of scratchy clothing tags against your skin? The auditory and physical sensations of taking the cotton out of a vitamin bottle?

Originally posted by Miss Analiisa, Studio3Music

MUSIC NOTES

2010-05-03T07:02:00.001-07:00

Over the River

The familiar lyrics to Over the River and Through the Woods were written by Lydia Maria Child, whose life reads like a chapter out of Little Women. A generation older than Louisa May Alcott, Maria Child was raised near Boston and was one of the first American women to earn a living by writing. She broke into the Boston literary scene with what might be considered an early nineteenth-century bodice-ripper titled Hobomok, in which a noble Native American falls in love with a white woman. After writing more novels and starting a children's magazine, Maria married a man who was active in the abolitionist and American Indian rights movements. Maria joined in her husband's political work, but his protest writings about the Cherokee Nation's forced removal from Georgia landed the family in social and financial peril. It also landed her husband in jail.

To bring in money, Maria wrote a book called The American Frugal Housewife, one of the first advice books directed toward women who ran their households without servants. The American Frugal Housewife became a money-maker, but sales plummeted when Maria wrote an influential and controversial abolitionist tract in favor of interracial marriage. Her children's magazine also had to close. Undaunted, Maria continued to write children's works, political tracts, and novels. Throughout her life she remained an unflinching and vocal supporter of civil rights for African Americans and Native Americans.

Over the River
Over the river and through the woods,
to grandfather's house we go.
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh,
through the white and drifted snow, oh!
Over the river and through the wood,
oh how the wind does blow.
It stings the toes and bites the nose,
as over the ground we go.

Over the river and through the woods,
to have a first-rate play.
Oh, hear the bell ring, "Ting-a-ling-ling!"
Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day-ay!
Over the river and through the wood,
trot fast my dapple gray/1
Spring over the ground, like a hunting hound!
For this is Thanksgiving Day.

"Ma Said, 'Charles, those children never will get to sleep unless you play for them.' So Pa got his fiddle. The room was still and warm and full of firelight and Pa's fiddle sang merrily to itself...And Laura went to sleep while Pan and the fiddle were both softly singing...." Laura Ingalls Wilder

Bring the Learning Home
Sort it Out
Since learning about instrument families is simply an extension of the toddler task of learning how we organize the world, our daily chores provide countless opportunities to help children form vital brain connections. Put on one of your favorite CD's and whistle while you work during family ensemble time:

Doing dishes: Keep your silverware in an easy-to-reach low drawer. Let your child put away clean forks, knives and spoons. Cont as you go-how many forks? How many spoons? With the silverware within reach, it's also easier to help set the table, placing the forks on the left and knives and spoons on he right. The left-right distinction can be a hard one, and this is an easy way to begin.
Groceries: Keep can and dry goods in bottom cabinets. Place the grocery bags on the floor and let your child put those items away.
Clean-up: How many magazine articles have you read that suggest organizing toys into baskets or shoe boxes? The good news is, not only does this make clean-up quicker, it's easier for your kids to help.
Laundry: When you're loading the washing machine, let your child help separate the whites form the darks. When everything's dry, see if he can pair up his own socks and put them in his drawer.

Sorting shouldn't be all work and no play. Collect paint chips from the home repair center and watch your child sort them into "mailboxes" made from empty tissue boxes. Buy some weather-related stickers at the hobby store and let your junior meteorologist put the appropriate one on the calendar every morning. Play "I spy shapes" by saying something like, "I see a rectangle on the wall, What do I see?" and seeing if your child can guess "picture frame!" Even babies and toddlers demonstrate a rudimentary understanding of the concept with the much-beloved "Soooooo big!" and "Sooooo Little!"

Listen and Learn
Listen to all kinds of music-brass bands, African drums, classical symphonies, flamenco guitar, jazz piano-as you work, sing, and play throughout the day. Talk to your kids about what you're hearing. What instrument would produce that sound? What might the instrument be made of? How would it be played? Do we have anything like it at home?

Maple Magic
Listen to Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin. He named that tune after the 'Maple Leaf Social Club', an African-American men's association in Sedalia, Missouri where he worked as a pianist. Maple leaves have a unique shape (another category!). Help your child find a particularly fine specimen of a maple leaf or any other nicely-shaped leaf. Place your leaf, vein side up, under a piece of plain white paper, and then rub the side of a crayon firmly on the paper. The shape of the leaf will magically appear.

Kindermusik Photos

2010-05-01T08:28:00.001-07:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

Why Kindermusik Before Piano?

2010-04-30T11:36:00.001-07:00

Today in our Family Time class I had a great reminder of one of the reasons we suggest taking Kindermusik before starting piano.

The children took a little extra time today with the instrument exploration during family jam. One thing we worked on with the older kids, was trying to exercise BOTH hands, not just the favored hand. Playing the simple instruments like a drum with mallet, rhythm sticks, castanets, sand blocks and shakers work on fine motor skills and hand eye coordination required to play the piano or any other instruments. Alternating egg shakers or rhythm sticks not only strengthens neural connections between the right and left sides of the brain, but it also strengthens coordination in the non-dominant hand which is essential for piano technique.

Another aspect of the instrument exploration is that the instruments are all played in different ways thus using different muscle groups in the arms. This strengthens the fine motor muscles that control the individual fingers. Finger independence and equal finger strength is also important to learning to play the piano.

This is also important in help the child learn to hold a spoon and feed himself or learning to write. Other activities that facilitate fine motor development are the pegged puzzles, stringing beads, putting beans through a small hole in an old can, using tongs to move cotton bowls from one dish to another, or using an eye dropper to squeeze out one drop of liquid at a time. Try putting these activities where they are worked from left to right. This helps prepare them to read text as well as music from left to right.

Kindermusik provides the perfect opportunity to work on all these skills in a free environment where there are no wrong ways to play an instrument and endless outlets for creativity.

Originally from Imaginations Music Studio offering Kindermusik and Piano in Birmingham by Lauren

Normalizing Crazy

2010-04-30T11:22:00.001-07:00

Article from Studio3Music - The #1 Kindermusik Studio

Normalizing Crazy
Ever noticed how prevalent cycles are in life? Every day the sun comes up, it goes down. The earth rotates around the sun causing predictable seasonal cycles. The dryer has a cycle. The dishwasher has a cycle. Moms have those cycles. Even businesses and school years have cycles.

Guess what? Your kids' development tends to cycle too. Understanding these cycles can help you avoid taking a spin on the crazy cycle when your normally sweet child's behavior takes a turn for the worse.

Jean Piaget, noted sociologist, observed that children's development is not linear and progressive like the gradually rising line graph measuring a successful company's sales. Rather, children develop cognitively on a relatively predictable cycle with periods of equilibrium followed by disequilibrium.

According to Piaget, children go through a stage of disequilibrium when they have learned new information about the world and now their brains must "accommodate" that information and adjust their other ideas about their world (which Piaget called "schemes") to it. The child must learn and master a new set of skills. Trial and error learning is taking place, which includes uncertainty, struggle, and frustration.

Conversely, when a child is in the phase called equilibrium, she is "assimilating" the information learned, having fun with her new skill and knowledge. This phase lends itself to more ease and pleasant emotion.

As children cycle through these learning phases, their behavior reflects the emotional comfort, or discomfort of the phase. A child experiencing disequilibrium may suddenly seem more difficult to get along with, or edgy and challenging.

Think about what it is like for you to drive in an unfamiliar city. Until you know where you are going and how to get there, you can feel uptight and even bark at your spouse if you go the wrong direction or miss a turn. When a child's internal map is shifting, he may feel anxious and act out unpredictably until things become more settled. And of course he doesn't understand what is going on.

When my son hit age four, my darling boy went through a particularly snarky period. I sought advice from a trusted friend, who just happened to be a seasoned first grade teacher with an award-winning knowledge of brain development in children. My lucky day! She explained to me this "normal" crazy cycle of equilibrium and disequilibrium.

My fears of raising a juvenile delinquent were calmed. She recommended the excellent books on the child development by well-known author, Louise Bates Ames. Ames' books explain the various developmental cycles of each age. Once I knew what to expect, I could better interpret behavior and ride out a cycle of disequilibrium with less fear and stress.

Recognizing a season of disequilibrium does not mean you excuse unacceptable behavior or give your child permission to be a thorn in the side of your family for a time. It simply helps you to have patience and to calmly assess what discipline tool is needed to help train your child to handle the new place in life she is discovering. You can lovingly and consistently deal with the individual situations as they arise. And when things suddenly get smoother, you can celebrate equilibrium!

More on equilibrium and disequilibrium next time.

-posted by Donna Detweiler, who found that the truth about equilibrium/disequilibrium cycles set her free from fear during difficult days.

Please comment or send me a tweet @Angelmusik

Instrument Families

2010-04-30T04:40:00.000-07:00

Remember When Pluto Was A Planet--And Then It Wasn't?
(Notes from Sing, Play and Grow: A Family Guide to Musical Fun)

We humans like to fit neatly in categories, and when the boundaries are blurred we get a little nervous. Categories help us describe and analyze things. Musicians use all sorts of categories: rhythms (think: tangos, salsas, and rumbas), styles (choose your radio station--pop, hip-hop, or classical), and types of instruments (woodwinds, percussion, brass and strings). Just like planets, these categories can get a bit murky (so if a flute is make of metal, why is it a woodwind?).

During Family Time Class your child will begin to learn how instruments are organized. Some instruments we tap and some we blow. Some have strings, some have reeds, some are made of brass. Putting things into categories is something preschoolers love to do. Learning about colors, shapes, and sizes brings some order to the chaos of early childhood. Discovering musical categories adds another dimension to recognizing similarities and differences.

"All night have the roses heard

The flute, violin, bassoon;

All night has the casement jessamine stirr'd

To the dances dancing in tune."
Alfred Lord Tennyson

SEE HOW THEY GROW

Your Infant and Instrument Families
Not even the greatest musical prodigy can distinguish between strings and woodwinds in infancy, but sorting things into categories is something adults do all the time. (Think: winter clothes/summer clothes; junk food/healthy food; good boss/bad boss.) As with everything else, sorting starts in infancy. The first set of categories is broad and basic, probably something like "Am I comfortable or miserable?" which gets refined into "Am I sleepy or wakeful?" and "Am I hungry or full?" Soon your child is exploring the world by looking around and bringing anything within reach to his mouth. This leads to discoveries of contrasting shapes, textures, and sounds. So before your child can recite all of the brass instruments (don't forget the flugelhorn), he'll need to develop more basic concepts such as "warm/cold."

Your Toddler and Instrument Families

Now that your child is up and about, she is able to examine and analyze everything within her reach. As part of her play she's discovering how some things are the same and others different, and she is mentally developing categories--wet/dry, big/little, soft/hard. She may be thinking, "Not all stuffed animals look alike, but they have a lot in common, and they don't look at all like blocks." In the same way, she's registering that the sounds she hears when she bangs pot lids together are different from those she hears when she squeezes her favorite squeaky toy. Because children don't have the words to assign names to categories, it's hard for us as parents to see this development taking place, but under our very noses our children are developing concepts. This ability to translate some concrete thing to an abstract idea is powerful stuff. When our children start talking, we get a peek at how they're organizing their world. At first the word "doggy" may refer to all animals. Then "doggy" may mean "dogs and cats," and finally "doggy" may mean "all dogs except Pekingese." Your child still isn't naming brass instruments yet, but she knows that clicking rhythm sticks and tooting through a tube are two different ways to make music.

Your Preschool and Instrument Families

If you check in with a preschool teacher (or even pay attention to what you find yourself teaching your child during daily activities at home) you'll see that forming categories is at the heart of the preschool curriculum. At this age children are learning colors, shapes, and sizes; they're learning times of day and seasons of the year. Preschoolers are good at this kind of simple categorization--it's what they like to do. Identifying the sections of the orchestra is too complex, but your preschooler can happily distinguish between making music by blowing, making music by strumming, and making music by tapping. Understanding these basic divisions will help a child grasp more sophisticated distinctions when he's older.

What are your family's favorite instrument families? Leave a comment or tweet @Angelmusik

Learning through Play

2010-04-29T17:05:00.001-07:00

We all know that children play for fun. But the truth is that as they play they are learning. When children play they use their senses-touch, taste (not appropriate at times, but what can we do?), sight, hearing and smell- and that's how they learn about their surroundings.

Play can stimulate children's intellectual, emotional, social, and physical development. Also, through play they practice and repeat. This is an important way to make neural pathways stronger, making things more automatic, learning skills better.

Play also helps increase attention and focus, social-emotional skills (when they play with other children), and even problem-solving techniques (especially when they play by themselves). But parents and caregivers should also be involved in the child's play to help with language, motor skills, and self-esteem.

Here are some ideas for you to be involved in your child' s play:
1) Observe the child. What are his/her interests? What kinds of toys does he/she like? This way you will provide with more opportunities to play with certain activities or objects they are already interested in. The more motivated they are, the more attention they will pay and more learning will occur.
2) Once a day or more, sit down and play with your child. Ask them, What do you want me to do? Follow their game! Don't do things for them or try to "fix" it. They are trying to figure things out for themselves. Let them!
3) Talk while you play! Don't tell them what to do, but you can describe what you are doing as you do it. Use appropriate sentences for their ages. I am not suggesting you use baby talk to your 3 year old, but use short sentences that are appropriate for what they are learning. That way they are learning more vocabulary and practicing conversational skills.

Some ideas of games appropriate for different ages:
1) Babies- play peekaboo; provide many opportunities to feel and hear different textures and sounds.
2) Toddlers-pretend play. Have a castle? Pretend there is a prince, a princess and dragons! Have a car? Pretend you are driving around town, what do you see?
3) Preschooler-read books, look at pictures, draw your own pictures, or dance. At this age we need lots of eye-hand coordination and motor movements.
4) Elementary school age-play games with rules (board games, video games, physical games like "tag")
5) 9-12 years old- focus on more structured play, like sports.

I think I am still in my elementary school age stage! I love board games! Who doesn't love a good game of Pictionary or Star Wars Monopoly?

What is your favorite kind of game to play? Please Comment!

This article was oringially published by vcabrera77 April 20, 2010 at 6:50 pm

Movement

2010-04-27T12:04:00.001-07:00

A young child on the move is a great thing! Movement is not just important for helping children grow physically strong and healthy, but is also a key factor in their overall development. Movement builds self-confidence. Children feel competent, physically and emotionally, when they use their bodies to communicate and solve problems. Most importantly, movement can help children develop a close bond with their caregivers. A child's desire to be close to and connect with someone is often what motivates her to move.

There's a little drum a beating. It's my heart!

2010-04-26T17:35:00.001-07:00

Our entire lives, our heartbeat provides a constant sense of rhythm. It's no wonder that we are all drawn to drums. Research shows that the act of drumming actually changes the chemicals in our brains, relieving stress and creating a sense of well being.

I brought a couple home made drums to class and we saw that there is no limit to the ways a drum can be made.

We will be making drums this week at home and then bringing them to Our Time class next week.

Why not make one yourself and play your homemade drum with your child and see what else you have that can be a drum.

I bet it "beats" any other activity you can think of! Got a comment? You can also tweet @Angelmusik

Our Time Toddlers!

2010-04-24T16:29:00.001-07:00

Toddlers are insatiable movers.

Running, jumping, and other energetic locomotor movements are valuable, appropriate, and fun activities for the Our Time child. The child's innate need to move is inextricably linked to learning. It is important to provide outlets for your child's energy as well as for her skill development. Moving and controlling one's movements are learned skills.

Toddlers are just beginning to learn to regulate their movements. One aspect of self-regulation is inhibitory control or the ability to stop oneself and to wait. Inhibitory control is important in social interactions where taking turns is involved and as such is an important skill for success in school.

"Control of the body is the first kind of control children have over themselves and is the first step toward the

development of internal control or 'selfdiscipline.'" -Dance for Young Children, by Sue Stinson, p. 5.

Kindermusik classes offer opportunities for children to discover new ways to move their bodies, explore their
capabilities, and practice their new skills.

Moving and Stopping

Your child may be an exuberant mover-running, leaping, jumping! Or your child may be more cautious about moving-making smaller, less energetic movements. Or, your child may be somewhere in between! All of these movement responses are perfectly normal for toddlers. Your child may be reluctant about joining in movement activities in class, but may energetically try them out at home. Your child is always learning-even if he does not appear to be actively engaged in a class activity.

Toddlers often find it difficult to stop moving. One way to help your child develop inhibitory control is to play "stop and go" games with him. These games allow your child to practice controlling his movements and to revel in his mastery of this control. One "stop and go" singing game played in class is "Walk and Stop." Sing this song at home repeating several times, changing the movement word on each repeat. Try spinning, twirling, or even crouching!

Toddlers also often have great difficulty taking turns and sharing.
This is completely natural since they cannot "put themselves in someone else's shoes." Attending Kindermusik Our Time class each week provides the opportunity for your child to interact with other children and to begin
practicing sharing and turn-taking. Activities that call for sustaining attention, following directions, or inhibiting movement or sound provide opportunities to help your child learn to monitor and modify her own behavior.

The Away We Go! curriculum provides opportunities for your child to listen attentively during Active Listening activities, to share and take turns playing an instrument during "There's a Little Wheel," and to practice waiting for the teacher to sing to him at the beginning of each class during "Our Time Hello."

At Home

With your child, make up a signal for "stop." Start using the signal while playing "stop and go" games with your child. Then, you can use the signal in other situations when you wish for your child to "stop."
Model sharing behaviors. Make an effort to include "share" in your vocabulary when talking to your child. She needs to know what it means before she can do it. Remember that children are very likely to imitate your actions.
Play a "stop and go" instrument game with your child. Let your child play his harmonica until you give him the "stop" signal. How quickly can he stop? Play your harmonica and let him give you the "stop" signal!

Notes from a Kindermusik Our Time: Away We Go! lesson.
Leave a comment or send me a tweet @Anglemusik

Dew Drops and Steady Beat

2010-04-24T12:32:00.001-07:00

Feel the beat?

In this week's Village class we found that steady beat was at the heart of every activity-exercising to "Did You Ever See a Lassie?," bouncing to an old English song, "Ride a Cock-Horse to Banbury Cross," where we actually tried riding some stick poneys and then finally rocking to the calming tune of "Greensleeves."

Steady beat is the unchanging continuous pulse in a song or chant and is an organizer for the child; purposeful and calming. Moving to a steady beat, a child develops a sense of timing, which is fundamental to the ability to organize and coordinate movements. Think of all we do that requires regularly-paced repeated motion (a sense of steady beat!): walking, running, riding a bicycle, cutting with scissors, bouncing a ball, and more.

It's easy to find the beat in a nursery rhyme. Pick out a couple of your favorite rhymes and get the nursery rhyme beat!

Here are some ideas to get you started:

a.. Holding baby and walking-just add the rhyme and walk to the beat.
b.. Drying off baby after bath time-exercise legs up and down to a rhyme.
c.. Just finished dressing baby-lap bounce to a verse or two.

Bouncing along! Hey, leave a comment or tweet @Angelmusik

Kindermusik Birthday Parties

2010-04-23T04:45:00.000-07:00

Let Kindermusik Help Plan your next Birthday Party!

We can create a birthday celebration around YOUR SPECIAL THEME, using dancing, singing, instruments, puppets, balls, parachute, a birthday story and more.

Watch the WONDER and JOY in your child’s eyes as your birthday specialist transports everyone to a sandy ocean shore, an African safari adventure, or a fairytale castle!

We’ll come to your location, or you may choose to have us host your celebration at our studio in in the New Day Center for the Arts. Either way, let us doing the planning for you, and everyone will enjoy a delightful celebration TOGETHER!

So, set the date, choose one of our party packages, and email or give us a call. We also offer “musical party favor bags” with options such as: shakers, bells, scarves, bubbles, rhythm sticks, balls, puppets, and streamers. Prices vary.

Here is what one Mom had to say about her daughter’s birthday party:
Bethann Janson Thorson: We had Madison's party with Angie at Kindermusik. I could not have asked for a better 2nd birthday party for my daughter. We had a mixture of boys and girls at this Princess themed party. There was dancing, signing and playing. All the kids had such a blast! Angie is so good with picking fun and educational activities. I would certainly recommend her for parties! When the parachute came up, it seemed like the kids wanted to just play with that for the rest of the party! It was great!

Children need spinach, so we put it in icecream!

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As the original music and movement program for children, we understand that children learn best when they can see it, hear it, touch it, and then express it in their own creative ways. Each week in class, Angie Janson, licensed Kindermusik educator leads families through research-proven and giggle-approved activities using music as the vehicle for learning.

You will find your child making new friends and learning to say letters and words confidently in a fun, safe, child-focused environment, that helps you the parent, learn how to teach your child at home. Our daily class routine, the circle dances and instrument play times will help your child learn to work together with others in a group. Our story time will introduce your child to the sounds of letters, rhyming words, musical phrases, fluency, and the love of reading. Our focus on listening will help your child attend or put his or her attention on a sound and imitate it to understand its meaning. Weekly listening practice in class and daily listening practice at home will help your child's attention span to increase, her level of interest to expand, and he or she will be ready to listen and learn everyday at school!

The learning continues throughout the week with the home materials, including a CD, storybooks, Family Activity Guide, instruments, and more. Plus, we provide you with weekly parent education and resources, including developmental emails and in-class tips so that youknow how each activity contributes to your child's overall growth and development.

Contact us to set up a free preview and to learn about our payment plans.
Classes start at $15 per week

Please comment or send a tweet @Angelmusik!

Make Way for Music!

2010-04-22T02:28:00.001-07:00

Make Way for Music: Our Voices!

"Sing, sing a song."- nothing is more beautiful than families singing together! In class we play with our voices-whispering, speaking, singing, and making other neat sounds!

Our voices do so much for us every day-communicating information or emotion, making sounds of surprise or delight, and much more! As "our first instrument," the human voice has amazing possibilities in speech and singing. One of your child's first responses to a musical experience were vocal sounds-babblings, cooing, and the like. With time, experience, and practice comes a control over those sounds-resulting in matching pitch, singing alone or with others, and singing with or without accompaniment.

Families that sing together have fun together!

How many songs does your family know? Make a long drive shorter with a Family Singing Marathon. Someone keep record of the number of songs and minutes for the next time.
Tired of waiting in the check-out or drive through line? Sing a song.
Pass a song. Make up family rules so every member of the family gets a turn to sing part of a familiar song.