Dancin' Shoes

I missed several posts last week, so here's a bonus weekend one just for fun.

Kindermusik isn't just about music - there's that MOVEMENT component too. Here's a terrific little clip (well, it's 6 minutes, but worth every last wasted moment of it!) that covers the "evolution of dance". See how many of these you're guilty of...

Celebrating Innovative Technique

Do you think Mozart, Beethoven, Hayden & the like are rolling over in their graves or celebrating the current trend of playing pop music on classical instruments?

Check out this 80's classic on the violin. Owner of a Lonely Heart? I love it! (Was it the 80's??? I seem to remember big hair, dangerously large hoop earings, and shoulder pads...)

Sign & Sing Week 1

Welcome to Sign & Sing with Kindermusik!

You are giving your child the tools to communicate with you at an early age. Be assured that signing will not delay your child’s speech development in any way. In fact, studies have shown that your child may begin to speak sooner given these early language skills.

This week we learned about See A Lot/Do A Lot Signs and Highly Motivating Signs. You and your child will make great learning strides together when you find more ways to use these strategies at home. Turn to page six of your Family Activity Guide and you’ll see how your flashcards will help you play, practice, and communicate together.

Many of you asked for specific signs in class. Here is a great resource for learning specific signs. It shows quick video clips of people signing words that you can look up on an index. Remember, however, to sign smarter, not harder! Pick just a few each week to introduce to your child.

IMAGINE THAT! Cities Week 8

Whew! Nothing to bring this week!

A new complex game is introduced into this week's activity There’s a Little Bell. In this activity, they must think about several different things all at one time: walking around a circle of hoops to a cue, sitting in a hoop at the end of the cue, picking up and playing an instrument while singing a song, placing the instrument on the floor, and starting the entire sequence over again. A complex activity such as this is most successful when set up by breaking it into parts and rehearsing the parts separately. By doing this, the children are able to grasp each concept introduced. We will continue to enjoy this activity for a couple more weeks, and I know that with each repetition the children will more readily recognize the pattern and begin to gain confidence and satisfaction through their continued success.

OUr TIME: FIDDLE-DEE-DEE Week 8

FOUNDATIONS OF LEARNING

LAUGHTER: Laughter increases white blood cell activity and changes the chemical balance of the blood. This is believed to boost the body’s production of chemicals needed for alertness and memory. Laughter reduces stress, and low stress enhances the brain’s receptivity to learning. According to researchers, laughing (having fun) also boosts the body’s immune system for three days – the day of the fun and the next two!

SWEETLY SINGS THE DONKEY: Sweetly Sings the Donkey is an old traditional round. (We’ll be doing the round next week, so practice up!) As is often true with folksongs, there is more than one version of this song. We’ll stick with the straight eighth note version presented on the CD.

AT HOME: Look for the Good Morning, Dew activity on page 37 of your Home Activity Book. Go for a walk in the green grass while it is still wet with dew. There is another fun activity on page 33: a scavenger hunt for musical concepts at home.

VILLAGE: Rhythm Of My Day Week 1

FOUNDATIONS OF LEARNING

BAREFOOT IS BEST: Your baby learns much about the world through touch. The skin on the bottoms of the feet is especially sensitive, allowing lots of sensory input for baby.

BONDING BETWEEN ADULT & BABY: The human face is of great interest to babies, especially infants. The eyes, eyebrows, and mouth fascinate them and keep their attention. Being in position to focus on the adults face helps your baby feel calm and secure and can foster bonding between you and your baby.

SIGN LANGUAGE: From early in infancy, it is evident that babies are aware of their environment and have the desire to communicate. Introducing signing to hearing babies has the benefit of allowing adults and babies to communicate before a baby’s vocal chords are developed enough to speak. This silent communication raises self esteem, eliminates the frustration of not being able to communicate and engages your baby as an active participant in the learning environment.

ROCKING: Rocking has many advantages for babies. It soothes, provides rhythmic motion, and promotes muscular strength, control, balance, and lateralization (development of the right and left sides of the body).

MOVEMENT VARIETY: The opportunity to experience movement variety gives babies a chance to see the world from many perspectives, thus strengthening neural pathways.

BENEFITS OF RITUALS FOR BABY:
1. Rituals provide a safe and secure environment for baby’s development in all domains.
2. Rituals develop baby’s sense of identity, family traditions and memories, cultural heritage and values.
3. Rituals give baby a solid foundation which will assist her in adapting to and coping with change.

ROUND: In a round, one singer or group begins to sing a melody which is composed to harmonize with itself during upcoming phrases. At a designated point, a second singer or group begins to sing, starting at the beginning of the song and so on until all parts have entered. Each group will continue to sing their part, repeating the song numerous times, until the first singer or group ceases singing ending the song at an agreed number of repetitions. The net groups will consecutively end in the order in which they began.

Music Outside the Box

We like to encourage free exploration of instruments at Kindermusik.
Can you imagine if this guy was told that he could only play the flute one way? What a waste that would have been!

The Art of Minimalism

Can you believe people live in these apartments?
They are available for rent in Japan.
I think my dorm room at university was a little bigger than these...Can you imagine what their bylaws must be like? Whew! Pretty severe, I imagine!
I wonder if they come with a free session with a professional organizer?
Clearly, no children live here.

For those with a touch of wanderlust...

You gotta see this!

Matt is a regular Joe who travels around the world. At each stop, he makes a short film of himself dancing. Clearly, he wasn't trained in any kind of formal dance, but the joy he exudes is marvelous.

Take a moment to dance with your little one in the grocery store, the bank, the drycleaners. Maybe someone will join you. Maybe you'll just get stared at. Either way, it's good to get a little dance in your step!

Are You EPIC?

EPIC is a new kind of exhibition celebrating leading companies who care about the consumer. The community. The planet. And they're making great products and offering exceptional services that don't compromise style or function.

Join them this weekend as they introduce the new breed of environmentally friendlier, smart, stylish products and savvy services that allow shoppers to feel good about their purchases in more ways than one.


Take a look at the winning video from their competition here.

Have You Heard?

The North Shore's favourite Kindermusik educator, Jessica Hansen, sings grown up songs too! Not only that, but she and her sister write the songs. They haven't performed in a while, but we're hoping that when they do, they'll let us know.

In the meantime, you can check out their site and listen to a few clips here.

Spring Break is Here!

Remember, no classes until the 26th! What will you do? If you're staying in town (with no programming - yikes!), stay tuned for ideas on things to do around the city. If you've got a great idea, send it to me and I'll share it!

The Perils of Procrastination

For our Imagine That class on Saturday we were to make something that we might find in the city: a building, a person, an animal, etc.. We left our homework 'til Friday.

Jacob decided that he would like to make an ice cream cone (my pregnancy sweet tooth lingers on and I had taken the kids out for a cone earlier in the week). Little did I know, paper mache takes more than a few hours to harden up - especially when a 3 year old is in charge of the sloppy stuff. We tried using the hairdryer, but it didn't work.

So, we made a diorama of the aquarium instead. It's Jacob's favourite place to go in the city. A whole bunch of finger paint (and a second bath later), we have our project completed! (I didn't get the camera out in time. Today it is an empty blue box with holes on the top. It DID have aquatic creatures dangling on ribbons that one could pull up and down to make them swim. Clearly not child proof!)

Kate & Kiana brought their statues to class too. They were beautiful! Good job, girls!

PS: We used the hairdryer on the diorama too. Next time I'll look into the homework thing by Tuesday!

The Symphony!

If you haven't been to the Vancouver Symphony's Tiny Tots yet, you really must. We're off to see them tomorrow morning at the Queen E.



Linda & Lisa are early childhood music experts, and introduce the tiny tot set (4 & under) to the musical instruments found in the symphony orchestra. Four instruments are brought in at each performance and played by young, local musicians.

It's lots of fun - short & sweet. Tickets are available through the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra online.

Little Linguists

By 18-20 months the average child is saying 15-20 words. Between two and two-and-a-half years old, this will increase to 50+ words and the use of two word sentences. Around her third birthday, she will have an expressive vocabulary of over 300 words, and should be understood by a non-family memeber 75-80% of the time.

Please keep in mind that these are guidelines, not rules. Each child is different and learns at their own pace, and most children will focus on one area of development at a time. In other words, if your child is really working hard to learn to walk or crawl, you might not see a lot of interest in communication. As always, if you have concerns about your child's language development, you should dicuss them with your pediatrician or a speech pathologist.

Village: Hickory Dickory Tickle & Bounce Week 7

Can you believe this is the last week of Hickory Dickory Tickle & Bounce? It has gone by so quickly!

If you haven't already signed up for Rhythm of My Day, do so now!

Our TIME: FIDDLE-DEE-DEE Week 7

FOUNDATIONS OF LEARNING

NEW & DIFFERENT: The brain pays closer attention to things that don’t fit an established pattern, things that are new and different. Over time, the brain reacts to routine stimulus by lowering levels of stimulation. Anything new causes the body to release adrenaline, and adrenaline acts as a memory fixative. According to Arnold Scheibel, Director of the Brain Research Institute at UCLA, “Unfamiliar activities are the brain’s best friend.”

FINGERPLAYS: During the toddler years, children typically are quite active and have short attention spans. By incorporating fingerplays and rhythmic body movements into nursery rhymes and stories, we can keep these youngsters’ attention by allowing them to be active. In the process, we also enable them to remember new words by association with movement, and we give them an opportunity to exercise new fine and gross motor skills.

Family Time: Here, There, & Everywhere Week 7

FOUNDATIONS OF LEARNING

Vocal Harmony: Hearing and singing simple melodies and harmonies form the foundation of a child’s musical education. The child’s ear easily hears simple pentatonic melodies and tonic accompaniments, which encourages the child to sing in tune.

Inhibitory Control: Regulating one’s own motion by stopping movement or speech or waiting for a turn are vital life skills that must be learned and practiced at an early age. Confidence stems from the awareness that “My body does what I ask it to do.”

Movement with Instrument Play: The developing brain is wired to learn as the body moves. To achieve the precision of the mature brain, stimulation in the form of movement and sensory experiences during the early developing years is necessary. Providing children with the sensory-motor experiences, including activities that integrate visual information, sound, and fine-motor movements, stimulate and strengthen the brain’s wiring patterns. When children play instruments, movement and sound come together to create a multi-sensory learning experience.

Who Are You?

I took this personality test and was surprised by some of the answers. Not surprised so much as reminded of my priorities, I guess. It's quick - only 4 questions - but very interesting.

Try it! It might make you enjoy your weekend more...

Summer Camps are Coming!

There are two sessions to choose from this year, including a new 2.5 hour Imagine That camp. I'm so excited!

We've got Village camps for babies (newborn - 18 months): BUSY DAYS

Our Time camps for toddlers (18 months - 3 years): CREATURES IN MY BACKYARD

Imagine That camps for preschoolers (3.5 - 5 years): ON THE ROAD

Family Time camps for families (newborn - 7 years): CREATURES IN MY BACKYARD

and Sign & Sing classes

Camps run May 28th - June 30th and July 16th - August 18th. See our SUMMER SCHEDULE online to register.