What is the difference between beat and meter?

Even if you're not musically inclined, this is still fascinating and will help you to appreciate the intricacies of music. . .

Meanwhile, turn your favorite catchy tune and keep the beat!

Use your senses

Things to see:
robins, flowers (crocii, daffodils, tulips, forsythea), buds on the trees, mud puddles, green grass, sunshine.

Things to hear:
birds chirping, crickets, wind blowing

Things to feel:
Sunshine (warmth), rain, blades of grass (under fingers or toes)

Things to smell:
dirt, flowers, bark on a tree

Things to taste:
Strawberries, lunch on the porch, lemonade

Multi-sensory play is important for children to really tune in to their environment. The experiences that use multiple senses create the most permanent memories. I can feel and smell and see warm mud squishing between my toes, just by thinking about it. There is something wonderful about a sun-warmed strawberry that makes my mouth water before I even taste it. By focusing on the world around them with adults that care for them, the children will also be building cognitive skills (recognizing seasonal changes, patterns etc), language (being able to use words to describe what the see, feel, hear etc) and emotional strength in security and lifetime memories.

Take even five minutes of your day to enjoy the freedom of being outside and exposing your child to it as well.

Writing on the wall

As seen on another Kindermusik teacher's page. . .thanks Analissa!

'When my husband and I bought our first house shortly before our oldest was born, it was only 968 square feet. The largest available floor space for playing was about 9′ x 12′, so when Nathan was old enough to color and paint, I turned to the only space left – the walls! We hung a whiteboard in the hall, (Did you think I’d let him write on the walls?) and taped large sheets of paper to the wall for pictures galore.

Little did we know that vertical drawing, coloring or painting fosters excellent pre-writing skills. Here’s what Vicki Nelson, (our favorite Occupational Therapist!) had to say.'

Q: Why do art on a vertical surface? A: Drawing on a vertical surface encourages a child to bend or flex their wrist backwards.This position promotes the tip-to-tip pinch of the fingers (fingertips touching or pinching) necessary for later writing skills.Vertical writing is also an excellent way to strengthen arm and shoulder muscles, necessary for stability during later writing tasks. From a visual perceptual angle, it is also much easier for a young child to perceive and align items vertically in front of them than on the table top to begin to understand concepts such as up, down, top, bottom, etc.

Q: What’s the difference between a table and the wall? A: Table top writing is not necessarily bad; it just requires a certain degree of arm, shoulder and hand stability that most young children have not yet developed. Vertical play helps to build up these stabilizing muscles in a variety of fun ways.

Q: At what age did you first put a crayon or paintbrush in your own children’s hands? A: My daughter began with bingo markers at about 12 months of age. We then progressed to paint brushes and cut up sponges. We introduced large crayons and side walk chalk when she phased out of “eating” everything in sight. We encountered a few mouthfuls of non-toxic paint along the way! My son is a different story altogether! He refused to color or paint until about age 3 for any longer than 30 seconds. BUT, he loved to cut – he cut paper, paper plates, cardboard bags, string, PlayDoh, etc. Then he squeezed glue and glued them all together. Now at age 4, he will hold a marker, so do not worry if at an early age you encounter resistance!

Q:What kind of crayons or chalkare best for coloring? A: I recommend the fattest crayons you can find. It is much easier for a child to hold a crayon with a less precise pinch and then to move to smaller crayons as their fine motor skills progress. For children age three and four, broken (an inch or less) crayons and chalk can be especially useful to promote tip-to-tip pinch skills. Tip-to-tip pinch skills and rotation of objects within the finger tips is essential to manipulating writing utensils later.

Q: What if my child refuses to do vertical art? Does that mean something is wrong? A: No, as with any play tasks, children can be very opinionated. Keep it available as an option, (like a whiteboard in the hallway) and they are sure to venture to it eventually. Many times in therapy, I would just sit down at a chalkboard without any expectations for a child to join me and eventually, curiosity got the best of them and we were creating roadways and alphabet gardens galore!!

Ideas for play:

As the weather turns nicer, take your easel outside – the mess is easier to clean up! Give your child a bucket of water and a paintbrush to paint your fence or side of the house. When the fence is wet, let them draw with pieces of colored chalk. The colors become quite bright on the wet surface, and cleanup is easy with a hose.

Attach a whiteboard to a wall or door so that a child may color at shoulder height or below– use magnets for play, whiteboard crayons or washable dry erase markers.

Tape a large piece of paper to a vertical surface. Draw a “roadway” with 2 parallel lines (make it straight or curvy) and have your child use a small piece of crayon like a car to draw a line, without “crashing” into the sides of the roadway. If this is too challenging, they can use an actual small car pinched between their fingers, still trying to stay on the roadway.

Give your child a sheet of stickers and have them pull the stickers off and stick them to the paper. If it is a struggle to remove the stickers, place the sticker on the edge of your table and let them peel it off from there.

Let your child finger paint with a brush or fingers (using washable finger paints) during bath time. A bleach pen will remove any paint color residue from grout lines.

How I met Kindermusik

Back in the summer of 1996, I saw an ad in the paper for a Kindermusik storytime at a local bookstore in Lewisville. I took my then-pregnant self, my 2 1/2 year old daughter and didn't really have anything in mind except to have fun with music! After I left, I had the Kindermusik headquarters phone number in hand and the numbers of the two wonderful educators who conducted the storytime (and who I felt like I knew my whole life and not just 30 minutes!). It was one of those life-changing things: I just KNEW this was what I was meant to do. I can't explain it any other way. I called the number to get an information pack and the rest is history. Thanks to my wonderful husband's enthusiastic support, I was in Houston, TX three weeks later for a week-long training and I started to teach after I had my second child. The two local educators that I met continued to provide support and friendship, even included me in their advertising and referred families to me. It was amazing, and they are friends to this day. Our goal was to share music with children and families, never to 'compete'. How special is that. Kindermusik was such a perfect 'fit' with my own interest in enriching others' lives with music as I had been enriched. It was so natural for me to embrace it. My children are Kindermusik graduates and were in some of my first classes back then! (Now I live with a vocalist/writer/poet and guitarist and love the music around this place!).

I tell people all the time about Kindermusik because of the deep belief I have in the program and what it does for families, for children's growth, and for their minds. I know you tell others too, because so many of your friends have come, and for that I thank you.

Something a little lighthearted and fun for you ~ Happy Spring Break!

~Simplify~

"Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens!" Have you noticed how much pleasure your toddler can find in touching a pansy petal to his cheek? ...or the fascination in the eyes of a three year old who has discovered a spider crawling on its web? Everyone who has a one-on-one relationship with a child can get "back to basics" in a blink of an eye. Even fuzz-balls under the fridge can capture a little one's interest. Think about the toys you or your child loved most.....probably a cuddly bear, a houseful of "little round people", wooden building blocks, Colorforms shape sets, or play pots and pans, dishes and some play dough "food". A two year old can still spend hours playing with soapy suds or digging in the sand. Remember the basics when choosing toys and there will be less frustration for you AND your children. No batteries, raucous electronic voices or beeps, software that disappoints, violent games, or lost pieces in the bottom of the toybox. A gift of a big plastic tub with snap-on lid filled with age appropriate art supplies and blank paper, a plastic drop cloth, and a collection of "stuff" such as tissue tubes, stickers, rubber bands, feathers, scraps of fabric and construction paper might be one of the best gifts you could give. But don't just set it down in front of your child.... "Let's see what we can make!" could be the magic words. Don't insist on conformity or beauty. Just the experience of construction can bring great satisfaction. There are some good books on home-made instruments for parents and children to make together, combining music and craft/art. Let me hear of your successes and/or disasters. We can all learn from each other!

Get Service

take good care

"...understand that to nurture and love others with the grace you desire means taking care of yourself and cultivating your own inner harmony. Inner harmony grows not by finding ways to get away from your child, but by giving yourself the gift of a hot bath at the end of a long day, reading a book of poetry, talking to a friend on the phone, taking a nap, crying, getting a massage, having a day off from cleaning and cooking, staying in your pajamas all day, swimming, going out to eat, or attending a conference. Do something for yourself as you give. Learn to laugh at yourself and not take yourself so seriously." ~Peggy O'Mara, The Way Back Home