Introducing Little Kids to the "Woodwind Family" of the Orchestra!

CHILDREN, MUSIC & THE WOODWIND FAMILY 

                     Photos are from the artists at the Big Stock Photo site.

The little children are really enjoying our latest studies of the Families of the Instruments in the Orchestra. I think, for little children, the fact that the sections of the orchestra are sometimes called "families" of instruments is a selling point! 
We started off with the Woodwind Family since the children had listened to the selection called "Birds" from Camille Saint Saens' Carnival of the Animals in several of our recent lessons. This music piece features the flute and there is a long passage of flute music as a solo, so the children can really hear its unique sound. For more about this wonderfully fun music see my Blog post in February at this link: Kids, Elements of Music & Carnival of the Animals

I have a collection of miniature instruments (complete with their own tiny velvet-lined cases) that I pass around so the children can actually see the details on these replicas. The mouthpiece on the flute is important for a child to understand why a flute is played to the side, and the miniature flute is great for being able to see the position of the mouthpiece up close. And, as educators, we all know how much children love small versions of the real thing!

I found many of my miniatures at this site: http://www.musictreasures.com/miniature-instrument

I have found that miniature replicas of the instruments of the orchestra are a great (and portable!) substitute for being able to show and play the actual instruments for young  audiences. I have always wanted to bring the local high school band into my Preschool music classes...

Back to our lesson. First, the children see a photo of an orchestra:

Then, I show them a photo of a woodwinds ensemble:

There is a wonderful packet of photographic small-sized posters (8 1/2 x 14) of all the Orchestra families (and each individual instrument) that you can order from West Music. There's a digital version, too! Here's the link:

http://www.westmusic.com/p/discover-the-instruments-of-the-orchestra-530094 

After the children carefully examine the delicate miniature flute, we listen to a short excerpt from Saint Saens, "Birds".

Next, it's fun to introduce the bassoon, since it is the largest of the woodwinds and its very low sound is a good contrast to the higher sounding flute.

The children, once again, are invited to see the miniature bassoon up close, so that they better understand how this unusual instrument is played!

One of my favorite cd's for introducing young children to the instruments of the orchestra is "Baby's First Introduction to the Instruments of the Orchestra". This cd features each instrument individually and also in ensemble groups. The cd selections are less than a minute long (usually 30 seconds or less!) and that's about right for young children to be able to hear the featured instrument but not lose interest.

Here's the link at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Babys-First-Instruments-Various-Artists/dp/B00005Y8D7

What child can resist this wild-looking instrument with its equally wild sound and a name like bassoon!?

                        Man playing the Bassoon from the artists at Big Stock Photo

 

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The Outdoor Classroom Meets the Arts!

WHERE CHILDREN'S ART MEETS THE OUTDOORS 

The Children's Museum is one of the best places to go when the weather outside is cold or rainy. Our local Children's Discovery Museum has a fabulous "Nature Art" Room that is the next best thing to being outdoors and so, inclement weather turns into another way to "celebrate the outdoors inside!"

       Children creating art from nature in the Nature Art Room at the Children's Museum

 If you are looking for ways to connect children with nature and also provide a "cure" for "nature deficit disorder" in the modern child, you might consider creating a "Nature Art Area" in your environment. To learn more about "nature deficit disorder", check out Richard Louv's book, The Last Child in the Woods. Here's the link at Amazon:
 http://www.amazon.com/Last-Child-Woods-Children-Nature-Deficit/dp/156512605X

The Nature Art Area pictured above is a large indoor room at our local Children's Museum and the idea can be brought to just about any environment.
The "idea" is to create art from a collection of objects found in Nature...however, the art is not glued or painted or nailed together! Here's the sign at the entrance to this beautiful Nature Art Room:

So, the idea is to arrange & rearrange to your heart's desire and then leave your nature art creation for the next person to enjoy. 

As you can see, I took photos of the nature art that my grandchildren created at the museum. And, the museum also provided paper and colored pencils for the child artists to draw their creations so that they could have something to take away with them.

Here are the links for two of the SF Bay Area children's museums:
http://www.baykidsmuseum.org

https://www.cdm.org

I have been to Children's Museums all over the world! Just look up Children's Discovery Museums in your area.

I curated a Nature Art Tray for my Montessori Outdoor Classroom and it was a big hit! The children created Nature Sculptures that were held together with ribbons or pipe cleaners so that we could hang them. 

On rainy days, the PreKinder class really enjoyed taking the Nature Art Tray indoors to create art sculptures that were later hung outside to decorate our adopted tree that the children named, "Sister Tree".

A very sweet way to celebrate nature, the outdoors, and art!

                               

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The Elements of Art with Preschoolers: "The Line"!

LITTLE KIDS, "THE LINE" IN ART, & FAMOUS PAINTERS

Usually, Art teachers introduce the ELEMENTS OF ART with "THE LINE" and children take up a fat marker, or pencil, or crayon and go to it! However, young children have been working with the concept of line in the artistic sense long before they are able to masterfully grasp a design instrument and start drawing.

I will always remember my own children's first paintings created  with fat paint brushes on a big sheet of paper at the easel or on the table or even the floor..! Those wonderful whole body motions of the young child with a paint brush in each hand! Even before the paint brush, the child has probably had some experiences with finger painting (and I highly recommend "pudding finger painting" as a fun and safe "first art experience" for the little ones who put everything in the mouth) Here's a link from Sweet Treats & More for finger painting with pudding: Instant pudding finger painting.

I love to feature famous painters & artists when introducing the elements of art to young children, and one of my favorites is Joan Miro. (Barcelona, Spain 1893-1983)

Miro did everything from realistic scenes of people & places to abstract & expressionistic multi-media to whimsical & architectural sculpture. And, he was a friend of Picasso's!

Learn more about Joan Miro at this link:http://www.joan-miro.net

                                        "Self Portrait" by Joan Miro (1919)

                                                "The Farm" by Joan Miro (1929)

  Here's a great example to illustrate the concept of LINE in the Elements of Art:

                           
                                       "Blue" by Joan Miro (1969)

This one of Miro's shows his famous "star" motif that he used often in his playful style. Little children have fun looking for Miro's stars in his many "Line Paintings"!

                                          "The Gold of the Azure" by Joan Miro (1968)

                                    "Personnages" by Joan Miro

                                             
                                             Small Sculpture from the 1960-80's by Joan Miro

Large Sculpture from the 1960-80's by Joan Miro

The concept of "line" in art is evident from the beginning of our civilizations.

                                                       Prehistoric Cave Art found in India

                                            Ancient Egyptian Tomb art

I love the way Edgar Degas used "lines" in his wonderful pastels . Here's a great example:

                        "Dancer Adjusting Her Slipper" by Edgar Degas (1880-85)

I can't resist the imaginative "animated creatures" of Paul Klee with his whimsical use of fine lines in pen and ink.

                            "Twittering Machine" by Paul Klee (1922)

Picasso was a great admirer of children's art and he chose line drawing as a way of expressing the purity of art in many of his famous works. 

                                                   "Head of Woman" by Picasso (1905)

 One of my favorites for a Preschool Art lesson about the concept of line is from Joan Miro:

                                     "Figures & Dog In Front of the Sun"  by Joan Miro 1945

As we see, great artists & famous paintings obviously rely upon the first and basic element of art..."the line!"

Henri Matisse might be one of the all time greats at composition with lines since he was famous for his patterns made with straight, diagonal, zig-zag and curvilinear LINES! 

                                      "Purple Robe & Anemones by Henri Matisse (1937)

For the Montessori classroom, working with the "Line" element in Art is a hallmark found in many activities from cutting straight, zig-zag, and curvilinear lines with scissors to practicing intricate & beautiful line designs with art pencils and the Montessori Geometric Insets. Learn more by clicking here to see one of my past Blog posts: Elements of Art, Line, and a rationale.

Hope your little ones enjoy the study of LINE in their exploration of the Arts!

Advertising Disclosure: Magical Movement Company may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. Thanks for your support!

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Outdoor Classroom: Winter Fun with Garden Worms!

IT MAY BE COLD OUTSIDE, BUT THE WORMS SURVIVE!

I have found that lots of little children love finding worms in the garden and the Outdoor Classroom is a great place to set up a worm composting center. 

                     Four yr old girls observing worms found in the classroom garden

All photos by Carolyn at Magical Movement Company

The bigger the worm bin, the better, as it will better withstand extremes of weather.

You can also weather-proof your worm bin by providing a thick layer of bedding over the worms and always keeping the lid on! 

The worms raised in a worm bin are not the same variety as the big fat earth worms found in a healthy garden plot. You have to purchase your first group of red worms for the bin from a local supplier. This is the link for locating a worm supplier in my area (Northern CA) CA. Govt worm suppliers. And, you will have to look up the suppliers in your area. Most will deliver!

Here is a great website with lots of suggestions for winterizing your worm bin: Winter Worm Composting from wormcomposinghq.com

One of the all-time favorite worm care activities for the Preschool children is preparing "bedding" for the worms in your worm bin. Little kids really relate to making the worms feel cozy, and so creating the worm bedding makes sense to these children who get tucked in every night in their own warm beds at home!

        Taking care of the worm bin for the 

Preschool Outdoor Classroom

It's important to keep lots of bedding in the worm bin during the cold months and also during the hot months of the year.

To prepare bedding:

1. First, provide lots of newspaper for the children to tear into strips. (The thinner the strips the better) This is, of course, a very fun activity for young children...even the tiny ones can tear newspaper strips! I always take out the heavily colored newspaper pages and I never put slick paper in the worm bin as these heavily processed sheets can be harmful to the worms.
2. I have the children fill large trash bags with the torn paper. Lots of fun, too!
3. Next, give the children little spray bottles full of clean water and invite them to spray down the paper scraps in the trash bag...get it nice and wet!
4. Then, close up the bag, fasten it tightly,  and let it sit over night.
5. The next day you can take the trash bags full of dampened paper scraps out to the worm bin and lay the "bedding" carefully on top of the dirt where the worms live in the bin.
6. Make sure the worms have plenty of food scraps and that their environment is damp before putting the bedding on top.(Then lift the bedding, as if lifting a "blanket" when you next feed & water the worms.) 

           Preschooler putting food scraps into the worm bin for "feeding time!" 

I'm almost certain you probably have little children who are wild about garden worms! The worm bin is fun for those children, especially if they are provided with child-size gardening gloves. The worms also appreciate having their environment "aerated", so I always have small plastic handheld "rakes" available for the children who love to explore the worm bin. Plastic works best here so that the tools don't actually injure the worms!

          Preschoolers "aerating" the worm bin

You can find little plastic "rakes" or "forks" at places like Target and Home Depot during the gardening season. However, my favorites are these eco-friendly tools available on Amazon. Here's an example at this link:Twygz children's hand tools from Amazon

Our preschool was given a worm bin from the County Agricultural Exchange and it is equipped with 3 trays for moving the worm compost (or droppings, called "worm castings") down as the worms move upwards toward the food supply. Then, the lower tray collects the "worm tea" which can be retrieved by turning the spigot located on the lower right hand side of the bin. Here's a fantastic link where you can find out how to do this and purchase a worm bin, too!
http://www.naturesfootprint.com/worm-factory
The Worm Factory also sells on Amazon at this link: The Worm Factory Worm Bin.

The "worm tea" is gathered by the children in child-size buckets and then poured throughout the garden as a wonderful organic fertilizer!

So, if the cold weather is preventing your children from digging in the garden when the soil is hard-packed and maybe even frozen...the worm bin could use some tender loving winter-time care.♡
P.S. For the Montessori-style classroom, don't forget to set out the "Parts of the Worm" booklet-making activity indoors!

Advertising Disclosure: Magical Movement Company may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. Thanks for your support!

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