With many families enjoying Spring Break at home with their little children, it's fun to have some music in the atmosphere! I always have to smile when I hear a child or two commenting on some of the song selections we play or sing along to in Music Classes. Recently, we've been doing a vocal warm-up with "One Love" (here's the link for the fun cd: http://www.susananders.com/just-songs-warmup-for-kids.)
One of the five yr olds said, "My parents play that song, it's Bob Marley!"
I've been told that some homes have a little "dance session" at the end of the day, just before bath & bed time.
Others tell me that their family loves to play quiet music in the background during the family dinner.
Most parents definitely mention that their Preschoolers have favorite cd s that they play at bedtime to help their children relax and fall asleep.
If you're having a "dance session", I highly recommend Frank Leto's cd, Frank Leto's Steel Band Jamboree (click here for more info) and if you add rhythm instruments the dancing is even more fun!
One of the sweetest little napping/sleeping cd s is from Frank Leto again. This link is at iTunes: Frank Leto Quiet Time but you can also get any of his cd s and more at his website. (see above link)
Hope you and your family have a wonderful Spring Break with lots of music at home!
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I really love the Ancient Art found in caves all over the world and I discovered that 4 yr olds do too!
The "Bison" art painted on the walls of the Caves of Lascaux in Southern France is probably the most famous. Here's a link to read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux
These caves were discovered in 1940 by a boy who was out exploring. Children love to hear the story and when I tell them the art was created more than 17,000 years ago...they begin to relate. "Oh, the caveman days!"
I've developed a fun little lesson to go along with the study of this famous ancient cave art.
Supplies:
Art paper
Photo example of "The Bison", that shows the contours of the cave itself (lots of examples on Google images)
Construction paper suitable for tearing
Soft pastels (chalk pastels)
Cloth rag or paper towel
Oil pastels
Plastic animal model (preferably a bison or buffalo)
You can find all of these at many craft & art supply stores (Michaels, of course), but I like this on-line supplier best:
First, we have a little discussion about the picture of "The Bison" and the way you can see the lines of texture in the wall of the cave.
1. Invite the children to create the backgroundof their picture first by creating the "walls of the cave" by first making a stencil from torn paper
2. Tear the construction paper so there is a ragged edge (this is the "stencil".)
3. Use the chalk pastels to color along the torn edge of the stencil...use lots of chalk!
4. Transfer the stencil to the piece of art paper, and hold the stencil in place with one hand.
5. With the index finger of the other hand, rub along the colored edge of the stencil so that the chalk smears over on to the art paper (be sure to keep the stencil still by holding it in place at all times!)
6. This process can be done several times, holding the stencil at different angles and different locations on the art paper (usually 3 or 4 different rubbings look great) and it's fun to tear other stencils for each color of chalk pastel the child plans to use.
7. When the background is to the child's liking, then take a rag or paper towel and place it over the drawing and carefully "blot" any excess chalk dust, or take it to the trash and gently shake off the excess. (This step is not always necessary)
8. Next, place the plastic animal replica on the art table in the child's view and say, "We'll use this as a model for drawing the bison" (Many children want to actually trace around the animal figure and that is okay, too)
9. Use the oil pastels to draw the bison and to color in details
This activity is one that I will be featuring in the Art Workshop-Playshop that I am teaching on Saturday, April 11th at the Muse in Willits, CA. For more information, click here: Art Workshop Details & Registration
Looking forward to seeing lots of families there!
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The fun of listening to the strings in the Orchestra is pretending that you are playing a violin! We've been pretending this in our music classes this week by using our rhythm sticks like violins. Hold the smooth one up to your shoulder with one hand and then scrape the ridged one across it like a bow across a violin...lots of fun! Rhythm sticks from Basic Beat found at this link: West Music
The next step...just a few years away!
We started the lesson with focused listening to the stringed instruments of the Orchestra:
Once again, I used the selections from the cd, "Baby's First Introduction to Instruments of the Orchestra" available at Amazon at this link: Baby's First Instruments of the Orchestra (which by the way, is not just for babies by any means.) I think this cd is the best for introducing the instruments of the orchestra because each instrument family is introduced as a group ensemble and then there are short excerpts of the individual instruments.
Next, I show the children photos of musicians playing in the String section of the orchestra. This week, I introduced the violin & the viola and the children got to see my miniatures up close...which is always a big hit! You can read more about miniatures and where to buy them at my blog post here:The Music: Orchestra for little kids
The violin miniature I have is just about the tiniest violin in the world! We decided it was mouse-sized.
We also explored the miniature viola and the children saw that is was a lot like the violin only bigger and lower in pitch.
The selection called, "Animals with Long Ears" features the violin sounding like a donkey braying. So, I showed these little ones a photo of a donkey and then invited them to listen to an actual donkey braying on my recording!
That got some giggles, but it also made the violin song much more fun to listen to... Here's my quirky little video with the donkey & violins that you can watch with your children!
I download lots of classical music from a website that has royalty-free recordings. The site is called Musopen, and here's the link: https://musopen.org
Hope you enjoy this wonderful music!
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Now that you've set up a bird feeding station in your Outdoor Classroom, it's time for even more fun & learning!
Little children love watching birds...even the youngest children will gaze at the sky with wonder at the beauty of a bird soaring by. So, the idea of have a "birdwatching bag" is just irresistible for little kids.
I set up a child-size shoulder satchel for a wonderful little birdwatching bag with these tools inside:
Binoculars
Hand-held bird call
Bird identification book
Small spiral notebook & pen
You can also add things like a directional compass and even a child-size camera, for older children.
I've found all the above items at the Wild Birds Unlimited Stores on-line site. They also have lots of actual stores and we are lucky enough to have several in our region of the SF East Bay. One of my favorite places to explore with children!
The birds will definitely visit your Outdoor Classroom when you offer them a feeding & watering station. You can read more about setting up kid-friendly bird habitats in some of my past posts:
4-yr old observing the birds through child-size binoculars
Great view through binoculars from the top of the slide!
I like the little bird calls that are made by Audubon (found at Wild Birds Unlimited, see above link). They are hand-operated and when twisted they sound just like birds!
The bird identification book that I like is Beginners Guide to Birds by Stokes. The Stokes books are great for little children because they are small sized and feature photographs (rather than drawings) of the birds of the region according to color.
One of the all-time favorite activities for little bird watchers is recording their observations in the child-size journal! You can provide little spiral bound notebooks that have lined pages for the older children to write down the names of the birds observed. Or, you can provide a small-sized unlined sketch pad for children to "draw" the birds they see.
So there, you can see some of those great skills for the little kids to be developing:
Observing (visual discrimination)
Recording (writing & pre-writing)
Caring for the environment (compassion)
Having fun, too!
Hope you enjoy birdwatching with your little ones...
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Here are some fun, easy, artsy things that mix art and the outdoors...
I love this simple and wonderfully fragrant little garden bracelet you can make from lavender flowers!
All Photos taken by Carolyn at Magical Movement Company
Children enjoy cutting lavender and then putting the fragrant flowers inside a small bandana to create a potpourri bracelet. Rolling up the bandana is half the fun! Then, someone else can tie the fragrant "bracelet" around the child's wrist. I have bought packages of bandanas from Michaels and also, JoAnns Art supply stores and then I cut the bandanas in half or in quarters depending on the size of the bandana.(One package goes a long way)
Our little ones LOVE to pluck kernels from Flint or Indian Corn, so we added some extensions to this popular outdoor activity. I always buy lots of this corn during the Fall and then the children can do the activity all year long. The Flint corn lasts and lasts!
After plucking off the kernels with tweezers, the children take the kernels to the mortar & pestle and crush them up to feed to the wild birds. SAVE THE CORN HUSKS for making little corn husk dolls!
Just fold over one of the husks from the Indian corn and wrap a pipe cleaner around to create the arms for the dolly. Then use markers to add a face. Hopefully your environment offers lots of art materials for children to explore in their own way. Here's a photo from our Preschool Art Area:
Children fill up their "art buckets" with everything they will need to make their creations. "Free Choice" art areas give children opportunities to engineer their ideas into reality! Lots of creative thinking and problem-solving skills continue to develop in this exploration of art materials.
"Free Choice" art bins can include:
scissors
a variety of markers, crayons, colored pencils
special kid-friendly ink pens
tape
staplers
glue & glue sticks
pipe cleaners
variety of materials for collage, (including nature objects)
lots of kinds of paper
tracing templates
water color sets
stamps & stamp pads
hole punch
brads & paper clips
rulers & pencils
play dough & clay tools
My favorite "masterpiece" is the original work pictured below: paper sculpture construction made by a 4 yr old titled, "Wheel Barrel."
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The little children were excited to see the miniature oboe that I brought to music classes this week. They had already been introduced to the Woodwind Family of Instruments in the Orchestra in last week's lessons.You can read about it at this link: Introducing the Woodwinds to Children where they were introduced to the Orchestra, the Woodwinds Section, and specifically the FLUTE and BASSOON.
Woodwind instruments!
First, the little ones prepared their ears for listening by rubbing the ears gently around the edges (I call it "giving the ears a little massage!") Then, we listened to the selection featuring the oboe from this great cd that you can find on Amazon at this link: Introduction to Instruments of the Orchestra
Of course, the children asked to see my miniature oboe, since they had so enjoyed seeing the miniature flute & bassoon in the past music classes. (see the above link for my past blog post about these miniatures & where to buy them) I love being able to show the children miniature replicas of instruments, because first, children love miniatures (of just about anything!) and secondly, because I simply can't bring in the real instruments, even if I had all of them!
The very interesting thing about the oboe is that the mouthpiece is the REED. The miniature that I have shows this very well, but here's a photo of the real thing:
Oboe and case
We've talked a little about the reeds that are in the woodwind instruments. When we warm up our voices, sometimes I have the children lean forward a little and make the mmmm sound and ask them to notice if they feel any tickling in their lips, mouth, cheeks...! That's how I explain that the vibrations from the sound of their voices making the mmmmm, causes their lips to feel a tickle. So, when I introduce the Woodwinds, I can refer to the tickle of the mmmmm in our vocal warm ups and relate it to the vibration of the reed of each woodwind instrument.
I found this photo of a boy making one of those little nature whistles from a blade of grass and it is a great way to illustrate a little more about how the reed in the woodwinds works. I explain to the children that a reed is a stiff grass-like plant. Playing a "leaf whistle"
Then, I explain that the reed sticking out of the oboeisthe mouthpiece. The children have already decided that it takes very strong muscles and lots of practice to play the oboe!
Playing the oboe
Playing the oboe
Next, we prepare for listening to the clarinet, and I like to show the miniature instrument right away because it looks a lot like the oboe, except that the reed is inside the wood of the clarinet mouthpiece, instead of showing (the way it is in the oboe.)
The clarinet
Playing the clarinet
A great selection for hearing the clarinet is "Cuckoo in the Woods" from Camille Saint-Saens, Carnival of the Animals, which we have listened to before in our music classes. Check out this link for my post about it: Elements of Music & Carnival of the Animals
I have an antique rubber toy cuckoo that I bought on eBay a few years ago, because I just couldn't find a plastic model of a cuckoo anywhere! The children in one of the classes I taught last week knew all about the cuckoo bird as they were studying about the Black Forest of Germany. Montessori kids!!!
Anyway, I think props like my toy cuckoo help the children to make the connections, since most didn't even know that the cuckoo sound made by the clarinet was mimicking the actual bird's sound! Here is one of my quirky little videos using the music from Camille Saint-Saens, "Cuckoo in the Woods." This song is fun for children to listen for the cuckoo sound made by the clarinet.
Click here to see the video:
I have found some photos of children playing a toy clarinet and it looks like it might be a fun experience for the young child who really wants to play some type of woodwind. I think that children are usually ready for beginning to learn the recorder when they are a little older. ( at the age of 7 or 8.) Playing a toy clarinet
Playing the recorder
Playing a toy clarinet
These cutie-pies look like miniature jazz musicians themselves! Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope there was information that you found useful.
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Welcome! I'm Carolyn, a grandmother, long-time Montessori Teacher, and Orff-Schulwerk Music Specialist. I hope you enjoy these activities that I have curated over my many years of teaching in many different settings! You can check out my website by clicking on my picture.
