Keep on Jingling!

I had a lovely email from Sally & Shawn this week! They were listening to their Dewdrops cd, and it had Shawn giggling like mad every time 'Come Follow' played :) Awesome!

Remember to add a little music to every day, even though we're between terms :) Christmas offers many wonderful opportunities for music making - Jarvis is demonstrating how much fun singing Jingle Bells can be when you have a cage bell on hand. (And a duck. Maybe the duck isn't so much a part of the song, but he's included nonetheless).

Think about the sounds you hear when you go outside at this time of year - sit quietly under a tree with your little person & listen to the birds singing, the cicadas chirping, the wind rustling through the leaves. Find a crunchy leaf & squash it, bang on the grass with your hands. All of these things make wonderful sounds! Music isn't confined to a classroom, or made solely by instruments :)

A Christmas cd I wouldn't mind getting hold of this year is Frank Sinatra's Christmas Collection - I can imagine having a wonderful time dancing around the lounge with Jarvis to a bit of Frank. For something a bit more up-beat, there's a very cool sounding album calls In the Christmas Groove, a collection of funk/soul tunes! Sounds like a bit of a laugh & good for a boogie :) I might just have to investigate! Dancing with your baby is one of the most wonderful things you can do - read this great article from Kindermusik International I posted back in October if you want to learn a little more about why!

I would really love to hear any of your Christmassy musical ideas! Post yours as a comment - if you have any trouble please email it to me using the link on the top right & I'll post it for you :)

Have a musical day!

Kath

Give the Gift of Kindermusik!

Looking for the perfect present this holiday season? Know someone who would be interested in giving a gift that truly “keeps on giving”? As you know, the benefits of Kindermusik not only last a few months or a few years—they last a lifetime.

This year, Grandma, Grandpa, aunts, uncles, friends, or anyone, can give your little ones the gift of Kindermusik. I have Kindermusik gift certificates available in any denomination. Gift givers can get in touch with me by email (there's a link on the top right hand side!) or phone 06 8686146, and I will provide simple instructions for purchasing a gift certificate to be applied toward Kindermusik tuition and/or home materials! Gift certificates purchased before December 18th are sure to arrive in the mail in plenty of time to find their way under the Christmas tree, into stockings, or get hand delivered with a hug.

(And don’t worry, we won’t tell your gift givers that this isn’t just a gift for the little ones—it’s also a gift for you! After all, you’re the one who gets to sit crossed-legged on the floor each week, enjoying that special time to bond with your child.)

Are you wondering if grandparents love giving Kindermusik as a gift? Just check out this video of a Kindermusik grandma who has pledged to sponsor Kindermusik for any of her 17 grandchildren who want it!

If you have any questions about purchasing gift certificates, I’ll be happy to answer them for you.

Wishing you the happiest of holiday seasons!

Can't decide whether to enroll? Watch this!

Kindermusik Village in Action :)

Upside Down!

Being upside-down provides our babies with a quite different perspective on the world (and makes them laugh! Well, Jarvis does anyway!).

It also provides their developing brains with some important information about gravity and movement, our place in space. Deep inside our middle ear is a very complex place, with an awful lot going on.

A very basic explanation of what's happening in there is that there are three tiny canals deep inside each ear, all filled with liquid. When we move this liquid swishes around, and pushes on a structure called a cupula, which contains tiny hair cells. The tiny hair cells translate the movement into electrical signals, which our brains can then process!

In other posts I've mentioned the importance of sensory stimulation for our littlest people, (stop and smell the flowers), and the stimulation of the Vestibular System is one of the most important sensory experiences of them all.

Our vestibular system keeps us standing upright, maintaining our balance, and moving around. It helps our brains to process what our eyes can see, it helps our brains to process the millions of messages which come from the rest of our bodies about the environment around us (our fingers, hands & feet for example).

There are many wonderful ways to stimulate the vestibular system! I'll offer a couple, and I'd love to hear your ideas :)

• Hammocking, like we do at Kindermusik! The gentle rocking action gets the liquid in the inner ear swishing :)
• Gently rocking side to side, and back to front
• Holding our babies in a variety of ways - upright, upside down (be careful to judge how much your child likes this one! I don't think it would appeal to everyone!), facing you, facing away...Every new position makes a new connection.

Remember - be gentle & be aware of your baby's response to different kinds of stimulation, everyone has a different perspective of what's enjoyable & what isn't :)

Enjoy finding new & exciting ways to get that Vestibular System going!

Sponge Play

Specially for Kristina & Issac!

Take a nice clean sponge, and dampen it. Explore the sponge with your baby - brush it gently against their cheek, hands or feet, drip water from it onto their hand, let baby rub your hand with the sponge, have fun!! When baby has a wet hand/face/foot blow gently on it, it will give them all kinds of new & wonderful sensations.

Remember that everyone has a different idea of what's enjoyable & what isn't - some babies will prefer that you don't blow on their face, some (like Jarvis!) will love it and giggle like crazy! It's all about reading your lovely little friend & going from there.

The other wonderful thing we did was 'hammocking' - laying baby in a nice big blanket on the floor, one adult on each end, pick up the blanket & gently sway. So lovely! Even better if you sing a gentle song while you do it.

Long & Short

We had an action packed class today! Playing with sponges, exploring egg shakers, and swinging in a hammock...busy busy busy.

Our focus today was Long & Short - in sounds, and in movements. When we sang 'Come Follow' and used long & short steps we were helping our babies to experience long & short with their entire bodies! When we sang it in a round it sounded wonderful - what a fantastic group of mums :) 'Blow Away the Morning Dew' used long & short blowing, and 'Come My Little Darling' focussed on the long slow swaying of the hammock. Be sure to try that one at home!


Your Dewdrops Journal activity for this week is centred around blowing. Our little people don't know how to blow yet, their lungs & diaphragm are still developing, but we can teach them about it by blowing gently on them, and blowing safe small items in the air for them to watch. Feathers, cellophane, tissue, cotton balls...so many things to choose from! This is great for working their little eye muscles, which will eventually help with learning to read!

Let your baby touch you to work out what you're doing when you blow - he'll feel your mouth, feel the warm air coming out, and think it's all very interesting indeed! Make sure to be careful with any little items you're blowing on, you don't want them to be eaten...

Share your blowing activities & baby's reactions - we love your input! It's so wonderful reading about what other families are doing at home, sharing ideas is so beneficial to all of us.

Have a musical day!
Kath & Jarvis

Phone Troubles

My landline is having a few problems - not exactly sure when it will come back to life! If you need to get hold of me for enquiries or other musical things, please email me using the link on the right :)

Feel the Beat...

Life has a rhythm & a pulse...everything we do each day has a beat & a rhythm! Babies experience this before they are even born, the contant pulse of Mum's heartbeat, the beat & rhythm of her movements. When we walk, run, dance, clap,jump,skip; all of these things have a beat.

Some things we wouldn't even think of are linked into rhythm & beat - cutting with scissors and bouncing a ball for example.

The same beat/pulse & rhythm is present in speech too! A wonderful way of sharing this with your baby is through nursery rhymes & poems. Clap the beat, tap the beat gently on your baby's body, move to the beat as you say the rhyme, bounce baby on your knee! Familiarise your baby with the rhythms of language in the way he or she will love the most - by listening to your voice.

Explore both beat & rhythm in your day - as well as moving with the beat when you say a poem, try clapping the rhythm (the syllables of the words in the poem). Play the rhythm on a drum (or a saucepan!), find different ways to bring beat & rhythm to life for your baby.

Share your beat & rhythm explorations here - we would really love to hear from you!

Have a wonderful musical week :)
Kath & Jarvis

Cock-a-doodle-Moo!

Thinking ahead to term one of 2010! A little bit about our first Village unit for next year...

Hop on the hayride—it’s time to head for the farm! In this class, you will sing songs about the farm, including “Old MacDonald,” “Hayride,” and “Clever Cows.” You’ll engage in rituals and playful activities with your baby, including infant massage, lap bounces, exercise, and quiet time.

Home Materials: A picture board book with charming farm animals and the sounds they make—Cock-a-doodle-Moo, a CD of the songs heard in class, a Sunshine Jingle instrument for music-making at home, and a set of Art Banners for the nursery wall.

We'll get started the week of February 8th, with the day & time yet to be decided.

Families who are interested in finding out more about Kindermusik are welcome to make an appointment to come & check out a class (free of charge) this term - we'd love to grow our Kindermusik family in Gisborne! Call me on 8686146 to find out more.

Stop & Smell the Flowers

Our babies are amazing! Everything is a new experience, and every new experience fills baby's senses with new sights, sounds, smells, feelings, movements, positions in gravity, & tastes.

The brain is constantly organising these new sensations, integrating them to create a fuller understanding of the world around us. In little people this is so important!!

Not only are they learning about their environment, but within the brain these sensory messages are converted into electrical impulses which travel to the spinal cord & brain, are combined, and produce some very important things - posture, movement skills, co-ordination, emotions, thoughts, memories & learning. The brain really is a fantastical place!

The sensory system doesn't just develop by itself, it needs to be stimulated. This happens every time a child has a sensory experience! By the age of ten, the growth of sensory connections in the brain is mostly finished with - which is why is it so very important to offer loads of sensory opportunities to our little people. In a child under 7, the brain's primary job is as a sensory processing machine - over 80% of the nervous system is totally dedicated to organising the many sensory experiences had!

Find ways to offer your baby a variety of wonderful sensory experiences!

A favourite around here is holding Jarvis above the oregano and letting him dance on the leaves...his toes feel the texture & coolness of the plant, his eyes see the green shiny leaves, his nose and mouth are filled with the aroma of the herbs, his vestibular system is being stimulated by being upright, and these are only a few of the wonderful things going on!

Check back in a few days for more interesting information about the importance of the senses in our wonderful babies, and pleeeeeease feel free to share any of your ideas, I really would love to hear them! Sensory experiences are infinite & limited only by the imagination!

Have a musical day!
Kath & Jarvis

Mirror Mirror...

Babies are fascinated with mirrors! When he or she looks in the mirror, your baby is starting to develop some form of self-awareness. Responses can be many & varied - smiling & cooing, babbling, waving, patting, or eating the mirror! All of these reactions help him or her to learn more about the body.l

There are so many neat things you can do with your baby & a mirror! Put a mirror in front of your baby when they have tummy time, make silly faces, play peek-a-boo, use baby sign, make silly noises...Endless possibilities.

I'd love to hear your ideas about mirror play with your baby!

Balance the High & Low

The pitch of a sound (how high or low it is) initiates different responses from babies. How you use your voice can affect the energy level of playtime with your baby! Exposure to high sounds plays an important part in maintaining the alertness & energy needed for learning, then low sounds can be calming and soothing for when it's time to relax.

This week, try to use a wide variety of voice ranges when you talk to your little one. Integrate movement too - move your body from low to high as you make a low to high sound! Say poems & tell stories using your voice in different ways, sing songs which are high and low, and see how your baby responds :)

Feel free to post their responses here, along with any wonderful ways you can think of to explore high & low!

Dance with your Baby!

A great article from Kindermusik International about the wonderful things that happen when you dance with your baby :)

Next time you're out in the backyard, the park, or even an outdoor concert – dance with your baby. Do so and two amazing things happen. First, responding to music is one of the few activities – other than laughter – that engages a baby's entire mind and helps her express emotion, pay attention, and move. Add the unpredictable movement of dancing and you'll turn on another vital system, the vestibular system, which controls balance and coordination.

Babies need plenty of opportunities for unrestricted movement. So choose or create a safe environment that encourages exploring and the development of skills such as reaching, rolling, sitting up, crawling, pulling up, cruising and walking. Set up a large blanket wherever is best for you and your baby to stretch, play and dance! It will also give your baby a welcoming place to practise lifting her head or develop strong muscles during ‘tummy time', and allow her to learn to roll, creep, crawl and sit. If you place a toy just out of reach, you'll encourage your baby to make an extra effort that will help her physical development.

Playing lots of games is also rewarding. Even only slightly physical games, like pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo, can do a lot to help your baby's learning and movement skills. And taking your baby to new places will stimulate her curiosity.

And when it comes to dancing with your baby, don't worry if you don't know how to! Repetitive swaying and bouncing are age-old strategies for distracting a cranky baby, or just using rhythmic movements. Just think of a word then do it, like: glide, sway, bounce, two-step, swoop, fly, zig-zag. To really help tune up your baby's sense of rhythm, why not put on some great dancing music with a thumping beat and have a real boogie – you'll have as much fun laughing and dancing with her as she will!

Many parents swear by the therapeutic effect of salsa music's syncopated rhythms on colicky babies. Lay your baby on her stomach across your arm, putting light pressure on her tummy with your hand (sometimes known as the “football hold”). Place your other hand on her back to hold her securely, and sashay away. Or if she prefers being upright, hold her in a seated position facing forward, with one hand under her bottom and the other on her tummy. If Latin dancing isn't to your little one's taste, try something else: reggae, pop or even some good ol' country!

Kindermusik Begins!

A warm & friendly welcome to all of the new families in our Kindermusik Village class! I had a wonderful time this morning and it was lovely to have such a great group of mums & babies.

We'll be using the blog to give you more information about what we've done in class, information about the Foundations of Learning, and interesting musical bits & pieces I come across. Be sure to check in often!