Family Time...and a prize!

Something very exciting is coming to Serendipity Studio in term one of next year...

Kindermusik Family Time!

Bringing children of all ages together provides a dynamic and integrated learning experience for everyone. So, Kindermusik took favourite songs and activities from our favourite units, like 'Shake, Shake the Apple Tree' and 'Hammocking' and rolled them into a fun, family class where each child is welcomed & valued, and family 'together time' is celebrated and cherished.

What you’ll experience in class:

• Singing. From the first “Hello” song to the last “Goodbye,” exploring a variety of musical styles and genres leads children to find their own voice. Plus singing helps with memory and recall, physical development, creativity, and socialization.
• Assorted Movement. Whether moving as a family, as a class, or as individuals, Family Time movement activities enhance coordination skills, create opportunities for imitation and exploration, and give everyone something to smile, rock, bounce, or dance about.
• Story Time. Reading aloud to children stimulates their curiosity, expands their knowledge, and broadens their understanding of language.
• Family Jam Children (and adults) will love selecting a unique instrument and joining in one big class jam session each week.
• Musical Concepts. Fun engaging activities bring out the musicality in everyone, from the youngest member of the family to the oldest. Together you’ll learn more about music as you learn more about each other.
• Expert advice. A Kindermusik educator explains how our musically based activities enhance your child’s complete development.
• Learning continues at home. With the home materials, the learning continues at home with your child’s best teacher—you!

To celebrate this exciting new curricula coming to Serendipity Studio, one lucky family will win their whole semester's tuition back in full! As classes are limited to ten children, and my commitments mean I can teach a maximum of two classes a week, those are pretty fantastic odds. Find out more!

Golden Apple Lullabies

Whilst on my fantastical adventure to Australia over the holidays, I had the great privilege of hearing super talented Kindermusik educator Cliona Molins performing a song from her new CD, Golden Apple Lullabies on her harp.

In our Kindermusik class we often talk about the importance of teaching our young ones to relax - it's a learned skill, and something which we adults often struggle with!

A young child's life is a whirlwind of activity - every day they are learning new skills, and millions of new connections are forming in their brains. It's so important to have some quiet time in the middle of all of the adventures - we need to give our children the chance to 'just be' at all times of the day, not solely naptime & bedtime. Sharing beautiful soft lullabies is a wonderful way of sharing some quiet time together, just having a cuddle.

Visit Cliona's website, listen to the beautiful song samples, enjoy a cuddle with your child!

You'll love it.

At this stage, Cliona's CD isn't able to be shipped outside of Australia, however, if you would love a copy please get in touch with me and I can arrange it! It's on high rotation around here, that's for sure.

Last day for early-birds!

Just a quick message from us today!


Remember - the early bird discount offer closes tomorrow :) Pay your deposit before then & take advantage of a $10 discount on your term's tuition!


Jarvis & I are looking forward to next term already - especially with all of the inspiration I will have gained from the Kindermusik conference in Mooloolaba in two weeks time. 


Have a musical day :)
Kath & Jarvis 

...and freeze!

Freeze games are so much fun - the anticipation of when the music will stop, the giggling as you try to stay in one spot 'til it's time to move again, the springing back into life as the music starts up...

Not only are 'stop-start' games like this fantastically fun, they're also developing our all important inhibitory control. When our little ones are just getting used to this whole moving around business, their body takes a wee while to respond to the messages being sent by their brains. This is why you'll often experience a few crashes in the initial stages of walking and running - even though their brain is saying 'Stop!!', their legs often don't get the message 'til it's too late! 

As with so many things, the more we practice, the better we get! The more opportunities our children have to practice their stopping and starting, the stronger the connections between their brain & their feet will grow and the easier stopping on demand will become :) And being able to stop in a hurry is a useful skill to have - think about crossing the road, or having another person unexpectedly cross your path when you're running!  

Playing 'freeze' with some favourite music is a wonderful way to work on inhibitory control, as is taking a story for a walk (as we did in class with the story 'Little Feather'  - which you can download here! If you register with play.kindermusik.com you automatically get three credits - use one to download this lovely story!). 

Have a lovely weekend - try and find an opportunity to bring some stop-start action into your day ;)

:) Kath

Hickory, Dickory, Tickle and Bounce

A bit of a sad morning 'round here - the last lesson of the term! It's been so wonderful having all of the wonderful families come & be a part of our Kindermusik family this past eight weeks :) 


It was especially lovely to see our visitors at the 'Friends & Whanau' class on Saturday! The second time round was so enjoyable it's going to become a permanent fixture here at Serendipity Studio, I love having a class where Dads, Nanas, brothers, sisters, cousins and friends can all come along and see what we get up to on a Tuesday morning! 


Jarvis and I will miss all of our friends over the holidays, but don't worry - I'm accepting enrolments for next term's class!


Here's a little about our upcoming unit - Hickory, Dickory, Tickle and Bounce!

Research shows the more you expose your baby to nursery rhymes and songs, the stronger those emerging language-learning skills will be. That's why these Mother Goose-like stories and rhymes are the main theme of this class. Plus, you'll develop research-proven communication strategies with your child through listening activities, speaking "parentese," and sign language. 

Home Materials: CD of beautifully arranged nursery rhyme and songs from class, a rhyming picture board book—Hickory, Dickory, Tickle, and Bounce, a set of Art Banners, and an instrument for music-making at home. 

Our class exploded in popularity this term, leading to rather a full house! Our class size is limited to ten, so if you'd like to be a part of this gorgeous unit celebrating the nursery rhymes we all grew up with, be in quick! To take advantage of our earlybird discount, your $65 deposit needs to be in by Friday, September 17th :) 

Visit the website to enrol or to find out more! Everything's online - from the enrolment form through to payment facilities! 

Over the holiday break, I'll keep posting wonderful ways to share music with your family...looking forward to next term already!

Take care,

Kath

An excellent listen

Hello all! A very busy week around here - apologies for not posting until now. I might even get two posts in tonight if I'm tricky!


I listened to a fantastic piece on National Radio today, about the profound effects of music on our young friends - it even made mention of Kindermusik Village! It was an interview with Greta Bradman, an amazing singer who has studied developmental psychology and neurophysiology, focussing on the impact of music on the brain. 


I highly recommend you take a few minutes to have a listen :) It will reinforce that you really are making the best choice for your child by being a part of our wonderful Kindermusik family.


Radio New Zealand - Kathryn Ryan interviewing Greta Bradman

Birds Making Music :)

Just a tiny post from me this week, I hope everyone's been enjoying listening to the birds singing us beautiful songs, reminding us that spring is just around the corner!


Here is a most wonderful link to explore at home, the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in Wellington has a great website, and on it we discovered a page dedicated to the songs of our native birds. We've been having a fantastic time playing the sound clips, and listening to the ways Jarvis responds to them! 

As always, the fantail is his favourite ;)

Remember, imitating sounds is a fantastic way for our little ones to get ready for speech, and it's lots of fun too!

http://www.sanctuary.org.nz/Site/Conservation_and_Research/Birds_sounds.aspx

Feathered Friends :)

What a fantastic Feathers class we had yesterday!! The lovely  Sal brought along her real live feathered friend to meet us :) Our Kindermusik Village class thought La La was just wonderful - especially when he came out of his house & sat on Sal's shoulder. 


Birds are nature's most wonderful music makers - and La La very happily joined in when we sang our songs. It was a shame poor Jarvis wasn't feeling well and was exiled from the class (and went on an outing with his Dad!), he loves echoing La La's squeals!


Echoing interesting sounds and exploring what their voices can do is a great language acquisition tool for our small friends, by listening and experimenting they learn how to use their mouths in different ways to make different sounds, a very important precursor to using real words. So, spending some time with the birds is a very useful way to spend an afternoon!


There are lots of ways of encouraging lovely wildlife to come and sing to you - and one of these is to leave them something tasty to eat! Try this recipe out - it's from the NZ Forest & Bird website :)


Bird Pudding...
1 - 2 cups of fat
Crumbled up stale bread, biscuits or birdseed
Honey
Bacon Rinds


Place the fat, honey and bacon rinds in a bowl. Stand in another bowl filled with boiling water. When the fat begins to melt, add the crumbs or birdseed. Stir the mixture to combine, and squish into a ball shape. When it's cooled down, put your bird pudding ball into a mesh bag (like the ones you buy onions in!), and hang it in a tree. You can also put out a tasty drink for your feathered visitors - they love sweetened water! Make sure you put it all up high enough that any passing cats don't interrupt the party :) 


We're inviting our native birds into our Kindermusik classroom as well as into our garden - the class created a very cool version of 'Who's Making All that Noise' this week. I'm looking forward to seeing what we can come up with next week!


Musically yours,
Kath :)


PS...Jarvis missed his friends terribly this week - hopefully he'll be back on board next Tuesday!

Become an Explorer!

Hello everyone - and welcome to term three! We had a fantastic first class for the term this morning, and are very excited to welcome Sarah & Tiki to our Kindermusik family :)

Did you know that babies who are allowed to explore within safe limits generally become eager and flexible learners? Finding new ways of using objects is great food for young brains :)  When our children are investigating objects, they're creating Action Schemes in their minds - what it looks like, feels like, tastes like, the sound it makes when you shake it, what happens when you bash it on something, all of that wonderful stuff. 

Do some investigating at your house! You could use a store bought instrument, something you've made, or even something from the kitchen (Jarvis is a big fan of the potato masher!). Think outside the box - what fantastical ways can you find of using it to make music? What sounds does it make?

I'd love to hear about your explorations - your comments always make me smile :) 

Have a musical week! Kath & Jarvis 

Free Preview Class :)

For all of you who didn't win our giveaway, here's a little something for you :)  Give me a call  on 8686146 and come along to a free preview class - you'll have a wonderful time and there's absolutely no obligation attached. 

Congratulations!!

Congratulations to Emma Gibson, who will be joining us for Kindermusik Village next term!! It's been lovely seeing more of you become followers and leave comments, and solve my little puzzle ;) I hope you'll all keep reading, and finding out more about ways to make every day a little more musical. 

I'm really looking forward to meeting our newest Kindermusik family when the term starts on July 20th!

Have a lovely day, everyone! 

Ooooh - nearly there!

To find out about our giveaway (which closes tonight!), click here first!

The giveaway is nearly over - and I see a couple of new followers have joined us as of this afternoon! One clever cookie has solved my puzzle already, and sent me the correct answer :)

Jarvis and I came up with S a novel musical instrument today, also known as 'Balloon with Bell in it'. It took me rather a long time to get a bell inside a deflated balloon, but once I did the fun was endless! Apologies for the rather dreadful photo and messy lounge ;) Hard to get a good shot of a young man vigorously making music!

A few days back I posted about the places music can be hiding in your backyard, today we spent the day searching for it inside. The Bell Balloon Creation came about when Jarvis started rummaging through a drawer & found a bell and a balloon, before that he made some pretty fantastic music using a stone mortar and pestle on the kitchen floor. There are endless possibilities - and none of them require you to go to a shop and buy an instrument! Our children can teach us an awful lot about how to make the most of what's around you :)

I look forward to checking my emails in the morning and seeing who else has taken the time to play my puzzling game - thank you all so much! I'll find my lucky winner then - if you haven't become a follower, make sure you do tonight - and leave me a comment too! I know there are some shy folk out there so I'm changing the rules a little - if you're a follower you get an entry, if you leave a comment you get another, and if you solve the puzzle you get yet another :)  I don't want to scare off people who aren't confident blog commenters! 

So...send your answers to me at serendipitystudio AT y7mail DOT com (excuse the lack of linky, I don't want those sneaky web bot things to steal my email address...), there's a link on the right hand side under the subscription box too :)

Good Luck!!

 :) Kath

Kindermusik - the Single Best Choice!

To find out about our giveaway, click here first! 

You may think I'm being a bit outrageous with the title of this post - but I truly believe it is :)


The research about music and children's development is simply amazing! More and more, the eyes of the research community are turning to music as a vehicle to deliver a learning experience to children.


Early, positive, and age-appropriate experiences with music - like a Kindermusik programme - can have a remarkable and research-proven impact on your child's life :) Language and literacy, maths and pattern recognition skills, social and emotional development, and the ability to plan, guide and self regulate behaviour are all attributes you'll see blossoming in your Kindermusik child! 


Kindermusik International have put together some fantastic resources, outlining the results of research into the ongoing benefits of Kindermusik. If you have a few D moments, they're well worth a read :)


Kindermusik - On the Path to Reading
Discovering Mathematics through Music
Music & Social-Emotional Development

Research aside, there are other amazing benefits of being a part of a Kindermusik class...the absolute joy you'll experience in a class and at home, the special bond you and your child will form in your special time together, the fun you and your family will have at home dancing and singing along with your Kindermusik CDs :) 

With over thirty years developing early childhood music curricula and products, Kindermusik is the original and most trusted name in music and movement classes. 

I can't wait to see which wonderful family will be joining us for next term - if you haven't become a follower yet, it's not too late!! I'll be choosing a winner on Thursday morning :) 

Don't be shy - write us a comment ;)  It's lovely learning about what everyone's doing to celebrate music with their families!

One more linky for today - some blogs from happy Kindermusik families around the world. If the research doesn't convince you, these surely will :) 

Blogs by happy Kindermusik families!

Musically yours,
Kath

Music in the Back Yard :)

To find out about our giveaway, click here first! 

I've just posted these over at my other blog, but thought they were a wonderful way to show how music can be hiding in the most unexpected of places :)

This morning, Jarvis and I went hunting for music in the garden. At first we found it in the usual places - Deedee the chicken and her team (Rosso, Rouge, Rojo, Blanco and Bianco - totally original chicken names round here...) clucking gently, with the occasional noisy outburst, the fantails sitting on the clothes line, the pheasants making their honking noises when they get startled and take off! 

Then, while I was hanging some washing out, Jarvis discovered a new source of music in one of his favourite things - the garden hose!! 

I heard him giggling wildly, and turned around to see this! He was making Shhhhhh sounds to go with the sound of the water spraying out of the hose, and totally enjoying the experience of having water flying EN wildly around his face :) Lucky I had the camera sitting outside, it was priceless!

Water is a very musical medium indeed! As well as the 'shhhhhh' sound of the water spraying from the hose, think about the sound you can make when you blow bubbles with a straw, the splash you get when you jump into a puddle, the sound of water pouring from one container into another, the sound of the shower sprinkling water into a full bathtub, the swish swish swish sound you hear when you  wiggle your hands or feet in a full bucket :) 

Only three days left of the giveaway - don't be shy lovely readers, please post a comment!! I'd LOVE to hear about your backyard music adventures, or even just have you say hello and tell me a little about you & your family :) 

 We have ten more followers now than we did a week ago, and that's wonderful - I can't wait to give away a term of Kindermusik Village on Thursday :)  

Don't forget to find the mysterious letters in this post - not many left to find now ;)

'til tomorrow!

Kath

Feathers :)

To find out about our giveaway, click here first!!

Hi everyone! I hope you're all enjoying your Saturday :)  What looked like a murky day has turned into a lovely sunshiney afternoon here - a nice surprise.

Our Village unit for next term is called Feathers - in this unit the musical poems of Woody Guthrie, bird songs, and the naturally occurring sounds in nature help babies develop an early appreciation - and accelerated aptitude - for language, movement and music. 

                                                                 

The At Home Materials are just gorgeous! A Kindermusik Chime Ball (a big favourite with everyone in our class!), a colourful picture book filled with birds, an art banner to strengthen baby's vision and promote early literacy, and a cd with over 25 songs from class to enjoy at home :) In addition to the cd, everyone enrolled in class is able to download a digital copy of ER the Feathers album from play.kindermusik.com . This is such a great website - and many of our families have found it invaluable when their cds have been played to death!! 

We're already getting into the Feathers groove in our house - listening to the cd, reading the picture book, and getting outside and listening to the birds singing in the trees :)  Jarvis's favourite real life bird right now is the fantail who hangs out in the lemon verbena tree outside. Whenever he sees the little guy sitting there chirping away, he starts imitating his sound and chirping back at him! 

                                          

Nature provides so many opportunities for us to take time out and listen - the birds singing, the wind in the trees, the way leaves crunch when you walk on them...what are your family's favourite sounds in the backyard? I'd love to hear all about them :)  

Feel the Beat!

To find out about our giveaway, click here first! 

Hello, lovely readers! I hope you're all enjoying reading my ramblings about the wonderful ways music can enrich our families :) I'm loving the comments, keep them coming!! There are still a few words to come, so keep your eyes peeled...

One of the first things we experience, even before we're born, is a steady beat. For forty weeks or so, we lived in a warm soft home, where the main soundtrack was the beating of our mother's heart :) 

So, imagine how it must feel after nine months of feeling a quiet, calm steady beat all day to emerge into a very noisy world, filled with lots of randomly occurring noises! 

The world is a super noisy place! Things are always beeping, the tv or radio is often on, other children are running around doing wonderfully noisy kid things, animals are making noises, lots NEV of things for a new baby to take in!

Especially in the early days, when babies are still adjusting to their new surroundings, music with a steady beat can provide some familiarity and comfort in the midst of a chaotic world :) Steady beat can be expressed through movement too - walking (or dancing!) around the room to a piece of music is a great way of experiencing the beat.

Experiencing a steady beat has many ongoing benefits too...but I'll save them for next time ;)

How do you feel the beat with your family? Can't wait to hear other people's ideas :)

Musically yours,

Kath

PS - I hope you found the mysterious word - it's not actually a whole word today, just a piece of one! Keep saving them up - and keep spreading the word :) If you don't follow loads of blogs, an easy way to keep up to date with my posts is to subscribe - just put your email address in the box on the right hand side! You'll get an email whenever I write something new :) 

Relax :)

To find out all about our giveaway, click here first!! 

There's nothing like taking a few moments to sit down, snuggle up, and relax! Here, Jarvis is having a cuddle with his friend the (very enormous) Very Hungry Caterpillar at his Nana's place :)

Relaxing isn't something we know how to do when we're born! With so much going on in the lives of our little ones, it's super important that we teach them how to slow down and have a rest in between all of our adventures. Relaxing is a learned behaviour, and something which we need to practice (yay!). 

Something we do in our Kindermusik Village class during Quiet Time, is listen to a piece of lovely relaxing music. It's a great time to have a cuddle, and rock to the music whilst taking deep breaths. Our children are amazing - when we breathe deeply, they copy us and slow down too! It's a time to share smiles and cuddles, and enjoy taking some time out of our busy lives :)  Relaxation BEGINNING isn't only for before bedtime, but it's a handy skill to have when bedtime does roll around!

Try it out - take a few minutes out of your afternoon every day this week and relax with your children :)  Choose a favourite piece of music - something slow, soft and gentle will help you relax more than something bouncy and fast - and give it a try :) 

As always - we'd love to hear about how you and your family relax! Remember to hunt for the mystery word in this post (details of the giveaway here!), and become a follower if you aren't already :)  

PS - We're on facebook as well - it would be wonderful if you could come & 'like' us ,  tell your friends about Serendipity Studio!!  

Getting a New Perspective :)

To find out all about our giveaway, click here first!!

Things can look so different when you check them out from a different perspective! As adults, we can move our bodies heads and eyes around to investigate the world around us in so many different ways. Our babies don't yet have the ability to do this by themselves, which is why an important part of Kindermusik Village is holding our babies in lots of different ways, giving them lots of views of the action!


This wonderful variety of views helps our babies develop their eyes, their understanding of space, and helps with the development of the muscles in their bodies used for movement and balance. Every time baby changes position, and sees the world from a new angle, new neural connections A GOOD are being formed in the brain! 


As with everything our young friends do, repetition is what makes these connections permanent. Every new experience and new perspective forms a connection - repeating these strengthens the connection and makes it stick around longterm :) 


Give it a try tomorrow - do some of your everyday activities with a twist! If you usually hold baby on your hip, try flying him or her through the air like superman! Have him or her facing you or facing outwards, down low or up high :) There are endless possibilities! I love the way Jarvis is looking up a cobweb out on the deck in the photo above, from below it looks quite different from when you're observing it front on. 


Remember to find the mysterious words in this post & join them onto what you found yesterday! Spread the word - a term of Kindermusik is a wonderful prize for a lucky family to win :)


Until tomorrow!
Kath :)

1,2,3, Waltz with Me!

The lovely Shanks family, showing us their wonderful waltz moves ;) We miss having Bonnie (the young lady in orange!) with us each week - she's an honorary member of our Village class who's recently started at Kindy. She's helping Mum (Jacquie) and her little brother, Jake, enjoy some quality dancing time :) They're doing a great job of showing us what Kindermusik is all about - sharing music with our families. 


That's what makes Kindermusik so special - it's not just a once a week experience, the amazing At Home Materials mean you can take music wherever you go - listening (and singing along!) to the cds in the car, reading the stories before bed at night, having some quiet time together and KINDERMUSIK singing a soft lullaby :) 


Lately we've been enjoying a lot of dancing in our house - the Do-Si-Do cd certainly makes you want to jump up and dance!! Whatever your child's stage (lap baby, crawler, wriggler, walker, runner!), there's a way to incorporate movement & dance into your day. Dancing with your baby in your arms, or having them dancing alongside you, is so much fun, and has so many other benefits! 


Movement and sensory awareness are a big way that our littlies learn about themselves and the world - they internalise movement before making connections to the language which describes it (for example, they know what up and down feel like well before they know the words!). As they grow older, they'll do the action and say the word at the same time, then eventually the language will take over (but the movement is still there on the inside!). Pretty interesting stuff!! 


Make sure you click on the follow button and keep an eye on the blog - I'll be back tomorrow with some more wonderful ways to share music with your family! And be sure to collect the mysterious words hiding in my posts for the competition ;) Today's one isn't too tricky, I think you'll find it without too much difficulty! 


I'd love to hear about how you incorporate movement and dance into your day - please leave me a comment!


Have a musical day :)
Kath

Come, Follow Me! (also known as Giveaway Time!)

A bit of a Kindermusik joke there - watch this video & see one of our favourite Kindermusik tunes ;) 


At long last, here comes the giveaway I've been teasing you with for the last wee while!


Because we want to spread the word about how wonderful Kindermusik is, we're giving away a term of free tuition for one lucky local (Gisborne & nearby) family, valued at $165. It's for a place in our Kindermusik Village class in term three, for little ones aged 0-18 months :) 


It's easy peasy to enter...


1. Become a follower of the blog! Click on the 'follow' button to the right of the page, enter your details & you're done. If you're having trouble, click on the 'send me an email' linky and I'll help!
2. Leave a comment :)  I LOVE hearing everyone's ideas about wonderful ways to share music with their families! 


That's it! But, if you're keen for an extra entry and like a wee puzzle, I'll be hiding a word or two in each blog post for the next week. It shouldn't be too tricky to find (although it may look at first like I've made a crazy mistake & forgotten to proof read!). Collect the words, and email them to me at the end of the month (June 30th). 


At the end (on July 1st), I'll use random.org to choose a lucky winner! 


My next post holds the first clue :) Good luck, and please tell all your Gisborne friends!! 

A Giveaway!

How exciting - in conjunction with the lovely Jacquie at Cheeky Cherubs, and the ladies organising the upcoming Gisborne Baby Expo, we have a wonderful prize up for grabs...

A term of Kindermusik Village with Serendipity Studio for you and your baby/toddler (aged 0-18months), valued at $165!!

This is a very special prize, and there'll be a bit of a treasure hunt involved in entering the giveaway ;) Keep your eyes peeled on this blog, and on Facebook (the Serendipity Studio, Cheeky Cherubs & Gisborne Baby Expo pages!) for more details in the next few days...

I can't wait!!

Cuddles!

What a wonderful class we had this morning!! It was great to welcome Tom & Elaina back to our Kindermusik family, and have them join our singing and dancing :)


Something which really jumped out at me this morning was how our children love their Kindermusik friends - including the grown ups! 


At an age when many children are dealing with separation anxiety, we had a whole room full of little ones aged from 8 to 15 months all switching mummies! They were gorgeous - climbing into another Mum's lap for a cuddle, tickling the toes of the Mum with the coolest socks on, and generally sharing their smiles and cuddles generously with the group. 


Funnily enough, yesterday I was listening to a Kindermusik Webinar (online seminars which Kindermusik educators take part in, as a part of our ongoing professional development), which spoke about just that! One of the major benefits of a Kindermusik class is the social development our children get from being in a group of special friends each week :). I think our kids demonstrated that for us this morning, in the loveliest possible way. 


So, that's my piece of learning for today - Kindermusik grows confident, loving children!! And who wouldn't want one of those :) 


Thanks for being a part of our Kindermusik family - and if you're not yet, please give me a call & find out how you can come and join us!!


(and if you don't live in Gisborne, even if you don't live in New Zealand, visit www.kindermusik.com and click on 'find a class'. This will find one near you, no matter where in the world you live!)


Lots of love, Kath & Jarvis

The Great Explorer?

I'm sure I'm not the only one with a little explorer on my hands right now! An important part of Kindermusik is giving our little ones opportunities to explore - it's the most wonderful way for them to learn! 


I know I sometimes feel like I'm running around all day, and wish that Jarvis would just stop adventuring for a few minutes...What I do then, however, is stop, and think about how wonderful it is that he has the confidence to go off on his adventures safe in the knowledge that I'll be there when he gets back, or if he falls, or if he needs a cuddle! 


As I've said many times before, our small friends learn about the world by experiencing it! Crawling, rolling, running, licking, smooshing things into their faces - all of these sensory explorations are helping our children build up their knowledge about how things work :)  And whilst following Jarvis up and down staircases for hours isn't so much fun for me, the smile on his face when he reaches the top is worth every second I've stood there. 


So, next time you have a runaway toddler on your hands, congratulate yourself! You have a secure little person, who has the confidence to gobble up the world (then come back for a snuggle afterwards!). 


We would love to hear your experiences of your child's newfound independence - feel free to post a comment ;)  


Have a musical, adventurous week!
Love Kath and Jarvis xx

One Week to Go!

Yay! Only one week til Kindermusik Village Do-si-Do gets underway for the term. Jarvis & I have missed all of our wonderful friends over the past few weeks, we're very excited to see you all again next Tuesday :)

Do-si-Do is a fantastic unit - I can't wait to share it with you all. A really exciting component of the unit is the literature book. It's a little different to the previous books we've used, in that we use it in class every single week! Its title is 'This is my dance' and by the time we get to the end, that's exactly what we will all have - a joyful dance to share with our beautiful children. 

A major focus of this unit is Rhythm & Movement - something which our babies are born with an understanding of! For nine or so months, whilst living in our warm bellies, the soundtrack to their lives was the steady sound of our heartbeat. As soon as our babies are born, they seek that familiar beat in the world around them. These familiar patterns help him or her to make order out of the chaos that is the outside world :)  By providing lots of opportunities for rhythmic activity, we give our little ones recognisable, predictable & patterned information to latch onto. 

Through the exciting movement we'll experience in Do-si-Do, our babies & toddlers will gain awareness of their bodies, and the amazing things they are capable of. They'll even learn about negotiating gravity (another rather alien concept when you've spent nine months living underwater!). Our children will learn so much from the rhythm & dance we will experience in this unit! 

One brainwave I had the other day was to suggest everyone bring a sling or frontpack to our Do-si-Do classes - with most of our beautiful class members not able to walk for long, there'll be a lot of carrying to be done, and I know that I get super tired when I'm carrying Jarvis for more than a few minutes without our Mei Tai! I absolutely love wearing Jarvis, and wearing him to dance seems like a pretty wonderful idea. 

Should anyone need a sling, one of our super talented class members, Jacquie, has some rather nice ones for sale through her shop, Cheeky Cherubs :)

Off I go to practice my moves for next week - have a fantastic week, everyone, and we look forward to next Tuesday!!

:) Kath & Jarvis