Wiggle & Grow!

Here it comes!

Kindermusik Wiggle & Grow - one of the shiny new curricula being released in August - coming to Mahana School.

After a fabulous demo class on Thursday, I've just released a few extra details about what Kindermusik will be bringing to the area in Term Three :) Here's a little more...

This music-filled class celebrates the unique joys of your growing child.

Each week your child will love singing, dancing, and playing instruments with you and her new friends and you’ll love helping her practice a wide variety of abilities such as gross and fine motor skills, turn-taking, social skills, and active listening.

In class, we’ll also share tips and ideas for using music throughout the week.

Plus, the fun (and learning!) continue with the Kindermusik@Home digital home materials, including music from class, musical activities, and each month’s story.

Classes will happen in the Mahana School library, Upper Moutere, on Thursdays from 9.30 - 10.15. 

If you missed our demo, call me to find out more! I'm limiting the class to eight families, so do be in touch quickly :) 

Call me on 03 5289 685, or email me today!

We're back!

We're back!!

After a crazy nine months or so (shifting down South, having lovely Olive join our family, buying a house, Jarvis starting pre school, that sort of thing!), we'll finally be resuming Kindermusik classes really soon!

In association with Mahana School, Serendipity Studio will be bringing some fabulous new Kindermusik programmes to town, with some amazing new home materials. You will be awed! We'll be running some demo classes during term two, then come term three it'll be all go. So many changes have taken place at Kindermusik International while I've been on maternity leave, and I'll be beginning my classes at just the right time to take advantage of all of these exciting new things. New curricula, new structure, new materials, new ways to pay. Exciting stuff.

So - the website has changed - change your bookmarks now! You'll find us at http://kindermusikwithserendipity.webs.com. The blog address has changed too - be sure to save the new address if you visit us through a live bookmark.

We're on the lookout for new students now - so if you have any friends in the Nelson - Mapua - Upper Moutere - Motueka area, please inflict the blog/website/facebook page on them!

It's a gorgeous day - why don't you go outside and find some music with your children. Perhaps a sound scavenger hunt? I think that's what we'll do next - will report back tomorrow with what we've found.

:)

Bubbles, Bubbles!

We're LOVING Family Time here at Serendipity Studio! 

We've been focussed on Bathtime for the past couple of weeks, and have been brainstorming loads of ways to make splashing in the bath even more fun than it is already is!

A few of our fantastical ideas:

• Make soap pens! Using empty liquid glue pens (well washed!), mix together clear liquid soap, detergent, or shampoo, and add a few drops of food colouring. Give it a good shake, and you have a soap pen! Best just to write on the bath itself, or the glass door - just in case the colouring stains the shower walls ;) 
• Make bath finger paint! Mix soap/detergent/shampoo, food colouring, and a little cornflour together to make a paste. Use as above!
• Blow bubbles! Get pieces of food grade hosing in different widths & lengths. Blow bubbles!
• Cooking Time! An old fashioned hand beater is an awesome bathtime accessory - mix up the bubbles :)
• Row your Boat - best with two! Play, sing and splash away!
• Blow bubbles - take your bubble mix and wand into the bath, it doesn't matter if it gets spilled!

We'd love to hear your suggestions - if you have a fun bathtime idea, feel free to add it to the comment section.

Have a musical day!

Kath and Jarvis 

Creatures in my Backyard!

What will we see in term three?

Look up high in the trees! Now see what's down on the ground..Dedicated to the great outdoors, the environment, and our many animal friends, Creatures in My Backyard is full of songs, finger-plays, nursery rhymes, musical stories & dances that will inspire toddlers & their parents to explore, wonder & discover the wonders of the natural world.

As many of you will know, our classes will be taking a break later this year while I add another little person to our Kindermusik Family! 

This is one of the reasons I've chosen Creatures for term three, as it's an extra special five week programme for our very special toddlers, aged 18 months - 3. 

This is a very special programme indeed - as well as your usual At Home Materials, for the first time you'll have access to Kindermusik's brand new, state of the art, digital home materials! You'll find videos, activities, stories, tips and developmental information especially for our class. 

Kindermusik's dedication to providing you with the best ever programme means that our curricula are now being updated constantly - meaning you get the benefit of our ongoing research and expertise :) Pretty exciting stuff! 

Contact me today to secure your place for term three! 

A Very Overdue Post!

Hello!! This long overdue post from Serendipity Studio features a really interesting article about the importance of Children's music for children :) Although it doesn't always appeal to the grown ups in the house, music especially for our smallest friends really does benefit them in so many ways!


And I do find it grows on me after a while ;) It's not only Jarvis singing along to the Wiggles when we're driving down the road!


Enjoy :)
Kath


Why Children's Music is Crucial


Love and nourishment are the keystones of healthy development for every baby. But next is music; in fact sometimes it is hard to tell them apart!


Babies hear sounds and feel the rhythm of the heartbeat in the womb. When they are born, they associate their experience of our moods with the sounds around them; loving voices are soothing, while sudden loud noise is distressing.


As you nurse, the steady beat of your heart is baby’s experience of rhythm. As you sing, shake baby’s rattle or bells, baby is responding to the high frequency sounds and the drama in your voice.


Newborns have been crooned to since the dawn of time; we rock them, singing lullabies - and for good reason: it is fundamental to healthy development! Early learning begins in the senses – through touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing. And learning is faster when baby can focus on simple things, one at a time, (even if only for a micro-second!) Neural pathways are rapidly developing as they taste a particular taste or hear a particular sound.


Though babies respond to all sound, there is a natural progression taking place, from simple isolated sounds and songs on a parent’s lap, through to the full orchestration of music on the radio, and sophisticated singalong songs for older kids. In any arena ‘you gotta crawl before you can walk’



We don’t expect children to behave like adults, so why is it that so many parents, in effect, force their children to ‘jump’ straight out of the nursery into the world of adult music? Our mature taste dominates our adult world, but why do we let it dominate the child’s?


Quality children’s music is a response to the genuine developmental needs of the young, rather than an adults’ world imposed upon them. While good children’s music also often communicates on an adult level, this is only to delight us into keeping involved for our children’s sake.


It is crucial for full, healthy development that we let our children progress from simple nursery songs, through dance and action songs, to a wealth of stimulating songs set in their own world as they grow. They need children’s music, because they are children!


Like us, they need music that celebrates their issues, their struggles, their victories, music that appeals to their sense of humour. And like us, they need to be able to be transported listening to it or to be moved to dance or sing to it. If they are going to watch, let it be a live performance. 


Quality children’s music, in an atmosphere of love:


1) Promotes healthy parent-child bonding
2) Establishes a foundation for a child’s development in speech and reading
3) Provides a "good-feeling" base for a healthy self image
4) Helps to develop motor skills and co-ordination
5) Helps build memory skills
6) Awakens humour and creativity


The "live" music you do with your child is the most valuable. Recorded children’s music also stimulates infants and can aid parents in learning songs and games to sing directly with them. It is never too early to start.


Next time you’re thinking of a new toy for your child, consider giving them music; rather than DVDs, just music or musical toys. Children tire of many toys very quickly, but note how often they come back to their musical instruments and how often they ask for their favourite albums to be played!


Music is primal. And perhaps it is the one worldly thing that can take us through our emotional world to touch the sublime. Our children not only deserve music, it is an essential ingredient in being human.


This article had no listed author and was taken from http://www.ucamusic.com/content/childrens_music_crucial/

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 :)