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