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.
Twinkling Stars - music and movement for under fives :)
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
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!
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
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Kindermusik - the Single Best Choice!
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
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Music in the Back Yard :)
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
Friday, June 25, 2010
Feathers :)
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 :)
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Feel the Beat!
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 :)
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