Hurry, Hurry, Dance!

A lovely class at Birkdale today. We began with Baby Shark, and some other favorites, before delving in to more complex skills-based activities. We sang Hurry, Hurry, and the early childhood staff member, Jackie, and I, helped facilitate social learning through encouraging sharing and patience, as well as musical learning through mimicking simple rhythmic patterns on the small chime bars. The instruments of the week were the Cowbell and the Agogo (also known as the singing cowbell). We played Salsa music, and all the children couldn't help but get up and dance! A fun time was had by all.

Parachute!

Today was one of those days where the music and singing is fun, but the parachute appears to be the highlight! We had all dancing, reaching, giggling little ones for parachute time today. No one seemed to mind too much when the parachute had to go away, except one little guy, who spent all of the Goodbye Song attempting to get the parachute back out for us!

Earth Week Fun

We had a great Earth Week at Birkdale this week. Quite a large crowd joined the fun, with lots of familiar faces and plenty of new friends, too! All the children and parents already knew all about Earth Day and participated enthusiastically. We sang about the water cycle with The Itsy Bitsy Spider, the seasons with Tree Song, and what we all need with Trees Need the Sun. Our instrument of the week was the Rain Stick, by which everyone was mesmerized as it made its way around the circle. Finally, the Earth Day themed jam time was a big hit as well.

In The Mood For Dancing!

This week's class at Robertson was so much fun. From the first strum of the guitar, the kids were up dancing and feeling the music. It is such a thrill to watch kids engage with the rhythms and melodies of the songs, especially when the parents are really getting into it as well. One highlight from the class was using the doumbek drum for a movement activity. The kids and parents had to change their movements based on the volume and beat of the drum. Great fun! Can't wait for next week's class!

Rainbow Firsts

We had one mom join us today whose baby was only a couple months old, but she had been counting down the weeks until the baby would be old enough to join in Rainbow Songs! As a student in the school programme at Jessie's, this mom had participated in our singing sessions while prenatal, but was thrilled to finally be able to sing along with her wee one! It was so fun to start instilling a love of music into this little family!

Hands, Fingers, Thumbs!

Although a fairly small turn out at Birkdale today, it was the usual participants and we had lots of fun! For the first 25 minutes of class I barely used my guitar. Instead, the children and I sang many finger plays, including One Little Minnow, Where Is Thumbkin, One Little Finger, and The Itsy Bitsy Spider. The kids were impressively able to follow along really well, doing the appropriate actions and singing the correct parts. We then stood for The Tree Song, and then reviewed the Claves as the instrument of the week. There are some super little rhythm-keepers at Birkdale! Jam and parachute were of course tons of fun as usual.

Mix of Sun and Showers!

This week's class at Robertson House was a real treat! To celebrate the upcoming Earth Day, we added some nature-themed songs into the mix. It really brightened my day to see the older kids and the moms getting so into the actions for our rendition of Mr. Sun. Of course, the class wasn't all sun and games – there was a little thunder too! For our nature-themed instrument of the week activity, the kids really brought the thunder when they got a chance to shake the mysterious Thunder Tube from side to side. A great class, and I look forward to more!

Instrument Specialist

It's always wonderful to have the same kids come out each week, and to watch their development over time. We have one little musician who has been singing with us for about a year now, and has decided he is the resident expert on all the instruments in the instrument bag. During jam time today he wandered around the circle and attempted to show the smaller babies how to properly play whatever instrument they were holding – it was so cool to watch this kid, who is only about 18 months old, show off his music skills!

Shark Attack!

We had a great time this week at Robertson House! The turnout was really high with some new and old faces. One highlight was trying out the Baby Shark song as a movement piece. The kids and grown-ups had a lot of fun swimming fast around the circle to avoid the “shark attack”. After moving around and jamming, we finished off the class with a nice lullaby. This helped to end the class on a calm note, and to transition into the goodbye song. I look forward to many more great classes.

Stretchy Rainbow

Today at Birkdale we sang our hearts out. A fairly large group with a lot of older kids meant we had a great time with the rainbow stretchy band. We rowed our boats, sang about who might be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain, and were all swallowed by a boa constructor! (Just for pretend, of course!) Lots of great colour identification and rhythm keeping, too. Our instrument of the week was the Cabasa and everyone had a turn.