New Friends!

A number of families who have participated throughout the session have moved out from Ernestine. Though it’s always sad to see old friends go, it was a treat to welcome a new group of enthusiastic kids into the circle. I made sure to include lots of songs that I knew the new kids would be familiar with, and they needed no encouragement to participate –they were present and excited! The big hit of today was Listen to the Water. It seemed like we couldn’t possibly run out of animal sounds to make! We finished with a great parachute version of Twist and Shout, and even some older siblings stopped by to join the fun.

So Many Colours!

It was great to have the chance to meet a new crowd this week at Plaza Hotel, as this is not my usual placement. They were so full of energy and quickly embraced the idea of having a different instructor for the week. It seems Steven has taught them well! The kids and parents really enjoyed standing up and down, dancing and jumping for our rendition of What Are You Wearing? During the song, participants are asked to do certain actions if they’re wearing a certain colour. This helps kids to identify colours and also boosts their confidence. I’m thankful I got the opportunity to rock out at the Plaza Hotel! Hope to see them again soon! 

Practice Makes Perfect!

It was a great class at Robertson House today with a big group and lots of enthusiastic participants. One girl in particular showed a lot of improvement when singing along to our rendition of Roly Poly. She was trying her best to follow along with our hand motions, despite being under two years old. I have never seen her so focused and engaged as she was today. It seems she has been practicing! We also had a lot of fun separating the group into two parts to do a 'call-and-answer' version of Some Like It Hot. After a quick introduction and a few tries, we sounded like a beautiful choir! Looking forward to another great class next week!

Backyard Boogie

We were back outside today for another sunset class, and I think having it on the deck again was a good call (as there was less space for kids to run around). I love how engaged some of the parents are in this group. They call out suggestions just as much as the kids do, and take an active interest in learning and teaching new songs and playing with the instruments of the week (this week we introduced the spoons, which were a big hit). We’ve been doing a lot of Sleeping Bunnies and 5 Little Monkeys for the past few weeks, and I thought maybe the kids would be bored of them, but by the end of the class they were clamoring for more bouncy songs, so we finished off with a bang.

Seasoned Singers

When I came into the Genoa room, the kids were excited to show me how quickly they could make a circle on the ground, singing the Make a Circle song by themselves (they’ve been doing the same with the Hello and Goodbye songs). There were some new grown-ups who seemed quite enthralled by the program, but unfortunately some restless young ones took them out of the room. Luckily, even when there were only kids left in the class, they were all slightly older and knew the songs and were no less engaged.

Stand Up!

What a great class at Robertson House today! Despite the muggy heat outside, people sang and danced with lots of energy. A funny moment happened during our jam when all the older kids decided to stand up all of a sudden and dance. It’s always a treat to see kids and their parents being energized by music. They also had a great time passing around our instrument of the week, the Vibra-Slap. Looking forward to another great class next week!

Clave Fever

Today I brought the Cuban clave sticks to class. I taught the kids and caregivers the clave rhythm, which is not an easy rhythm to learn, but the caregivers caught on quick. The kids jumped up and down gladly to the beat as we chanted 5 Little Monkeys with the Cuban clave beat. I kept the Latin American theme by playing Latin music for the parachute, and we worked on the concepts of going up/down, right/left, and in/out.

Backyard Bonanza!

We had our class outside again this week, in a different location with a bit more shade. There was more space, so some of the kids roamed around a bit, but on the whole they were very engaged. Because we were on the playground, there was a bouncy surface that made for fantastic versions of Zoom Zoom Zoom and Sleeping Bunnies. I love the enthusiasm of some of the new kids, and their older siblings were on the upper deck singing along and enjoying the songs. By the end, more people came down to the playground to enjoy the sunset after class, and it was a joyous family affair.

Fun with Lights

This was a great week! There were lots more kids, and they were happy and excited for music (one of them even unzipped my guitar case when I put it down so we could ‘have music faster’). I love the enthusiasm of this group, and it is infectious for some of the newer kids. It’s quite amazing: some of the kids know all the lyrics and song structures already, and the rest seem to figure them out by the end of each song. Today’s highlight was Sleeping Bunnies. I took advantage of the dimmer switch in the room for a little lighting effects, and the kids loved it. By jam time, the kids were all working so well together that they all brought the instrument bag over to the circle without any need for me to help (though, on the way back, a hole that was covered with tape ripped off the bottom of the bag, so we needed to have a second clean up). After our goodbye song, the kids were clamoring for more music, so we had a short encore and lots of high fives!

Animal Week!!

I brought animal week to Birkdale today. They loved playing with the turtle puppet and learning The Turtle Song, as well as learning how to play the Thai wooden frogs, which are similar to the Guiro they saw last week. We marched like elephants, slept and hopped like bunnies, and even acted out our favorite animals.