Team Work Makes the Dream Work

I’ve been seeing the kids respond a lot more quickly to some of the rhythmic and sign cues in the songs. Though some of them are still too young to sing, I gave the grown-ups extra encouragement, and while the kids are almost always smiling, it’s very gratifying to see a parent participate shyly, and then smile, taking more delight in the songs than they’d expect to. The louder the grown-ups sing, the more the kids focus on the songs instead of the toys on the periphery of the room, so it’s a win-win situation for everyone!

Improv and Laughter

There is always a positive feeling in the air when I go to Ernestine. Though it was starting to get cold outside, I was warmly welcomed by a small group at first, but then we grew as the class went on. Though the older kids used to be the ones doing most of the vocal participation in the class, the younger kids seem to be growing their vocabularies exponentially, and even the youngest is babbling what seem to be lyrics to the songs, and claps along in time while exploring the room now that she can stand and walk! We sang You Walk and Walk and Walk and Stop, and the oldest kid infused a lot of humour into the song by adding ad libs for why we had to stop walking, jumping, dancing, etc. He’s hilarious! It was a whole new dimension of participation and I’m all for it!

Oooooo!

We had a great class at Robertson House this week. The kids were more attentive than ever, with an engaged group of parents. I noticed one girl paying close attention to the lyrics I was singing for our jam of Lion Sleeps Tonight. It was great to see her belting out the high notes and singing the “oooo’s” and “aaaaa’s” with a big smile. I look forward to more moments like this!

Bouncing Season

I came with my astronaut costume 👨‍🚀 ready for a special Halloween class, but not all of the kids at Birkdale celebrate Halloween, and the kids didn’t have costumes, so I focused on the more seasonal songs like 5 Little Pumpkins, rather than the super spooky or ghoulish ones. However, I’m sure there was still a lot of candy being eaten for the occasion, as the kids were very energetic, and I had to get us all up on our feet almost immediately. We did almost entirely moving and dancing songs to put that energy to good use, and once the kids are bouncing, they really get into it at a fast pace!

Halloween Fun!

Halloween festivities were in full swing when I arrived on Wednesday. Paisley was a princess and Amro proclaimed proudly that he was a firetruck (his favourite toy that he points out every class). We sang some of the Halloween songs I’ve been prepping them with, but also a bunch of reworked classics, like 5 Little Monsters, Sleeping Zombies, and Old MacDonald Had A Graveyard. We finished off with the Thunder Tube for some spooky sound effects and then the kids went to play some Halloween games and paint faces for the balance of the evening. Happy Halloween!

Halloween

We had a really fun Halloween class this week! Everyone was dressed up and we enjoyed some Halloween favourites such as Shut the Door and I’m a Spooky Witch. Other highlights included leading the class to some choreography to Monster Mash and making spooky sounds with thunder tubes.

Singing Bowls!

We had a great class at Robertson House today! Lots of energy and participation from both the young ones and grown-up participants. They all really enjoyed our instrument of the week, the singing bowls! It was fun to see the puzzled looks on their faces as they heard the mysterious hum of the bowls. Looking forward to more classes!

No Rush, No Fuss

We had a new friend join our group today. Because he wasn’t familiar with all the songs, he wasn’t participating in actions at first, and seemed a bit shy. However, going a bit slower and making sure we were all doing things as a group seemed to help, and by mid-class he was the first one to do things like count fingers and body parts. The parents are seeming a bit less shy as well, especially with the songs that they recognize more. I’m sure that will only increase with familiarity over the coming weeks.

Jumping for Joy!

We had a very energetic group at Robertson House today. With a full age range, we definitely had our hands full with some movers and shakers. The parents seemed to not mind the flurry of activity at all, and were great participants in the class. One great moment was our movement song where we sang all about the colours we were wearing. The kids and parents had a great time jumping around during the fast part of the song. Great to see some intergenerational dancing! I look forward to more of this in the classes to come.

Call and Response

The kids at Birkdale are always so curious! Though sometimes the other toys and books in the room can be a bit distracting, it presents a good opportunity to explore dynamic ways of keeping them focused on songs, which lately I’ve found works best when we work on each section of the song a few times with call and response, and then do the whole thing together. They seem to pick up on more words this way, and recognize familiar songs. It’s great to see the development in action!