Show and Tell and SING!

What a warm welcome I received when I signed on to Zoom! Larissa and Anna, leads at the Stonegate Terrific Toddler program, were on top of their game, ready to make music with all members of their program! Because of their careful prep work every parent was thrilled to engage in the program and get moving and dancing with their littles. A true highlight of the program was inspired by group show and tell! During show and tell I asked each child to share their favourite song and we all sang these songs together. It was a wonderful way to keep the children actively engaged through our computer screens! Thanks for the inspiration Larissa and Anna!

Short but Sweet!

Today’s class had to end a few minutes early, as our participants had to leave for an appointment, but we more than made up for the shortened class in terms of energy and enthusiasm! I’m seeing a lot of parental effort going into learning the lyrics and signs, and the kids don’t need any reminders to be engaged. They seem to be taking very well to as many movement songs as possible (no surprise, given how much we’re all inside these days). They were even on their feet for non-movement songs! I’ll be sure to work as many into the repertoire as I can, and sing some extras next week to make sure everybody gets all the music they signed up for!

Moving All Around

This week we were joined by a few new friends on Zoom. In addition to a new ECE instructor, we were greeted by one participant’s extremely enthusiastic older cousin, who added lots of bouncing levity to the class. I’m pleasantly surprised by how well connected these classes feel, even over Zoom, and our participants are focused on the songs and participate in all the lyrics and actions, and don’t seem to get tired of them! In these classes, “Zoom fatigue” is nowhere to be found! We had lots of movement and clapping songs to keep the energy up, and were joined by another very enthusiastic friend who logged in late into the class, so I added a few extra songs at the end to make sure everybody got a good amount of singing in. Looking forward to next week!

Hopeful and Happy Beginnings

Even though we were located at opposite ends of the city, the participants in our first Zoom class were immediately enthusiastic and engaged! One of the participants was the ECE Coordinator at the Raddison, who fully sang along and did all of the hand signs and actions, so she would be well versed in the material to share with kids throughout the week (#musiceveryday). The focus was really on one participant and his mom, who was juggling holding her child and her phone, moving around the Plaza trying to get the best internet reception, without missing a beat on the songs. It was so nice to see mom and child connecting with each other through music, even from across the city. Hopefully next week we’ll be joined by even more folks looking for some time to connect!

Music as Medicine!

This past week at Arise was a full-house! As the stresses of this current climate were starting to affect everyone, we all enjoyed some respite with the joy that comes from music. Highlights included Do, a Deer, jamming with rhythm sticks and singing When You're One, the relaxation that came from the Ting-Shaw bells, as well as a really raucous and fun jam session! A few of the moms and staff started dancing to Twist and Shout and encouraged the children to join in as well.

Lots of Listening

The energy was wildly high today, and I was worried about things going off the rails, so I made sure to include lots of songs with call and responses and variations that reward listening. The kids especially loved songs like Walk and Stop and I Feel A Lot Like Singing, but more than anything they loved The Little Green Frog. I think that one is the greatest hit of the session!

Au Français!

Today was a happy class all around. Starting with I Feel A Lot Like Singing, we had lots of rhythmic and clapping focused songs, like Baby Shark and Sticky Sticky Bubblegum. I showed the kids the spoons, and one of the kids shouted out in French, "pour manger!", to which I replied "et pour jouer aussi!" before showing them some rhythms on the spoons, or should I say cuillères. I didn’t know the French word for spoons before today, so I learned something too!

Drumming and Dancing!

We had a wonderful class at Robertson house this week with lots of rhythm and dancing. I witnessed a great moment between an older brother and his baby sister as they sang along and he helped her learn hand signs. We also had a lovely time drumming along to Yellow Submarine! One mom in particular was conducting the crowd. So fun!

Solo Time!

We had mostly older children in the class last night along with our regular 3 year-old (who loves the class and apparently says "music! music!" all day on Thursdays). To cater the material to an older class I asked the older children if they wanted to sing solos in The Wheels on the Bus, and they went for it! I also led them through some ASL hand signs in Hush Little Rooster, and had them take turns with the Chinese gong as the instrument of the week. Another way I involved them was in our movement song, Walk and Stop, in which I asked them to come up with different ways to move. One child recommended "run" and then followed it by "jog," which made us all laugh. Every week I'm finding more and more ways to engage the older crowd. We also had one of the moms dance around on her feet with the tambourine during the jam which was awesome! This is a really nice group!

Fun with Frogs!

This week at Humewood House we hopped around the circle with our frog shaped guiros. Everyone got silly sticking out their tongues to catch flies with a La Di Da Di Da! Then we doubled down on the froggie tunes with 5 Green and Speckled Frogs. Closing off with a smooth jam with the Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog.