Making Up Rhymes

The city was covered in a fresh blanket of snow and we waited to see who would come to sing. After discussing with a few people, we decided to run the class. Though quiet, we sang and danced and made up new rhymes.

Snow Day

It was a very snowy morning and lots of things were closed or not running around the city, but Jessie's Centre was able to open late in the morning. This meant that the Jessie's staff and our single baby participant were ready to sing by the afternoon! It didn't matter that we were a small bunch, we sang all our favourite songs (Little Green Frog and The Grand Old Duke of York are big favourites with the staff!) and our little participant LOVED having the entire parachute to dance under by herself! She danced so much – with her arms in the air and her head looking up – that she kept tumbling over! It was wonderful to have the chance to play with such an eager little dancer.

Thunderstruck!

This week's class at Robertson House was a thunderous occasion! The kids did so well at sounding the Thunder Tube, our very mysterious instrument of the week. The moms thoroughly enjoyed watching the young ones figure out the tricks of the tube. We had a great turnout and had a great time dancing around the room. I look forward to celebrating the end of the session next week!

New Faces, Older Crowd

What a lovely change of pace at Birkdale on Monday! We had exclusively 3-5 year old kids attend the class, so I adjusted the content accordingly. We sang the older Hello song (We're All Here Today) and played lots of fun songs geared more for the older group. I took a request for Wheels on the Bus, and we also thoroughly enjoyed Old MacDonald. We did an activity with the Chime Bars with the song Hurry, Hurry, in which the older group needed less assistance from the grown-ups to share and be patient. The instrument of the week was the Guiro and we sang All The Nations Like Bananas, which was a crowd favorite. New faces in the group really enjoyed their time in class. A heartwarming moment included when the oldest participant thanked me loudly and enthusiastically, as she was jumping and dancing around under the parachute for the first time. All in all a great class!

Slush Day Sunshine

It was wet and cold and rainy and slushy outside, but there was lots of sunshine inside Jessie's Centre! Despite the crummy weather we had a good crowd of moms and babies out for some singing and dancing today. We countered the outdoor weather with all the sunshiney songs we could think of--including You Are My Sunshine during our jam time. We also did a lot of dancing, particularly during Hands Together, Hands Apart when the lyrics tell us to "do a little dance!" There were some very impressive dance moves around our circle!

A Snowy Day Couldn't Keep Josh Away!

Our third day of the session was rather quiet due to the weather. We had one new participant who was rather excited by the toys and activities in the room. We started singing near the train table and sang songs about the different toys. We rhymed each of the toys in a very funny version of Down By the Bay. When I brought the group to the circle and started marching to Train is a Comin', she jumped up and joined enthusiastically. We had a very energetic jam session to finish it off.

Reunion

It was a magnificent class at Birkdale today with lots of happy energy in the air. The kids, parents, staff and I were very glad to see each other again after having Family Day off last week. Familiar songs helped some parents who are usually quiet and more reserved, as they were singing loudly and doing the actions with excitement. This felt like some major progress being made, and was mirrored among the child participants who were also singing, following along, doing the actions and seemingly gaining a better sense of themselves overall, both socially and musically. The entire group continues to grow and has come a long way. The instrument of the week was the musical spoons, with which we sang This Old Man.

New Friends... and Boomwhackers too!

Our second day of the session saw a couple of new participants. We started with our Hello song and took some time to warm up before everyone seemed ready to move around. We sang Train is a Comin’ and Shake Your Sillies Out with excellent response. Then we explored the Boomwhackers. We each played one tube (adults too) by banging it repeatedly on the floor, creating beautiful chords over which we could sing. Everyone had a lot of fun with this activity.

Hello! And Welcome!

Day one of our session was pretty quiet. There was only one child in attendance, but we had quite a lot of adult support. I offered her a seat either at the table or on the floor, and she chose the former. We started with our Hello song and a few of her favourite songs. It took a little while, but soon she was ready to stand up and participate fully. We moved over to the floor and that's when things really started going. We pretended to be firetrucks (Hurry, Hurry) and animals (I Can't Fly) until our participant was all tired out.

Sleepy Day

When I arrived today, almost every baby was sleeping or just groggily awaking from a nap. So, we did a lullaby class! We sat in a circle in rocking chairs and focused on singing lullabies and quiet songs for most of our class. By the end the babies were all awake and ready to go, so we moved to the carpet to finish off with some songs with movement and the parachute. It was a great way to mix things up and teach some quiet songs!