Energy Balancing

I was happy to be back at Rosalie Hall today. The daycare kids arrived before the babies and they were very excited for the music to start. Once the moms arrived we reviewed our signs for The Hello Song and we were off. The daycare kids had a lot of energy today and the moms with their babies kept up with it well. Everyone had a lot of fun sticking their tongues out for the Little Green Frog. Then, when we were all on our feet, the daycare kids got a lot of energy out by dancing, shaking, and bouncing then stopping. Lots of giggles and smiles all around!

Springtime Fun!

We started our class looking at a 1-2-3 pattern found in many songs: Clap Your Hands and Sing 123, I Wake Up My Hands, and Six Little Ducks. The older kids were wonderfully adept at catching on to the rhythm and the little ones seemed to groove to it in their own way. We marched around the circle as we went Zoom, Zoom, Zoom to the moon, and then came back to Earth to sing about the beginning of spring. Trees Need the Sun was the perfect segue into making music with the rain sticks and thunder tubes. We welcomed the warm rainy weather yet to come with Thunder Pounding, and If All the Raindrops. Our class at Robertson House now has a contingent of four or five preschoolers who have become the de facto singalong leaders, and I am both delighted and grateful for this powerhouse team! Like in any group, all it takes is a few people to set the mood and the whole room quickly becomes just as cheerful and enthusiastic as these young ladies are!

March Break Madness!

Since today was part of the March Break there was a lot of energy and a lot of children! I took advantage of their energy and did a lot of dancing and movement songs. The kids really enjoyed standing up and moving their bodies to the music. We did the Freeze Dance, and more complicated movement songs, like Let's Dance Today, where I instructed them to reach up, touch the ground, turn around, stomp their feet and wave their hands in the air, all to the beat. They were so amazing at following the instructions,  and did everything I challenged them to do.

Packed House!

We had a record attendance of 18 children, 7 caregivers and 3 staff members on Friday. I brought a couple of special instruments from around the world and they worked well to focus the big energy in the room. We looked at the Tibetan tingshaw bells and the Nepalese singing bowls. At one point the room got so quiet that you could almost hear a pin drop. That was a really cool moment.

Bring on the Djembe

This week we started with a few different welcome songs. There were a couple of new participants and I wanted them to get involved as early as possible. We sat in a circle and sang for as long as possible without the children's curiosity taking control. You see, I brought in a pretty large djembe drum for all to try, and we eventually took turns hitting it, dancing to the beats, and pretending to be Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.

A Solid Start

Class was off to a solid start today! We had a solid group, because the children from the preschool were brought down. The ages ranged from 3 weeks to 4 years old! We all had fun singing a mix of songs suited to the different age levels, and the moms joined in singing strongly. I think they were encouraged by the preschoolers' enthusiastic participation. The instrument of the week, the maracas, were a hit and helped us all rock out during the jam. Looking forward to what the rest of the session will bring!

Clicking, Clapping, and Counting

We had another busy and energetic class at Robertson House this week, with loud voices and warm smiles! We started things off with One Finger Keeps Moving, which gave the older kids a chance to show off to the younger ones how well they can count to five on their hands. We kept going with our hands with Sticky, Sticky, Bubblegum, and then Bath Time. I told the kids, "If you sing a song about getting messy, you should follow up with a song about getting clean!" The moms of the very young babies seemed excited to have a song like Bath Time to use during everyday activities. We mellowed out with a great clapping song, Four White Horses. Again, the older kids were really excited to have a complicated pattern to try to master, so for instrument time with the clave sticks I challenged them to try a complex one-two-three-four-five rhythm. Some kids got really into the rhythm while others just loved to click and clack!

Continuing the Latin love!

Last week I brought clave sticks to class and taught the clave beats. This week I brought a cowbell and the agogo so we could put together a little Latin band. I had the class keep the beat with the cowbell, and then I passed around the agogo and had the kids take turns taking solos on it. They showed great ability to keep rhythms going and they had a lot of fun! I could tell that the caregivers were really into keeping beats too.

Instrument Bag!

Our first class back at Jessie's Centre in a little while was a good one. One of our keen participants knew what was in my large black bag and kept pointing to it and implying that we should open it up. After many failed attempts to have her sit with us in the circle, we decided to mix things up a bit! Instead of getting out the instruments from the instrument bag at the end of class, we got them out at the beginning and opened things up with some jamming!

Sharing is Caring

We sure had a wild time this week. I found myself constantly switching gears from sitting to standing, clapping to jumping, with everything in between. The kids sat beautifully for the first couple of songs before they decided it was time to move. From that point on we were in motion for the duration of the class. The kids took turns with the ukuleles that I brought for the instrument of the week. We talked about sharing and taking turns. Then we had an extended jam session and parachute play.