Kindermusik International

Popular Pinterest Pins for Summertime Fun

Looking for a few new ideas for summertime fun to add to your family’s list? Here are a few of the most popular Pinterest Pins from our Kindermusik boards.

Favorite Kindermusik Pinterest Pins for Summertime Fun

1. Create a Ball Maze. A great activity for shape identification, predictions, cause and effect, and fun!

2. Hula Hoop sized bubbles. What is this beautiful concoction? Hula Hoops AND bubbles?! Yes, please!

3. Books for young children to get them moving AND reading.

4. Five favorite Kindermusik ways to get up and move.

5. Classic Hand-Clapping Games for Kids. No worries. Adults can play, too!

6. Teach Your Child the Letter P. Turn down the summer heat and learn about penguins and the letter P.

No matter how your family chooses to celebrate summer, fall, winter, or spring, we know that you will be creating memories together!

Looking for more ideas for your family’s summer (or winter, fall, and spring) list? Be sure to follow us on Pinterest!

Contributed by Lisa Camino Rowell, a freelance writer (and Pinterest pinner!) from the Atlanta, Georgia, area.

4 Musical Ways to Entertain Young Children While Lying Down

You need a break. I don’t even know you, but if you are a parent like me, well, you need a break. Of course, no law states that parents are entitled to one 15-minute break for every four hours on duty much less an hour-long lunch break.

A break from parenting is best taken in small increments throughout the day. It’s the real reason why parents of young children claim they need to go to the bathroom so often. It’s one of the few places where we can create the illusion of solitude (if you block out the sound of the child banging on the bathroom door asking for a snack or the little fingers reaching under the door, of course).

If you find yourself needing a break—outside of the potty—try one of these musical ways to entertain your kids while sitting (or lying down):

4 Musical Ways to Entertain Young Children While Lying Down

Put on some music and invite your child(ren) to create a musical variety show. While they dance, play instruments, or participate in a parade, you head to the couch for the best seat in the house! Your kids will burn off some energy without YOU chasing them all around the house (or playground, cul-de-sac, or grocery store)! For older children, you can buy some extra “down time,” by suggesting they rehearse beforehand so you will be surprised! Here’s a Kindermusik child playing her dulcimer for her mom!
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M25eG7ZXqxs[/youtube]
Engage in a Call-and-Response singing game. You hum a tune or clap a rhythm. Your child repeats it back. Increase the complexity of the patterns. Take turns being the leader. You can even invite your child to lightly tap out the beat on your back.
Play freeze dance. Put on some music. While the music plays, your child dances. When the music stops, your child stops dancing. Young children love creating silly poses when the music stops. Plus, you can control the music from any relaxing position! As an extra bonus, children gain practice with inhibitory control or the ability to stop oneself and wait.
Guess the song. Take turns humming a familiar tune while the other person tries to guess the song.

Looking for more ideas on how to use music to make parenting easier? Be sure to follow us on Pinterest!

Contributed by Lisa Camino Rowell a writer from the Atlanta area. She often ~~used~~ uses these musical tips with her own children!

18 Signs You Are A Musical Family

Are you raising a musical family? If you find yourself relating to this list, then chances are the answer is Yes!

Your toddler thinks you’ve been hiding white egg shakers in the refrigerator and can’t understand why he can’t play with them, too.
Your kids yell at YOU to turn the music down.
Your child insists on sleeping with his favorite instrument.
Your child sang her first words.
Your child insists you sing “Wishy-washy-wishy-washy-wishy-washy-WEEEE” during every bath.
Pinecone + stick = guiro. Your child can turn anything into an instrument.
Your child knows what an album is.
You find yourself saying things like: “Put down the ukulele and brush your teeth.” And “How many times do I have to tell you to pick up your glockenspiel?”
You’ve recorded at least one video of your family lip-synching a song from Frozen.
You overhear your child talking with a friend about the musical merits of the original Annie movie. (Okay. That’s really just wishful thinking on your part. Today’s kids seem to prefer the revamped Annie and that’s okay, right? Right?!)
You re-enact the dance moves from Dancing with the Stars or So You Think You Can Dance. Yes, even the lifts.
You thought about how many kids you wanted based on the size of your dream band.
Your family’s musical tastes range from Taylor Swift to the Beatles to Tchaikovsky to Miles Davis to KidzBop.
Your child insists on answering your questions through song.
You have at one point either tried out for American Idol (or your country’s equivalent) or the Voice OR secretly imagined your child auditioning one day.
As soon as you found out you were pregnant, you created a list of “Albums Our Child Should Listen to Before They Turn 18.”
You dressed (or dress) your child in any of the following: vintage concert T-Shirts, “I’m With the Band” onesies, “Treble Maker” bibs, or Future (insert instrument of choice) Player pullovers.
You love making music together as a family, like this one:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6pKdY9O-hA[/youtube]

Do you like to hang out with other musical families? Find a local Kindermusik class and meet other parents who place a high value on raising musical kids!

Contributed by Lisa Camino Rowell, a freelance writer in the Atlanta area. She wakes up every morning to the sounds of her husband singing, dresses her kids in vintage concert shirts, and tripped over more than one glockenspiel.

Music Paves the Way to Literacy

Improve Listening Skills with Kindermusik

Listening to and identifying sounds is the earliest phonological awareness skill and one of the most important pre-literacy competencies. Without this skill, there will be no progress toward phonics, spelling, or text comprehension.

How Children Become Phonologically Aware

Children become phonologically aware in a specific developmental sequence, beginning with the larger sound units (e.g., tapping each word in a sentence), then focusing on parts of individual words (e.g., blending two words to make a compound word, such as cup-cake), and finally focusing on smaller sound units (/b/-/ig/) within words.

This developmental sequence is universal…meaning that children who are English language learners are able to transfer phonological awareness skills from their first language, even when the two languages are very different! And children who speak other alphabetic languages also progress through the same sound-awareness sequence, from larger to smaller units.

Kindermusik@Home Activity that Supports Phonological Awareness

There is such a thing as training an ear. Parents can extend the application of a listening activity like this one from Kindermusik@Home to pre-literacy by gathering a variety of sound-making materials and playing with different pitches, paces, and lengths of sound. The more experience children gain in learning to identify the subtle nuances between musical timbres and pitches, the more prepared they will be to recognize and identify the distinct sounds within words.

Kindermusik@Home activity: “Which Woodwind?” Give young children’s listening skills a workout with this fun, musical game. Kids will learn to identify a piccolo, flute, oboe, bassoon, and bagpipe.

Learn more about how music supports early literacy development.

Music Can Navigate Kids’ Emotion Headquarters

On Friday afternoon, our family watched the new Pixar movie, Inside Out. I must ask: Did any other parent cry over Bing Bong or shed a tear when witnessing Riley’s first memory? I did.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I would love to gain access to my kids’ Emotions’ Headquarters. It would make this parenting thing a whole lot easier if we could more readily identify the emotion our children are trying to express and then in turn help them label that feeling and respond appropriately. Plus, it is always helpful to pick up on the visual clues our children give off right before a meltdown. Unfortunately, their heads don’t actually start steaming, like the character Anger. We do know that Joy often sounds like laughter!

Young Children and Emotional Intelligence

While Inside Out is obviously fictional, emotional intelligence DOES begin developing in infancy, just like the character Riley, and includes recognizing and managing feelings, self-awareness, and responding appropriately towards others. In the movie, we saw this whenever a specific emotion (Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust) took over the controls in Riley’s Emotions’ Headquarters.

As parents or early childhood teachers (or both!), young children often mirror our actions and reactions and the words we say in our best moments—and sometimes our not-so-best moments. They can even mimic our likes and dislikes. Eventually, as they become more self aware, children begin to express their own preferences for things, like wearing pajamas everywhere (Not a bad idea!) or eating ice cream for breakfast (Not a good idea!).

Music classes can support children’s growing self-awareness, which includes identifying feelings, and a parent’s unique role in it. For example, each week in a Kindermusik class, we include activities that not only encourage children’s personal choices but we actually incorporate them into the lesson. By including each child’s favorite way to say “Hello” at the beginning of class or movement idea during the “Monkey Dance,” we place value on each child’s ideas and preferences. In doing so, children learn to not only recognize and share ideas in a meaningful way but also to celebrate the differences of others. Activities like Kindermusik that incorporate children’s ideas help them learn that their thoughts, feelings, and ideas are valued.

Quick Tip for Using Music to Help Kids Navigate Their Emotional Headquarters

Listen to music that expresses different emotions, like joy, sadness, anger, or fear. Dance with children based on the emotion and help children label the emotion. Not only does this activity develop children’s vocabulary; it also helps them to identify—and even to manage—their own emotions.

Find a local Kindermusik class.

Contributed by Lisa Camino Rowell, a freelance writer in the Atlanta area. She freely admits that she cried while watching Inside Out. Her 9-year-old Kindermusik graduate responded with equal emotion: embarrassment.

New Research: Multilingual Environments Linked to Better Communication Skills

It turns out that young children who are exposed to more than one language from an early age not only gain significant advantages cognitively, but also in their ability to communicate.

The most novel finding is that the children do not even have to be bilingual themselves; it is the exposure to more than one language that is the key for building effective social communication skills.

According to a recent study by researchers at the University of Chicago, it’s the “early socio-linguistic experiences” that have the greatest potential to “… hone children’s skills at taking other people’s perspectives and provide them tools for effective communication.”

The key here is the word “exposure.” Not immersion. Not acquisition. Simply exposure.

This is particularly exciting to us here at Kindermusik because we’re all about exposure to other languages through music sung in other languages and from other cultures all around the globe. A child who begins Kindermusik classes as an infant will not only have a rich musical foundation by the time he or she finishes the Kindermusik program at around age 7, he or she will also have been repeatedly exposed to a vast variety of music from around the world.

Language is social… Being exposed to multiple languages gives you a very different social experience, which could help children develop more effective communication skills.

Music, in any language, is truly a beautiful thing to experience.

Did you know that music supports other areas of a child’s development? Visit a Kindermusik class to learn more.

Dads of Kindermusik

We love Kindermusik Dads for so many reasons. Sure, we could say we love Kindermusik dads because we know what the research says about the importance of fathers in the development of young children, such as:

Preschoolers with actively involved fathers have stronger verbal skills.
Even very young children who have experienced high father involvement show an increase in curiosity and problem-solving capacity.

But, instead, we’d rather SHOW you why we love our Kindermusik Dads. Happy Father’s Day to all our Kindermusik Dads and Granddads. Thank you for all that you do to put a smile on your children’s faces and a song in their hearts.

Tell us why you love the Kindermusik Dad in your family! Post on our Facebook page with the tag #WeLoveOurKindermusikDad

4 Ways to Use Music to Stop the “Are We There Yet?” traveling dilemma

Whatever happened to spur-of-the-moment weekend getaways where you grabbed your overnight bag, a couple of outfits, and a great beach read before hitting the highway? Well, kids happened that’s what. Now, spur-of-the-moment getaways are more like “plan-months-ahead-to-locate-clean-diaper-changing-rest-stops-and-book-a-UHaul-to-lug-around-all-that-baby-stuff getaways.” Anyone else feel exhausted just thinking about it? And, let’s not even talk about planning a trip to Disney World with kids. Parents write entire dissertations about that family vacation—and then Pin it on Pinterest for us all to identify where we fail as parents.

Traveling with kids can be an adventure—and I don’t just mean an adventure in patience. Of course, we all know that every good adventure deserves an even better soundtrack! It appears as if the majority of parents agree! In fact, a recent study by Alamo Rent A Car found that more parents (80 percent) use music to keep children happy than iPads (19 percent).

In our years of travel, we learned how to maximize the music in our car in order to minimize the “Are We There Yet?” traveling dilemma. Let’s be honest. Children communicate that question long before they can even speak: by crying, kicking seats, and general get-me-out-of-my-car-seat grumpiness.

Here are four ways to use music in the car that worked for our family and we think they will work for you, too!

1. Make a traveling playlist. Take requests from everyone and include songs your child loves and songs that you do, too. For our family of four, I am responsible for putting the song requests in order on the playlist. I make sure to equally rotate the order. I learned really quickly that our oldest daughter would count to make sure life the song rotation was fair. During the car ride, our kids love trying to guess which song is next and when their favorite ones will play.

Sing-along songs can create memories as your family bursts out in “Let it Go” (again!) or even the theme song from a favorite TV show, such as Jake and the Never Land Pirates! The car can be an ideal place to connect together as a family through music, just like this mom and daughter:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTpmzpKrsz8[/youtube]

2. Listen to books or nursery rhymes on CD. Under the age of 5, our girls loved listening to the rhymes of Dr. Seuss, especially. Now, listening to books on CDs is a traveling tradition. Favorites for 5 to 7 years old include the Ramona, Junie B. Jones, and The Magic Treehouse series. (Yes, technically this is not music, but music builds early literacy skills!)

3. Engage children’s imagination through the soundtrack from a favorite movie. We found—by accident—that our children enjoy listening to the musical arrangements from their favorite movies. They love envisioning what is happening based on what they hear. For example, they can identify the part in the composition when Lightening McQueen and Sally are racing on the back roads or when Cinderella meets the prince in the woods and tells him to stop chasing the deer. This was a fun way to listen to a movie and not watch the movie.

4. Create a “Quiet Time” playlist. For longer road trips, we select this music to encourage our reluctant car sleepers to rest. Occasionally, the music will lull one or both of our children to sleep, however it nearly always relaxes them enough to stop fidgeting. We most often play this list after lunch when many children naturally benefit from a little quiet time. Tip: Make sure you fill your car with gas BEFORE you tap into the power of music. After all, you DO NOT want to stop when your little one finally falls under the spell of music and falls asleep like this sweet little nugget!

Enjoy your next family road trip with this free gift of five free song downloads and more tips on using music in the family car!

Contributed by Lisa Camino Rowell, a freelance writer in the Atlanta area who loves using music to make traveling a whole lot easier!

Every Child Learns Music (If We Lived in a Perfect World)

Making music, enjoying music, and learning through music all have a profound impact on a child, even before he or she is born. Mothers have known this instinctively. Teachers have always drawn on the benefits of music. Research and new technology continues to confirm it over and over again.

That’s why for over 30 years, Kindermusik International has not only been recognized as being the world’s leader in music and movement curricula, but also for the way they support and facilitate the professional development of their educators.

With a mission to “change the world through music, one child and one family at a time,” Kindermusik International is understandably very passionate about doing everything possible to ensure that every child experiences the joy of music.

And if we lived in that perfect world, every child would learn music:

From an early age when the window of opportunity and benefit is open widest
From parents who are a child’s first and best teacher
From teachers who are well-paid, well-trained, and highly respected for their expertise and caring
In schools where music is considered as equally as important as math and reading
In classrooms where there are plenty of interactive, hands-on learning opportunities
In a learning environment that supports the unique learning styles and abilities of each individual child
With teachers and parents working closely together, in class and at home, to facilitate the richest and most impactful music learning experience possible

At Kindermusik, we want to continue to help create this perfect world. Learn more about how we support the professional development of our Kindermusik educators.

Why I Teach Music

At certain times of the year, I find myself reflecting back on what it is that I love so much about teaching music, and specifically, teaching Kindermusik. Little did I know the beautiful journey that would unfold for me professionally or the countless precious memories that I would come to treasure when I taught my first class way back in 1994.

Photo by Hal Cook, 2014, taken at Piano Central, Greenville, SC.

So why do I teach Kindermusik? There are literally thousands of reasons – most of whom are under 3 feet tall, have adorable smiles, and have quite stolen my heart. But if I had to pick a few highlights, these would be the some of my favorites.

I teach Kindermusik because I…

Get to be a part of helping parents linger in the moments of experiencing a music class with their children and making musical memories that knit their hearts together.
Get to share in the happy celebration with all the other parents when a little one takes his first wobbly steps or says his first word in class.
Get to swallow the lump in my throat when I hear a little voice singing parts of our Hello song with me for the first time.
Get to be a proud onlooker as a parent and child discover at least 10 different ways to play the rhythm sticks – together.
Get to smile right back with a preschooler who is just beaming with pride over raising his hand to share his best idea for singing a song.
Get to hold my breath in delight as a big kid confidently plays the notes of his first composition on the glockenspiel.
Get the best hugs from little children whose love for music and their music teacher sweetly overflows after each and every class.
Have had a front-row seat to see Kindermusik babies graduate from the Kindermusik program, continue on in music lessons, and grow up to have a life-long love and aptitude for music.
Have the deeply fulfilling satisfaction of knowing that the world will be a better place because of the song my Kindermusik kids will have in their hearts forever.

And so, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll keep teaching Kindermusik for another 20 years or so… probably until my knees give out and I no longer have a voice.

Why do YOU teach Kindermusik? Share your reasons on the Kindermusik International Facebook page and tag #WhyITeachKindermusik.

Contributed by Theresa Case who has loved every minute of teaching Kindermusik and running an award-winning Kindermusik program in Greenville, South Carolina for over 20 years now