Make a Smilebox photobook

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We hear it often: “Read to your child and your child will become a reader.” Excellent advice, but for those of us with very young children, it raises the question “How do I read to my infant or young toddler?”

The answer lies not so much in the HOW, but in the WHEN. As in all the time! Our environment is word-rich; everywhere we go there are signs, posters, and written instructions. Look for words and letters all around you: look at license plates as you walk through a parking lot, words on your sweatshirt, or signs on favorite stores. Find letters that are important to your child: the first letter of his name, M for Mom, D for Dad, W for Washington, pet names, siblings’ names, favorite friends’ names. You can find words, letters and numbers everywhere!

Starting from birth, your child loves your voice above every other sound. Talking and reading to your child teaches the patterns and rhythms of your spoken language (television does not provide these natural patterns). Read aloud from a book as you hold your newborn. Imagine the dual comfort of being held while hearing your favorite person’s voice! Point to pictures and talk about them so your child will begin to understand that what is on the page symbolizes something in his life…a prelude to reading!

Kindermusik is one such activity that helps your child’s interest in reading. Language skills are fostered with singing, sound imitation, and vocal play while Music & Movement Story Time encourages emergent literacy skills within the structure of the classroom experience. The home materials, if used on a regular basis, give parents the tools to continue this learning at home. Kindermusik also offers Sign & Sing to families with children 6 months through 3 years. 

Baby learns dimension, texture, line, and even color through touching his environment.  Simply feeling things with his hands can give him much information.  Hands are for touching and exploring.  In class we touched the drum in a variety of ways such as rubbing, tapping, patting, and scratching.  Each different touch produced a different drum sound.  Touching the same texture in many different ways gives Baby a broader sensory experience.

Try one of these home activities:

Lap Baby: Select different types of fabric such as felt, cotton, corduroy, satin, silk, and flannel.  Gently rub them across Baby’s arms and legs.  Try to alternate a soft texture with a slightly rougher texture.

Crawler and Walker: Cover the outside of a paper tube with one specific texture.  Make as many texture tubes as you would like using fake fur, cotton, flannel, light grained sandpaper, satin, wool, paper, and silk.  Encourage Baby to feel the different textures.  Label the texture by saying the words “soft” or “rough” to Baby during this play.

Baby’s lungs and diaphragm are developing with each breath that she takes.  Blowing long and short breaths is another way of developing the diaphragm, which is necessary for production of any speech sounds.  For Baby that cannot blow yet, blowing play allows Baby to visually track the object and develop stronger eye muscles in preparation for reading readiness skills.

Home Activity:

Try some blowing activities with Baby.  Baby will enjoy the cool sensation of you blowing on her face and body.  Get close to Baby’s face and let her see and feel your mouth while you gently blow.  There are many common items around the house that you can collect for blowing play.  To name just a few:  tissue paper, feather duster, cellophane paper, cotton ball, light weight piece of cloth.

For Safety:  Closely supervise all blowing play.

Last week, as we shook the egg shakers to “All the Way to Galway,” each and every child discovered something new. Toddling around while shaking the eggs, tapping the shaker with Mom, or intently sitting and watching the class; each child participated in their own unique way. Each week we have the opportunity to celebrate our children’s individualities!

Each child is unique and develops at his or her own level and pace. Because of this, each child will interact with objects in a way that supports that level of learning about the physical characteristics of objects—and that means every object at hand! Kindermusik supports the many ways in which children learn: exploring, experimenting, imitating, trying out new ideas, reinforcing strengths, and developing skills.

Take a little time during your daily routines to enjoy the uniqueness of your baby—interactions with you and others, playfulness, curious mind, and music responses. The more one-on-one time with your little one, the more you will understand the level of development.

Together we’re a circle of support, love, and belonging.

Our circle dances are a very special time in Our Time. A circle is a symbol of community, and in it we all contribute equally. For your toddler, our circle dances give him a chance to see everyone and be part of our community. There is no beginning or end to our circle, just as there are no leaders or followers; we all create our dance together.

At home this week sing, listen, and dance to all of the circle dances we’ve enjoyed as a group this semester. Whether you’re in a circle of two or many, your toddler will experience the vital feeling of belonging.

In this week’s class the steady beat was at the heart of every activity—exercising to “Did You Ever See a Lassie?” bouncing to an old English song, “Ride a Cock-Horse to Banbury Cross,” and rocking to the calming tune of “Greensleeves.”

Steady beat is the unchanging continuous pulse in a song or chant and is an organizer for the child; purposeful and calming. Moving to a steady beat, a child develops a sense of timing, which is fundamental to the ability to organize and coordinate movements. Think of all we do that requires regularly-paced repeated motion (a sense of steady beat!): walking, running, riding a bicycle, cutting with scissors, bouncing a ball, and more.

It’s easy to find the beat in a nursery rhyme. Pick out a couple of your favorite rhymes and get the nursery rhyme beat!
Here are some ideas to get you started:
• Holding baby and walking—just add the rhyme and walk to the beat.
• Drying off baby after bath time—exercise legs up and down to a rhyme.
• Just finished dressing baby—lap bounce to a verse or two.

Bouncing along until next week!

Our entire lives, our heartbeat provides a constant sense of rhythm. It’s no wonder that we are all drawn to drums. Research shows that the act of drumming actually changes the chemicals in our brains, relieving stress and creating a sense of well being.

As you saw in class, there is no limit to the ways a drum can be made. This week play with your homemade drum together, and see what else you have that can be a drum.

I bet it “beats” any other activity you can think of!

In class this week it was a pleasure watching the joyful interactions between the adults and babies as they found new ways to greet each other. Greetings like a simple wave gesture and blowing kisses, and a handshake—the ideas are endless!

Babies begin to understand words long before speaking. During this receptive stage it is important that their surroundings are language rich with speaking, singing, and gestures. This stimulates the brain’s language centers to grow and allows the child to learn speech and language efficiently and become an expressive communicator.

Turn on the babblings and cooing conversations this week at home by surrounding your baby with your voice—talk about everything, sing your favorite songs, and make up simple gestures for “uh-oh,” “all gone,” and “good-bye.” For a little magical fascination, add a baby-safe mirror to your conversation. Keep a baby-safe mirror handy for those times in the high-chair, car seat, or stroller when it’s not possible for a face-to-face dialogue. This makes it easy for your little one to engage in a self-conversation at any time.