Hi everyone – I hope you all had a very merry holiday! I just got a nice surprise – a great review from the Midwest Book Review! Most preschool teachers have musical instruments in their classrooms, but may not realize they can use them for science explorations. Science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) these […]
Tag Archives: early childhood music
There’s nothing mysterious about coming up with new ideas. As a matter of fact, there are no new ideas, only new combinations of existing ideas. Being creative is all about changing around different variables in different ways. When children seem stuck for ideas, suggesting one or two new variables can start their brains zooming along […]
Of course, there are really no new ideas, only new combinations (or arrangements) of existing ideas. So learning to combine and arrange ideas in new ways is an essential part of creative thinking. When young children have learned the concept of timbre and heard many different examples, they can “create” their own timbres using familiar instruments, objects […]
Seems like the chilly fall weather is settling in, and that means children are eating more soup. I love to use songs that reflect what children are actually doing in their daily life – not that I have anything against tuffets or four-and-twenty blackbirds, but it’s nice not to have to explain what the song […]
From the way young children react when they see me enter their classroom for a music enrichment class, you’d think I was driving an ice cream truck with Dora the Explorer. They’re running up to hug me, yelling my name, and jumping and down – often all three at the same time! Why all the […]
How to Rain It’s that time of year when rainy day after rainy day can often dampen the mood of the classroom. Without sunshine and fresh air room to run around, children can get restless and easily frustrated. Interesting new things to do can help distract them from that penned-in feeling and perk up their […]
Young children can discover so much from exploring the sounds and texture of sandpaper, it’s really a gold mine of learning. Well, not a GOLD mine… more like bauxite mine. More on that later. As a music teacher working with young children, I often use sand blocks, those small (but heavy, if you’re carrying around […]
Games for Exploring Timbre For his fourth birthday, Brycen received a rhythm band set. He enjoyed playing with all the instruments, and his mom, Kyleigh, was delighted that he seemed to be musically inclined. Then one day she found him playing with the maracas in a rather unusual way – he was stomping on them! […]
Let’s Talk About Timbre Can you tell the difference between the sound of a piano and the sound of a drum? Of course you can. Young children can do it. VERY young children. But can you describe how you can tell the difference? Um… That’s what I thought. Not easy, is it? The particular sound of […]
Kangaroos! A Fun Name-Learning Song This is a great activity for the beginning of the year, when you and the children are learning each other’s names. This gives you a fun and very bouncy way to do it! Choose two children to be kangaroos. They’ll jump around in the middle of the circle while the […]
Music (and Science) For Young Children 