The Mystery of the Jingle Bell

Music and science are related in all kinds of ways, but there’s a certain musical instrument that always brings out young children’s scientific inquiry. Of course, young children are curious about everything. And one kind of thing especially intrigues them – wondering what’s inside something. Particularly when they can hear that something making a sound […]

Amazing Sounds of Aluminum Pie Plates

It’s so great that I love to make quiches and I’m too lazy to make my own crusts. Because then I have to buy frozen pie crusts – which come with FREE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS!!!! If you’ve never played the aluminum pie plate as a musical instrument, there are a couple things you should know:   […]

Bari Koral – Songs for Young Children

A year or two ago I discovered the music of Bari Koral. I’m always so excited when I hear children’s music that I know my students will love! I couldn’t wait to bring Koral’s music to my music classes, and my students loved her songs right away. I’ve mentioned at least one of Koral’s songs […]

Teach Science and Music and Have a Wild Rumpus with PLASTIC CUPS!

Don’t you love it when the materials you need for a project are available at the dollar store or, better yet, free? These science and music projects use any and all kinds of plastic cups you can round up. They might include large or small plastic or paper drinking cups, applesauce, yogurt and snack cups, […]

A Valentine Activity for Rhythm Sticks

Yes, I’m aware that the picture features a romantic mouse couple, not rhythm sticks… Here’s the thing though –  rhythm sticks aren’t as cute as mice giving each other flowers. This activity appears in my book “Shake, Rattle and Roll: Rhythm Instruments and More for Active Learning” (Gryphon House, 2015). “Oh My Darling Valentine”   Tap […]

April Showers 2.0

April showers bring May flowers, as the saying goes. But here in New Jersey, the rain, in blatant disregard of both the calendar and corny old sayings, is still falling. No one’s a big fan of bad weather, but I’d argue that it’s particularly annoying for preschool teachers. Young children need to get outside every […]

Learning from Teaching

I had an awesome time presenting at the “Kenyon at Kean” Annual Conference at Kean University in Union, NJ last Saturday. Kenyon is the chapter affiliate of NJAEYC for Central New Jersey, and if you you want to see some dedicated teachers – well, after a week of working with young children, to wake up […]

January, Also Known As “Square One”

This post doesn’t have a picture to illustrate it. That’s because when I looked up “preschoolers fighting” or “preschoolers angry” or “preschoolers not listening to you” all I found were photos of attractive child models who were looking cute-angry. Actual preschoolers don’t look that cute when they’re  hitting somebody or lying on the floor, very […]

The Amazing Patty Shukla

At the NAEYC Annual Conference I was lucky enough to meet Patty Shukla, who presented a poster session there. If you teach young children and you don’t know Patty Shukla’s music, you should! I discovered her a couple of years ago on YouTube, where she posts many outstanding video (You can find her channel here). Patty […]