Musical Development
Sammi at 18 months
We love to sing songs in our house. I know I’ve told dozens of stories of when, where, how we sing songs, but I just have to share a few more! I mentioned on Monday that I’m fighting off a cold I got from Elli. Monday evening my voice decided to get in on the game and has been rough and rascally ever since. Plus my ears are slightly stuffy so I sound rather hollow to myself which complicates my ability to sing.
We usually sing the girls a few songs at bedtime. Monday night my voice wasn’t so far gone yet so I was able to make it through the singing just fine. But by the end of yesterday my voice was just tired and when I went to sing to the girls last night, my voice was cracking high and low. About halfway through the “first” song I looked down at Elli (whom I still snuggle for one song before putting her in her crib) and she had this look on her face that was part puzzled and part disappointed in my singing. She recognized that I didn’t sound like myself and that I wasn’t singing well at all. So the “first” song turned into the only song.
One of the songs we sing just about every night we’ve personalized with the girls’ names. It’s Jesus Once Was a Little Child. One line says, “So, little children, let’s you and I try to be like Him.” The first time I heard my grandma sing this song to Sammi she sang, “So, Little Samantha” and it was like a new world opened to me. I hadn’t thought to change words to include Sammi’s name. Now we sing, “So, Elli and Sammi” to include both girls.
Another favorite is Ram, Sam, Sam. This one was an obvious fit for Sammi since her name is already in the song. But we took it one step further and changed all the words to fit our family. Here’s the original with our actions first, followed by our personalized version.
A Ram Sam Sam
| A ram sam sam A ram sam sam Gully gully gully gully gully Ram sam sam |
Clap hands Clap hands Roll hands Clap hands |
| A ram sam sam A ram sam sam Gully gully gully gully gully Ram sam sam |
Clap hands Clap hands Roll hands Clap hands |
| A raffi, A raffi Gully gully gully gully gully Ram sam sam |
Make circle with one hand on first Raffi then with other hand on second Raffi Roll hands Clap hands |
Passey Version
A Mom, Sam, Sam
A Mom, Sam, Sam
Elli, Elli, Elli, Elli, Elli
Mom, Sam, Sam
A Mom, Sam, Sam
A Mom, Sam, Sam
Elli, Elli, Elli, Elli, Elli
Mom, Sam, Sam
A Daddy, a Daddy
Elli, Elli, Elli, Elli, Elli
Mom, Sam, Sam
For other songs, we randomly change words to fit our situation. This is especially true of Dora’s songs. We sing “Where are we going?” just about anytime we are “going” anywhere, from the library to the kitchen for a snack. We also sing her “We did it!” song a lot. It’s been a great practice for Sammi because she’s starting to come up with variations all by herslef that actually fit the rhythm of the song.
What songs have you personalized for your little ones?
So I slept a lot this weekend. I think I’m fighting off the cold that Elli developed last week. Her poor eyes were so goopy all day Saturday. She’s finally clearing up, but now I’m stuck with a sore throat and a runny nose.
I’ve definitely got the Monday Blahs!
So I thought I’d beat them with a fun song today from our Sponsor Aaron Nigel Smith. His album Everyone Loves to Dance was released earlier this year and has been a wonderful addition to our family’s collection of music. Here’s the title track, Everyone Loves to Dance. It’s sure to get you moving and grooving and soon you’ll forget it’s Monday at all!
What do you do to beat the Monday blahs?
Disclaimer: The above links are not affiliate links, however, Aaron Nigel Smith is a sponsor of BBGU. Our contract does not include posting about him or his music. I chose to do that because it’s what I needed today!
Happy Valentine’s Day. Hope it’s one filled with love and friendship for you and your little ones! Here’s a favorite song of ours. I shared it last year, as well as this awesome nesting heart project.
Nesting Hearts
We’ve been making Valentine’s Cards all week. We made one for a Valentine Day Card exchange (and I took ZERO pictures!) Then we made some for family members (14 in all) and then we made some for local friends that we saw yesterday at a Valentine’s Day Party. The last are my favorite and I wanted to share them with you.
The idea for the card came from Big Sounds by Bari Koral
To get yourself inspired, here’s a clip from Big Sounds:
Can I get a Roar?
You can download the card if you want. Just print one file, turn over the paper and print the other file. It should work to make two cards. Just make sure you cut it the right way or you’ll end up with a top flipping card instead of a side flipping card. (Uh, no, that didn’t happen to me.)
Dinosaur Valentine Card outside
Dinosaur Valentine Card inside
Have you posted pics of Valentine cards you’ve made? Please leave a link; I’d love to see them!
We are so excited to have Aaron Nigel Smith as a new sponsor of Because Babies Grow Up. We received Everyone Loves To Dance a few weeks ago and it has been a lifesaver! I turn in on every day while I’m making dinner and it gets the girls moving, singing, and most importantly, out of the kitchen! I love to listen to it while I’m cooking, too, because it’s just so fun.
Aaron Nigel Smith has been quite busy recently touring with the Ziggy Marley Family Time Tour, Between the Lions Live, NEA Read Across America Tour. Let me tell you, after all that, he has got kids down pat! His voice and inflection, his lyrics and the energy of his music all appeal to the youngest of listeners, and even on up to grown ups. His music has also received the NAPPA and iParenting awards. When I showed Sammi this video, she loved it instantly. Grab your little one and enjoy!
By far my favorite song is the title song, Everyone Loves to Dance. But we have also really enjoyed Simon Says. We used the song to teach Sammi how to play the game. We had so much fun. Aaron Nigel Smith will be touring later this year and I bet he’s a show worth taking your little ones to. I’m hoping he comes somewhere close to us so we can go see him (Please! Please!)
Giveaway!
Aaron Nigel Smith is offering a copy of his new CD Everyone Love To Dance to a BBGU reader as part of the Winter Wonderland Carnival. This giveaway is open until January 31 at 11:59 pm EST. You can enter to win on the Join the Winter Wonderland post. For additional entries, you can comment on this post as well. Everyone Loves to Dance is also available on iTunes and on Amazon
How do you survive making dinner with little ones clambering about for your attention?
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Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway and shared your little ones’ favorite songs. I had so much fun reading all the comments and remembering songs I’ve forgotten. I compiled a Top Twelve Songs list based on songs that received 2 or more mentions. It was a pretty close race between number 1 and number 2. Number 1 pulled ahead at the very end.
Top Twelve Songs
- Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
- Itsy Bitsy Spider
- ABC song
- Wheels on the Bus
- Old MacDonald
- If You’re Happy and You Know It
- You Are My Sunshine
- Jesus Loves Me
- Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
- Patty Cake
- Rock-a-bye Baby
- I Love You A Bushel And A Peck
Honorable Mentions
- Row, Row, Row Your Boat
- BYU Cougar Fight Song
(We do this one a LOT!)
- Slippery Fish
- Shoe the Old Horse
- Grand Old Duke of York
- 5 Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree
- Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee
- I Am a Child of God
- Eye Of The Tiger
- Hush Little Baby
- Party In The U.S.A.
- We Are The Champions
- We Are a Happy Family
Now for the Winners
I was so blown away by all the wonderful responses, tweets, status updates and blog posts that I decided to add another winner. So here are the three winners of Laptime Songs for Mommies…and Daddies and Grandmas and Grandpas are JDaniel4′s Mom, My Open Roads and Kathy. Congratulations! I’ve sent you each the email with the download link.
Reduced Price for Laptime Songs
Because of the great response to the book and my desire for it to be in every home, I’ve lowered the cost of Laptime Songs for Mommies to $6. This is a great deal because it includes the music for 6 songs you can burn onto a CD or listen to in your favorite player, over 50 rhymes to sing to the songs, craft and book ideas to extend the fun into other activities with your little one and information on adapting the laptime program with your little ones from the newborn stage up through preschool age. Read more about how music can help you bond with your little one here.
If you’re interested in giving Laptime Songs for Mommies as a gift, please email me and we can arrange to either send the link for a digital download to your recipient or send a CD/CD-ROM of the songs and book via USPS.
More Great News
The giveaways aren’t over at Because Babies Grow Up. Today starts the Winter Wonderland Carnival. We have great sponsors who’ve donated some terrific prizes to BBGU readers. The Winter Wonderland Carnival goes from Jan 18-31. Visit often to earn extra entries for each post you comment on during the carnival. You can also blog about what you do to celebrate winter after the holidays are over. I’ll have a round-up post each Saturday with everyone who contributes. Looking forward to sharing some great ideas, music, books and other fantastic products during the Winter Wonderland Carnival!
On Thursday we talked about how music helps develop emergent literacy skills through emphasizing the rhythm of language and the parts of words. Rhyming songs are addictive to little ones because they have a predictable pattern and a catchy melody. We can use these same principles to enhance learning. By setting information to music, especially if it has a predictable pattern or a catchy melody, it becomes easier to memorize.
The idea for this post was kicking around in my head last week when I came across a post that exemplified this fact for me. I was reading Mom-101‘s post about her picks for the top 50 mommy bloggers. In describing each blogger she gave a little quirky piece of background info on each one. In telling about Maternal Dementia she off-handedly mentioned her ability to sing all 50 states in alphabetical order. Can you do that? I can. I remember learning the song in elementary school and it’s still with me. All these years later. That’s the power of learning through music.
This is where our creativity can really take off. We can take any melody, or make up one of our own, and set to music the things we want our little ones to remember. We sing it with them, and voila! They remember. I’ve come across a lot of little rhymes for teaching hand washing skills to little ones. My favorite was this hand washing song sung to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star“
I can wash my hands you see,
Wash them clean as clean can be.
Inside, outside, my fingers, too
Around my thumbs and then I’m through,
Now rinse away the dirt and stains,
Send those germs down the drain!
Another example of putting info to music in order to learn something new comes from Roger Day‘s newest album “Why Does Gray Matter.” This whole album has information about the brain. My favorite song is “The Brain Train” where he describes the process of a thought moving through the brain to become an action. The song contains words like corpus callosum, deep basal ganglia and cerebellum. Just imagine the looks if your little one memorized this song!
What have you or your little ones learned by memorizing a song?
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We’ve looked at using music for quiet time and using music to build emergent literacy skills, but today we’re going to look at making music the center of play. Using music to engage your little one in play is the main message of Laptime Songs for Mommies. The energy in an upbeat song is contagious, not just for our little ones, but for us as well!
It’s easy to get up and move around to songs like “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Another way to incorporate music into play is to use songs to help you teach games to your little ones. We had a fantastic experience this week with this. We listened to Aaron Nigel Smith’s Simon Says
What music do you turn on when it’s time to play? A comment on today’s post is an extra entry in this week’s giveaway!
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We often use music in our home to lull the girls to sleep. Actually, we use it when we’re not at home too! Especially on late night car rides. Over the years we’ve established a pretty solid set of songs the girls like and we know the words too. We chose slower songs with messages of love, comfort and security. The girls seem to melt away into sleep hearing these classics. I’ve often caught Brent falling asleep to them too! Okay, I’ll be honest, I’ve nodded off a few times myself.
Music has the ability to set the mood. This works both to quiet down and to wake up our little ones. Elli is proving to be such a cuddle bug when she wakes up from a nap. She insists on taking her blanket with her when she gets out of bed and then sitting on my lap all wrapped up for quite some time. Sammi was a bit of a cuddle bug, too, back in the day. I made up a song about “My Cuddle Bug” that I had completely forgotten until Brent sang it last week to Elli. So I thought I’d share a video of Elli and I cuddling while I sang her that song.
Like I said on Monday, out little ones love to hear US sing, even if we don’t know the words or tune, even if we make up a song as we go along. Some tender memories for me are centered around times that we have randomly burst into song because it matched our activity or mood. Don’t be afraid to croon your own lullaby when you can’t think of a single song.
But, in case you want a few ideas, here are some of our favorites to sing:
- Hush Little Baby
- Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
- I am Like a Star
- Jesus Once Was a Little Child
- For the Beauty of the Earth
What are your quiet time favorites? A comment here counts as an extra entry for this week’s giveaway. Make sure you comment over here, too!
Amber’s note: We were first introduced to Bari Koral’s music when asked to review her new CD Rock and Roll Garden (out today!) I fell in love with her sound and her mission. Totally starstruck I gathered my courage and asked her to give us her take on kids music, play and the relationship with have with the children in our lives. I just love how Bari’s personality comes through in her typing so I’ve left it just the way she sent it to me.
Bari Koral Photo by Megan Moloy
Me: Why did you make the switch to kids’ music?
Bari: i was on the road for a very long time, making a living with my “adult” music. i did sell cds, but my main income was by appearances, so in other words- i had to travel to make money. after many many years of this i was starting to take a good look at my life. i had no relationship, i thought maybe i’d like to have a child one day, and here i was, in fargo, ND AGAIN, how was i going to have a child when i was never home to have a relationship? and i just craved having some kind of settling feeling.
around this time my little niece was about 4 or 5 years old and there were some songs of my she was obsessed with. that she just wanted to hear over and over again. i was wondering- why these songs? she did have a knack for a great melody though! she always seemed drawn to what I also agreed where the strongest tunes on the “adult” albums.
armed with this knowledge, and craving a change in my life- i was inspired by some friends in the music business- and one in the family music business to try and write “pop tunes” specifically for children. so i went to a cabin in the woods and tried to write songs from my niece’s perspective, stories and ideas she would really enjoy but i kept a foot in what i considered a good melody because i still wanted the music to be satisfying to me– and to the parents who would be listening.
so, it was really out of a desire for a life change, and a love of my niece and other children where the switch came in. i found out pretty early on that i seemed to have a knack at “interpreting” for children in terms of my lyrics. and i never looked back.
Me: What is different about performing for an audience of parents and little ones?
Bari: it’s really heaven. i have been in the music business now for almost 20 years and playing for children and families is by far my favorite. the expectations are so different. there is more of an openness with children and families- a willingness to let go and just enjoy and be. sometimes when it’s just adults I felt i was working hard sometimes to just loosen everyone up.
i find often with families and children we are just ready to go by note 1. or at least by the 2nd song! and often parents are letting go because their children are letting go. and they see how much fun their kids are having and that makes them happy. and that makes us happy on stage and it’s all just feels great. so, it just all becomes about joy. about celebrating families and being together in a fun and loving way.
Me: When a parent and child share music, what effect does it have on their relationship?
Bari: that is a great question. i think it is a profound effect. my happiest moments with my niece are being in the car and putting on a song i really like and watching her move to it and enjoy it. there we both are, on the highway just having a great time together. music can be such a deep bond. your secret time together with your child. it’s almost like inviting something from another world into your relationship. it can’t be fully explained or understood. there is a bit of wonder about it- it’s an instant mood maker or mood changer, depending what you are listening to. i think it’s a way to bond with a child that is just completely authentic and satisfying.
Me: What are some tips for engaging our little ones in music play? How can we maximize the benefits of sharing music with our little ones?
Bari: play music. so many of the children that are into music in my classes or my concerts listen to a lot of music because they love it and often because their parents love it and are playing music at home. play around- jazz, blues, pop, rock, classical-experiment. it doesn’t have to be all kids/family music all the time. have a few instruments around the house- even shakers that children can shake along to and feel like they are part of the music. if you are listening to classical give your child (ages 3 and up) a pair of paper plates so they can “ice skate” or paper plate skate to the music, like the nutcracker.
my friend danny is a concert promoter and his son is 5 and he may know more about the beatles then i do (and i know A LOT) and this little boy absolutely loves the beatles and can sing every word. this was important to his dad and now it’s important to his son and i know that to danny- that is just about the greatest thing in the world, to share this love of music with his son.
Me: What is one thing you wish you could share with every parent?
Bari: wow. one thing. hmm. not sure if it is one thing- but i’d love to inspire parents to fill themselves up with what they need and love so they can give to others, like their children. i think as parents it’s easy to just give and give and that can make you depleted. i always find i do my best “taking care of others” when i am taking care of myself. why do they tell you to put your oxygen mask on first in an airplane in the event of an incident. it is because you can’t take care of another unless you are taken care of. so- make time to do things YOU enjoy, to fill up, rest, recover, and give back. and then when you give back to your children, it may come from a deeper place of truth and contentment- and… play music!!
bari
Rock and Roll Garden is available on Amazon. Go grab yours today. It’s a must-have for every home with little ones! A comment on today’s post is an extra entry in the giveaway for Laptime Songs for Mommies!
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