Musical Instruments

The toddlers and preschoolers have been exploring musical instruments this week. They had a wonderful field trip to the Seattle Symphony on Friday. Today they practiced playing a trombone and made some instruments of their own.

As I watch the videos from today, I especially appreciate the open-ended musical instrument project because it allowed for artistic self-expression. In the early childcare field there is an art concept called "process vs product". With product art children create a project using the same materials in the same way to create a similar end product according to teacher direction. Art that focuses on the "process" rather than the end product, allows children to design, create, and explore using various materials and their own imaginations.

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Dragonflies at Play

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Jackson and Ruby Make Lunch

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Kindness and Firmness

I have recently re-arranged the schedule so that I have Monday and Thursday afternoons off. For many reasons; but mostly to save my sanity, get office work and run errands inside the workweek, and spend time just being with Layla. So, on Monday afternoon Layla and I went to run errands and stopped at the public library to get some new board books for her. While I was there I also checked out a book called “The No-Cry Discipline Solution” by Elizabeth Pantley. Besides being influenced by Adlerian psychology like the “Positive Discipline” series by Jane Nelson (that I already love), it is really easy to read and busy-parent friendly. I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a little positive inspiration in the discipline department and it emphasizes topics like: interrupting, hitting, sibling conflicts, restaurant behavior, sharing, yelling, and whining.
I’d like to incorporate some of the more helpful key points into my blog. The following excerpt is taken directly from the book:

It’s Okay to Have Fun, It’s Okay to Be Firm

You don’t always have to use clever skill (like singing and dancing with pajamas on your head- although sometimes that works wonders) to get your child to cooperate with you. There are plenty of times when you’ll just want to say it straight up. When you do, try to follow these basic rules:
• Get eye to eye. Try not to call from a distance or mumble directions.
• Say what you mean. Don’t make threats, don’t use empty words.
• Be clear and specific. Don’t make vague requests. Don’t make your child guess what you want.
• Be polite. “Please” and “thank you” are magic words for parents to use too.
• Stay calm. Anger just makes things worse.
• Follow through with action. Take him by the hand; give her the coat that you want her to put on, lead him back to the mess he left with the blocks on the floor. “Help” your child do what you ask them to do.
• Be consistent. The more you follow these steps the easier it gets for both of you.


Bonnie Brings in Musical Instruments from her trip to Guatemala:

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Team Work

One of the aspects I appreciate about having a small group of kids is the opportunity for them to feel that they a part of a larger community while still remaining small enough to feel like an extension of family. They know each other very well and interact with each other much like siblings would. Here are the Centipedes working together to paint the picnic table for the yard. Giving young children meaningful roles builds their confidence and self-esteem.

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Cooking is a great activity to do with preschoolers. They can contribute to the group in a meaningful way and they usually feel a great sense of accomplishment when they can serve and eat food they've helped prepare. They can learn about math concepts like seriation and discrimination. They are more adventurous eaters when they have prepared the food themselves.
Here is a great article about the benefits of cooking with kids:

http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/learning/cooking_preschool.html

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Max and Jackson sing the ABCs

Children of all ages love music and singing and they benefit from experiences with music. Music enhances learning, especially language development. Children's experiences with music build vocabulary, listening skills, and language acquisition.

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