FOL Fridays

FOL Fridays: Body Management

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Discovering and exploring movement provides young children with profound learning experiences.  They are delighted to practice and show off their emerging skills, and they will seek out opportunities to practice these skills frequently.  It is during this time that the foundation is laid for body-management activities needed in childhood games, recreational activities, and eventually sports (Carson 2001). Ideas for parents:  One fun way to
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FOL Fridays – Stop… and GO!

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One aspect of self-control is inhibitory control, or the ability to stop oneself and wait.  Toddlers love stop-and-go games because they allow them to practice control over their physical bodies and to revel in their mastery of this control.  Inhibitory control is important in social interactions where taking turns is involved, and as such is an important skill for success in school. In fact,
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FOL Fridays – Explore and Discover

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The preschool-aged child always seems to be curious, ready to find out more or explore and discover. And they have a big imagination to go along with it!  These are some of the great delights of enjoying all kinds of activities with 3 year olds and 4 year olds, but especially the kinds of playful, creative, learning-oriented music activities we do in our Kindermusik
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FOL Fridays: Modeling

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Children learn best by doing.  Through modeling, a child has many opportunities to imitate steady beat and experiment with steady-beat playing.  Practicing these emerging music skills within the context of meaningful and playful activities gives a child a rich and unparalleled learning experience. Ideas for parents:  Music is such a tremendous vehicle for learning of all kinds, but to enhance and inspire your child’s
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FOL Fridays – The Music Inside

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Children need opportunities to hear music sung, and they need invitations to hear music internally, with no external sound source.  Being able to hear music “in your head” (audiation) like this is an important part of musical literacy, just as learning to think sentences and  thoughts without speaking is an important feat in language development and part of early literacy development.  Omitting parts of
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FOL Fridays: Pairing Language with Movement

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Pairing language with movement sets the stage for cognitive and kinesthetic learning.  The right hemisphere of the brain is our emotional side where much of our creativity is channeled.  The left hemisphere organizes logical skills, such as language.  When children are engaged in movements determined by the lyrics, the brain automatically cross-references both hemispheres, mapping creativity and logic (Fishbourne, G. 1998) Tips for parents: 
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FOL Fridays: The Benefit of a Routine

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Regular schedules provide a framework that orders a young child’s world.  While predictability can be tedious for adults, children thrive on sameness and repetition.  “Knowing what to expect from relationships and activities helps children become more confident,” says Dr. Peter Gorski, assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School (Asher). Tips for parents:  The days never seem to go exactly as planned with young
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