Today is a special day… it’s Happy Hammock Day! A time to celebrate the feel-good joy of hammocking. No hammock, you say? We have a simple solution. A solution if you’re under the age of 5, that is. Two adults holding a beach towel or thick blanket makes for the perfect kid-sized hammock. But why exactly would you choose to celebrate Happy Hammock Day
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Happy Hammock Day! Read More »
We love Carl Orff around here and we think you might too. Even if you don’t know him by name, you and your child benefit from his legacy in every Kindermusik class. Today we wanted to pause and celebrate him. Carl Orff would have turned 120 this month, and his incredible impact on music and music education remains alive and well. In the 1900s,
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Looking for a few new ideas for summertime fun to add to your family’s list? Here are a few of the most popular Pinterest Pins from our Kindermusik boards. Favorite Kindermusik Pinterest Pins for Summertime Fun 1. Create a Ball Maze. A great activity for shape identification, predictions, cause and effect, and fun! 2. Hula Hoop sized bubbles. What is this beautiful concoction? Hula
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You need a break. I don’t even know you, but if you are a parent like me, well, you need a break. Of course, no law states that parents are entitled to one 15-minute break for every four hours on duty much less an hour-long lunch break. A break from parenting is best taken in small increments throughout the day. It’s the real reason
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4 Musical Ways to Entertain Young Children While Lying Down Read More »
Are you raising a musical family? If you find yourself relating to this list, then chances are the answer is Yes! Your toddler thinks you’ve been hiding white egg shakers in the refrigerator and can’t understand why he can’t play with them, too. Your kids yell at YOU to turn the music down. Your child insists on sleeping with his favorite instrument. Your child
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18 Signs You Are A Musical Family Read More »
Listening to and identifying sounds is the earliest phonological awareness skill and one of the most important pre-literacy competencies. Without this skill, there will be no progress toward phonics, spelling, or text comprehension. How Children Become Phonologically Aware Children become phonologically aware in a specific developmental sequence, beginning with the larger sound units (e.g., tapping each word in a sentence), then focusing on parts
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Music Paves the Way to Literacy Read More »
On Friday afternoon, our family watched the new Pixar movie, Inside Out. I must ask: Did any other parent cry over Bing Bong or shed a tear when witnessing Riley’s first memory? I did. Well, I don’t know about you, but I would love to gain access to my kids’ Emotions’ Headquarters. It would make this parenting thing a whole lot easier if we could more
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Music Can Navigate Kids’ Emotion Headquarters Read More »
It turns out that young children who are exposed to more than one language from an early age not only gain significant advantages cognitively, but also in their ability to communicate. The most novel finding is that the children do not even have to be bilingual themselves; it is the exposure to more than one language that is the key for building effective social communication
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New Research: Multilingual Environments Linked to Better Communication Skills Read More »
Whatever happened to spur-of-the-moment weekend getaways where you grabbed your overnight bag, a couple of outfits, and a great beach read before hitting the highway? Well, kids happened that’s what. Now, spur-of-the-moment getaways are more like “plan-months-ahead-to-locate-clean-diaper-changing-rest-stops-and-book-a-UHaul-to-lug-around-all-that-baby-stuff getaways.” Anyone else feel exhausted just thinking about it? And, let’s not even talk about planning a trip to Disney World with kids. Parents write entire dissertations
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4 Ways to Use Music to Stop the “Are We There Yet?” traveling dilemma Read More »
At certain times of the year, I find myself reflecting back on what it is that I love so much about teaching music, and specifically, teaching Kindermusik. Little did I know the beautiful journey that would unfold for me professionally or the countless precious memories that I would come to treasure when I taught my first class way back in 1994. So why do
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