St. Patricks Day Music for Children

• Knock, Knock
• Who’s There?
• Irish
• Irish Who?
• IRISH you a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!

Lots of Irish jokes for children, as well as crafts, history, games, printable art, recipies, etc. can be found at http://holidays.kaboose.com/saint-patricks-day/ .  Look around on this website,  www.kaboose.com , it is HUGE and chock full of cool information for moms and fun things for children. 

If you want to check out some fun Irish songs FOR CHILDREN, check out Mama Lisa’s World for both the words and melodies to the following:

Cockles and Mussels  (which is, by the way on the Creatures at the Ocean CD) Me Mother is Gone to Church

Michael Finnigan, (featured, even in book form, in the Imagine That!  Hello Weather semester in the Fall.)

Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ra   (Featured in the Village Dew Drops semester, This was James’ favorite lullaby song)

You might also have some fun with Limericks, reading a few (clean ones), and making up some of your own.  It can be FUN!  Read about them on Mama Lisa’s blog posting:  A Little about Limericks .  Here’s my attempt:

There once was a lady of song,

She sang and played all the day long,

With children, with families,

with Kindermusik-ologies,                         (yes, I make up the word!)

Pure love of music, just can’t go wrong.

Travel by boat – in a book or two

In the Kindermusik Imagine That! Toys I Make, Trips I Take semester, we have FUN exploring boats.  We use a fun song, and our imaginations to build a boat in class.  Then one of their homework assignments is to build a boat – any kind they want, with just a bit of parent support.  Wow, what imaginations we have.  Check out the slide show on my business blog: 

Children, Children, build me a boat

One of the books that comes with the home materials is called “In My Big Blue Boat”, in which a girl imagines what her day would be like if she sailed away in a big blue boat.  Beautiful illustrations, rhyming text, and full of sound words to explore sounds and movements while adventuring through the book.

Another assignment is to read this book and another book that focuses on some sort of adventure in a boat.  The object is to ask general questions that help children compare the boat, the characters, and the adventure.   This type of activity is so wonderful for developing reading comprehension and analytical thinking.

I definitely have a few favorites that I’d like to recommend:

The Sailor Dog 

A Golden book by Margaret Wise Brown, Ill. by Garth Williams

Ms. Brown most definitely shows her talent in this wonderful book of displacement, and finding, again, your place in the world.  There is even a song at the end that can be sung to the Popeye tune.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat  

A Scholastic book, as told and ill. by Iza Trapani.

Another fabulous author takes a classic song, and expands it into a wonderful adventure featuring a family of bears and their pet dog, as they have a wonderful day on the river.  SING every verse, it is so fun!

Theodore Mouse Goes to Sea

A Little Golden Book by Muntean

A shorebound mouse has enough of just watching the sea.  He pulls his bed to the shore and sets sail with his sheet.  He visits exotic places and defends himself against pirate cats, and more.  My daughter loves this book.

The Harbor and the Sea – by Lucille Wood  (1971)

This book is out of print, and I only found ONE copy available on ebay.  But there are a group of children that form a tugboat out of boxes.  They tell us the story of their adventures of the day, including songs and movements that are elicited by their imaginative activities.   When they pretend to pass a lighthouse, they move and sing, ”Round and Round I’m turning sending out my light, Round and Round I’m turning, guiding ships at night.”

Classics for Children – Great set of classical music

Classics for Children

Released by Decca Recording Company

I HIGHLY recommend this 2 CD set for every parent with young children. 

This is a top notch collection of classical music that was specifically written for children.  It includes:

• Peter & the Wolf – Prokofiev; 
• The Carnival of the Animals – Saint-Saens; 
• The Flight of the Bumble Bee – Rimsky-Korsakov; 
• Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra – Benjamin Britten
• The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – Paul Dukas
• The Toy Symphony – Leopold Mozart 
• and many other musical pieces about animals, toys, and other things interesting to children. 

 Please see the FULL LIST OF SELECTIONS on these 2 CDs.  This link also leads you to an online site that is currently selling this set for just $14.95. 

My advice… Just get it!  You will be exposing your children to classical music written specifically for them from composers throughout history. 

And don’t just listen to it;  draw the animal that the music is about; pretend to be the animal, moving the way the music makes you feel, talk about the animal, and why someone would write music about it!  The pamphlet that comes in the CD features just such artwork by children, and they have several great ideas for interactive and creative ideas to do with your children.  Who could ask for more?

Ukelele Magic

In our Kindermusik for the Young Child program, during Semester 4, we study music from the Pacific Islands, including Hawaii.  It has been a great deal of fun, donning leies and playing nonsense on our Ukeleles.  But Ms. Debbie is not the best Ukelele player.  I thought you might like to see a great Ukelele player!

Iz, the Great Hawaiian Ukelele player offers us a new insight into the classic song, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.  The video offers awesome images of Hawaii, as well.

 

If you click twice on the video, you can learn more about Iz and his music in the comment section on the right hand side.  His real name is Israel Kamakawiwo’Ole.

To hear a truly traditional Hawaiian song, and see how much the people of Hawaii love his music, check out the following video.

Enjoy the moment, and maybe dance with your child to the gentle swaying of the music.

A quick look at Amazon.com revealed at least 10 CDs that were recorded by this man.  I wish I had all of them and could tell you which is the best.  But the fact is, HE is one of the best, so I’ll bet every single CD is well worth the asking price.  Put a little swing in your hips, and some lovely soothing music on your stereo, and escape to Hawaii.