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Stuffed and Cuddly – Lesson 1

Image via Wikipedia

Lesson 1: Stuffed and Cuddly

MATERIALS:

Just a reminder: for music and words to many of the songs I suggest that you sign up for a free account at www.KIDiddles.com Here you can view and or print words and or music for many of the songs we will be using. There are also audio files here where you can listen to the song.

Stuffed and Cuddly

SONGS:

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear

Fuzzy Wuzzy

Little Bunny Foo Foo

Parent Tip: Be down on your child‘s level when you are teaching new songs. Be down so you can look right into their eyes. When watching the videos together, hold your child on your lap and sing with or to them.

Start by introducing these three songs. Pick one that your child is most likely to be familiar with to sing first.

Teddy Bear: This is an all time classic!! You just follow the actions as outlined in the song. There are several different verses out there, so if yours are different that is OKAY. For younger children, go slowly through the song. The point isn’t to finish quickly, it is to help them find their nose, or their toes, or the ground, or whatever you are singing about. Remember, even if these verses aren’t new to you, they may take a little for your child to learn.

VIDEO INSERT

Fuzzy Wuzzy: Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear! Does your teddy bear have hair?? Mostly this is just fun to sing silly words.

VIDEO INSERT

Little Bunny Foo Foo: If you are not already familiar with this song, be sure to watch the video first. This is a repeat over and over song with a magical fairy. What stuffed animal is going to be the good fairy? Who is naughty little bunny foo foo. Help your child help their animals act everything out.

VIDEO INSERT

Now get out your favorite stuffed animals. Would they like to learn these songs? I’ll bet they would. Can you teach them the new songs you learned this week? Maybe they would also like to sing the songs you did last month? Pull out your box of songs that you have learned and “teach” them to your stuffed animals. Maybe you have a favorite stuffed animal, or maybe you can set them all up in a “classroom” with you as the teacher!

Just for fun: Check out these sites.

Do you like online animal  games: http://www.aspca.org/aspcakids/games/

or http://www.girlsgogames.com/game/Animal-Piano.html

Insects: Lesson 4

INSECTS

Review songs:

Baby Bumblebee

Eency Weency Spider

The Ants go Marching

Whoops Johnny!

The Beehive (optional)

Parent Tip: Children love watching videos of themselves!

FOCUS ON PERFORMANCE: Time to do a mini-concert. Get out the video camera.

Lets finish up our insect unit. Go through all of the songs we have done. Pull out your flash cards and let your child pull out each card and sing it. Be sure to do favorite activities. Be sure to put away your flash cards once your child has finished with them.

Take some time to also review any favorite YouTube videos. You may search for each song.

MUSIC APPRECIATION:

Now spend some time watching and listening to music that reminds us of insects. Some music may be fast and crazy like bumblebees. Some may be spooky like spiders. Here are some examples of classical music.

VIDEO:

Now get out the video and let your child be the star. Play up your child’s personality. Does he/she want to dress up or video as they are? Do they want to help with the camera, or will you need to be sneaky about videoing them? Most children will simply love to see themselves on screen. Who does your child want to share this video with? G-ma and G-pa? Friends from pre-school? Other adults or teachers? Help your child share his/her excitement.

Paid subscriptions be sure to also share this with your teacher.

Insects: Lesson 3 Activity

Review songs:

• Baby Bumblebee
• Eency Weency Spider
• The Ants go Marching
• Whoops Johnny!

Parent Tip: Start out music time with something they really enjoy to get their attention. End music time with the same song or activity so they feel like things are “complete.” This can be a sticker or a favorite song – or even their turn picking a favorite song to end things up.

Flash Card Activity:

FlashcardsInsects

Attached are some flash cards you can make with your child. Print the page then cut out the cards. Have your child color the pictures. When all the cards are ready put them in a big pile and let your child pick a card to sing. Continue until all the cards have been selected. Some of the cards will be activities – instructions are on back.

The container: We will be making flash cards every month with new songs and ideas we have learned. Make a fun “music box” from a shoebox or other fun box you have. You may even choose a drawstring bag. Whatever you choose make sure that there is a picture of music on the front so your child immediately knows what it is for. Eventually you will have quite a collection of songs and your child can go get this special “music box” any time. Reviewing the activities and songs over and over should become a special time. This box needs a special “home” and should only be taken out during music time so songs don’t get lost.

Additional suggestions: Laminating your flash cards will help them last longer. You may even choose to mount them (or print them) on different colored card stock each month to visually help separate the different themes.

Creative Fingers Activity:

This activity works best on a piano or keyboard: (If you do not have use of a keyboard use your arms) 
1. Pick an insect. It may be an insect from one of the songs we have learned, or a different one. How does that insect move? Is it fast? Is it slow? Does it take big steps? Does it hop? Does it take tiny baby steps?
2. Go to the piano. Move your fingers around the piano like it was your bug. Maybe you are a daddy long legs and you walk all over, up and down. Maybe you are a centipede and you slowly creep up all the black and white keys. If you are a cricket maybe you jump all over the place.

Variations for creative bug songs: How many different bug “songs” can you create? Can you create a fast bug, a slow bug, a very quiet bug, and even a loud bug song? Make sure that their turn on the piano sounds like they do. Make bug songs with your right hand only, your left hand only, and both hands. If you have an electronic keyboard what happens if you change the sounds? Can you find a sound that reminds you of your favorite bug? Older children may want to sing about their bugs and create lyrics as they “crawl” all over the keyboard.

Homework:

1. Make sure your cards and box get made.
2. Video your favorite bug song to share with your teacher next week.

Lesson 2 – Insect Songs, Apply

INSECTS – APPLY

Review songs:

Baby Bumblebee

Eency Weency Spider

The Ants go Marching

New Songs:

Whoops Johnny!

The Beehive (optional)

Parent Tip: Children love repetition. Watch last weeks videos again!

FOCUS ON FINGERS: Developing fine motor skill awareness helps build aptitude for finger agility later on.

Whoops Johnny: Sit down with your child on you lap and introduce this new finger game. Take your child’s hand and starting on the pinkie say “Johnny”, tapping each finger. When you get to the pointer finger “slide” down the L of your hand and hit the thumb with an enthusiastic “Johnny.”

Variations: Once you get the hang of the finger movements, try your child’s name, your name, friends names, even bug names!! Do these variations throughout the week as attention span allows.

Click here for demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/v/ifgWEi9lWrc&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0

If you would like to learn another new song, here is a great Beehive finger play that you can do along with your review of the Baby Bumblebee song. Words and actions are included in the video.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Yq7wpqPsJIs&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0

http://www.youtube.com/v/5QP7KAYNuCA&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0

Review songs from last week, but try out these new variations:

Baby Bumblebee: Sing your favorite variation from last week, and now make up some verses of your own. Here are some suggestions: Instead of squishing it maybe you decide to keep it for a pet. How would you do that? How does your mommy react? Who could you show other than Mommy? What other bugs can you catch? Do you squish them too – or do something else?

Eency Weency Spider: Do you have a toy spider you can sing this with? Can you make one out of pipe cleaners to crawl around with?

The Ants Go Marching: Gather some stuffed animals, or make popcycle stick puppets of ants with the handouts provided. Collect 1, then 2, then 3 etc. as you sing the song. ants

Activity:

Coloring pages: Attached are some insect coloring pages to do. Sing and color together as time allows.    colorinsects

Lesson 1 – Insect Songs

Image via Wikipedia

INSECTS – new music

SONGS:

Baby Bumblebee

Eency Weency Spider

The Ants go Marching

Parent Tip: When learning new material, let your child set the pace. If he/she wants to repeat one part of the lesson twenty times, go ahead. When your child shows signs of being bored, either move on to the next part of the lesson or stop for the day and come back later. We want music time to be a positive experience.

Start by introducing these three songs. Pick the one that your child is most likely to be familiar with to sing first.

Baby Bumblebee: This is an all time classic!! It combines finger movement with a simple melody and a little humor. Introduce this song to your child by singing it to him/her. (If you are not familiar with it, start with a YouTube viewing.) Your child should be able to pick up both the melody and the hand movements right away. WARNING: Some of the videos you will be watching are rather silly, so be prepared to laugh. This song also has many different variations and endings. That is fine. Explain that everyone is different, and sometimes our music is different too. What ending do you and your child like best?

Find your own You Tube videos or try these out:

You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/v/Iep5ct8k_hY&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0

You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/v/biYW4XBcN34&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0

You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/v/eMcTMTzSQiE&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0

Eency Weency Spider: This song also develops finger coordination. There are many variations of finger movements for this song. The most common uses a finger-thumb coordination that is difficult for most toddlers. You may want to start with a simplified palm rotation or crawling up your arms or other variations seen in the videos. In addition to singing along with these videos, consider scheduling a trip to the library. There are some good “spider” books that you can check out – about spiders in general or with the actual words and additional verses to the song. This would be a fun bedtime ritual for the month. TIP: Spiders can tickle as they “crawl” on us. Laughter is a great learning tool!

Find your own You Tube videos or try these out:

You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/v/6759HTPIa-o&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0

You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/v/iymLcTd-vSk&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0

http://www.youtube.com/v/mEsMIZ2C8Z8&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0

http://www.youtube.com/v/AQZNBkdxCMY&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0

The Ants Go Marching: This is a gross motor song that can be a big hit. Get up with your child and march, march, march. If you have rhythm instruments, even a home made drum, marching in a parade is a great place to use them. Does your child like counting? This is a numbers song. We will do more counting activities in later lessons, but go ahead and point out the numbers when you sing. Keep the number of verses appropriate to your child’s attention span. Note: This also has some different versions. Pick a favorite.

Find your own You Tube videos or try these out:

You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/v/yAfVUvzFNm0&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0

You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/v/1b3prAmX9WU&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0

You Tube

Diddoodles

Just For Fun: Check out these bug sites.

Bug book list: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=7907

Bug games: http://www.pestworldforkids.org/games.html

Just gross! http://www.ent.iastate.edu/misc/insectsasfood.html

Have a bug party: http://www.kids-birthday-party-guide.com/bug-birthday-party.html