Music and Fingerplays

More with dinosaurs in preschool

We needed a quick song to sing with the children today so my colleague and I begin brainstorming dinosaur words that we could use to go with music we were already familiar with… We had a few songs we had found in books but they were too long or complicated for us to actually remember [...]

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Give the gift of music and language learning to your preschoolers

No Time Like the Present: How and Why to Give the Gift of Language Learning to Your Child(ren) Written by my special guest Carolina Gomez. Learning a language is enriching at any age, but it is more challenging when we are adults. Children are the ones who benefit the most simply because there is a special window [...]

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All about me: I am special in preschool

Play this fun little hand mirror game with your preschoolers and sing “I am Special!”

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Back in the recording studio for new children’s CD!

I have been super busy preparing to record my new children’s CD. I have learned a great deal since recording my first CD: Simple songs for Preschool and am loving the experience of going back into the studio for another go! I will keep you posted as things progress but these next couple of CD’s [...]

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Peas in a pod your preschooler can make

Living in farm country, we learn lots about vegetables that grow in the garden. Where possible, I try to bring in vegetables from the garden like snap peas so the children can explore and snap away. At school, I came across this entry for our State Fair Vegetable Craft contest…. To make a pea pod [...]

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Graphing and painting with oranges

When painting with objects, I always print the word of the object on the paper so the children can see that word as they participate in the activity. In this case the word is Orange. We cut an orange in half and used one of the halves for creating orange prints on our paper. For [...]

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Ribbon painting in preschool

One of the things I love most is to build an entire day around music or even build an entire day around one single preschool song. When I write songs, I am always visualizing the many amazing things that can be done with that song. Today I added the Ribbon Song to my fingerplay blog [...]

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Presenting simple songs and fingerplays to young children

I wrote this article for Teaching Tiny Tots a few months ago on teaching simple songs to preschoolers.  In this article, I talk about using the S-I-M-P-L-E method when introducing simple songs and fingerplays to young children. Singing and Chanting the Itsy Bitsy Spider! This article is being shared with you by Deborah Stewart of [...]

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The seed begins in the garden

A fun song for growing seeds… The seed growsAs your child sings this song, have the child bend low to the ground and as the seed grows, have the child stretch up to grow too! The Seed Begins in the Garden The seed begins in the garden Tiny and small But then it grows, and [...]

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Sing it again in preschool

A couple of days after presenting the ‘Simple Songs for Preschoolers’ workshop, I took the opportunity to visit one of the schools. The teachers didn’t know I was coming, I just dropped in. What a thrill it was to come into this class and find them trying out some of the new songs they had [...]

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Simple songs for preschoolers

Last week I had the opportunity to present the music I have written with two groups of teachers. These two meetings were a good practice run for helping me to prepare for presenting the music at the Indiana State IAEYC conference in April. I came to the school early to make sure things were all set [...]

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Musical instruments in the preschool classroom

There are a variety of ways you can use musical instruments in the classroom. Create a music center and try adding… Baskets of musical instruments A CD Player A pretend microphone A mirror A little platform for a stage (square) Posters and books about music, composers, notes, and nursery rhymes. Staple together little books of [...]

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Extending music in the preschool classroom

Music and fingerplays are a wonderful tool for teaching in the preschool classroom. Do you have a favorite song or fingerplay that you sing or say often with your preschool students?   Print the words Choose a favorite song or fingerplay that your students know well and print the words out on a large sheet of chart [...]

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Music Takes Commitment

I visited a two-year-old classroom on several occasions and observed that this was not a happy classroom. This was not a fun classroom. It was time to get these children singing and laughing. I sat with the children on the floor and in a bright happy voice and introduced them to a cute little Hello Song [...]

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Music is like Magic

In early childhood work, music takes on a magical quality. Music can magically change the experience and atmosphere of your classroom. If you are thinking, “I can’t sing and I don’t know any songs so music just isn’t for me.” Let me encourage you to think again. It isn’t how many songs you currently know [...]

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Fingerplays Take Practice

In order to be effective in the use of fingerplays, the teacher must first select a fingerplay that relates to current learning and then practice, practice, and practice. The more familiar and skilled the teacher is in reciting and acting out the fingerplay, the more effective the teacher will be in using and/or presenting the [...]

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