Dancing & Playing Dress-up

All the kids love to dance and play dress up.  We've got a variety of hats, tutus, sunglasses, costumes, purses and accessories.  I always check out the dollar section at Target for anything that we could use.

Kids Love to Make Music

The girls love music!  They love to sing, dance, and make their own music too!  I've made an effort to get a bunch of kid instruments for the daycare.  We've got a keyboard, a guitar, cymbals, bells, a triangle, a tambourine, a rainmaker, a couple of shakers, rhythm sticks, a bodhran drum, a floor tom drum, and a glockenspiel.  And of course I've got more instruments on my wish list like some bongos, an accordion, an electric violin, and more and more and more!

What we did this week...

Here are some of the things we did this week:  played with Play-Doh, gave animals figurines and our dollhouse dolls "baths" in the bathroom sink, had pretend tea and cookies together, played with baby dolls, danced to music, tried out our new tutus, made funny faces in the mirror, made shape pictures with glue sticks and cut-outs (see left), played pretend clothing store, played hide-and-seek, emptied my piggy-bank and then refilled it twice, looked at different pennies, played My Little Ponies, had an indoor picnic lunch, picked and ate up the last of the sugar snap peas, and so much more!

Favorite books we read this week included Baby Dear by Eloise Wilkins (which I must have read nearly 20 times), A Tree Named Steve, and An Earthworm's Life.

We also received our state culture exchange package from California.  The kids were really excited about opening it and tore through it, but then the Sees chocolates distracted them from paying much attention to anything else.  So, I plan on going through it again with them in more detail on Monday.

MORE MUSIC!

Still more additions to our kid music library:

 

• Sing Me To Sleep:  Indie Lullabies
• Yo Gabba Gabba:  Music is Awesome! vol. 1
• Yo Gabba Gabba:  Music is Awesome! vol. 3
• VA:  Mother Goose Songs

This week...

It's been a bit of an adjustment for me going from a school-age child mindset to toddlers.  Art projects, aren't so much projects as they are sensory experiences.  Painting is about what the paint feels like between their fingers and about how various colors blend together.  Play-doh is about how it squishes in their hands.  L is more interested in sorting crayons than coloring with them.

This week was much better than last week.  There was only one bad day, which looking back, was totally because I tried to delay a nap.  I should have known that when someone needs a nap, they need to nap right then - even if it means that they will be woken in the middle of it by people arriving at the door.

These are some of the books we read this week.  Many of these were read multiple times.  There was one day where I was asked to read "Can I Just Take A Nap?" about 10 times before I finally hid the book.  I also read "At The Zoo" and "Ernie's Cheerful Smile" at least 4 times each. "Shark VS. Train" was also read more than once.

I've been letting the kids pick the books, for the most part.  We're still getting to know and be comfortable with each other, but soon I'll start creating weekly lesson plans for them with books to accompany each week's theme.  And of course I'll continue to read the books they choose too.

Growing a Kid Music Library

 


More additions to our Kids Music Library:

• Sesame Street - Platinum All-time Favorites
• Kidapalooza - Vol. 1
• Ziggy Marley - Family Time
• They Might Be Giants - Here Comes the 123's
• They Might Be Giants - Here Comes the ABC's
• They Might Be Giants - Here Comes Science
• Wee Sing - America
• Songs About America - Celebrating America's History
• Baby Einstein - Naptime Melodies

D has informed me that I keep choosing "baby music" and that she doesn't want to listen to "baby stuff", so she has made some CD selections which have included:

• Shake It Up - Live 2 Dance
• The Cheetah Girls - One World
• Glee - The Music, Vol. 1
• Glee - The Music, Vol. 3: Showstoppers

I'm not sure how I feel about Glee.  On one hand I think it's cool that D can sing along with songs like "You Keep Me Hangin' On", "Hello, Goodbye", "One", and others like that.  But when I play the originals for her to hear, it makes me sad that she prefers the Glee versions over The Supremes, The Beatles, U2, etc.

More Music!

 

Adding more music to our kid music library!  Additional selections include:

• Lisa Lobe & Elizabeth Mitchell - Catch The Moon
• Putumayo Kids Presents - Hawaiian Playground
• Putumayo Kids Presents - Caribbean Playground
• Putumayo Kids Presents - Brazilian Playground
• Putumayo Kids Presents - European Playground

Music Selection

I've been gathering up CDs to assemble a children's musical library.  So far, selections include:

• Elizabeth Mitchell - You Are My Little Bird
• Elizabeth Mitchell - Sunny Day
• Classical Kids - Best of Bach
• Classical Kids - Best of Vivaldi
• Classical Kids - Best of Handel
• Classical Kids - Best of Mozart
• Classical Kids - Best of Tchaikovsky
• Putumayo Kids Presents - French Playground
• Putumayo Kids Presents - Jazz Playground
• Putumayo Kids Presents - Acoustic Dreamland
• Putumayo Kids Presents - African Playground
• Best of the Land of Nod Store Music - volume 1
• Best of the Land of Nod Store Music - volume 2