Boy, oh boy!  Can’t wait for summer?  Long days full of sunshine, family time doing things on the fly.  Those are the things that make summer priceless!  Kindermusik Adventure Camps will only add more fun to your summer schedule.

For your convenience, we offer two (4) week sessions.  A June session and a July/Early August session.  We also prorate tuition for any week that you may be gone for vacations, etc.  To enroll in a Summer Camp, click on Adventures under the Classes tab to the right.  The use the defining words: Infant, Toddler, Preschooler, School Age or Family Style to find a class that is right for you.  There is also a Sign and Sing class available each session, if interested in that, click on Sign and Sing!

Make sure that you are careful about the start date of the class you enroll in.  As always, feel free to email me at musikandmemories@hotmail.com or call me at 402 770 1486.

SPECIAL OFFER!!!  Enroll by or on Sunday, May 20 and receive $5 off tuition!  I look forward to sharing in a swinging, swaying summer adventure with you!

Big idea For Village: Vestibular System
A hammock gently swaying in a warm ocean breeze or the quiet creaking of a porch swing in the dappled afternoon sunlight can bring thoughts of a little life balance in an increasingly complex world. As a parent of a child under 2, however, the nursery glider moving back and forth at 10:16pm, 2:01am, and 5:34am might be the closest you can get to that beach or front porch. It can work in a pinch though!
All that nursery rocking reinforces balance of a different kind in your child. The rocking, swaying, and movement stimulate your child’s vestibular system, the part of the brain that controls balance. In Kindermusik class, we rock to lullabies, bounce on knees, and even make hammocks out of blankets to help lap babies and crawlers begin to develop their sense of balance and to reinforce balance and stability in young walkers.
Everyday connection: Rock on! Try out some of the rocking moves from class at home. If your child feels nervous about hammocking in class, try it at home where she feels most comfortable. Think of different ways you can hold your child as you rock or bounce together.

Big idea for Our Time: Early Literacy
At Kindermusik, we love the quote by Emilie Buchwald: “children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” Reading picture books together with adults helps children internalize some skills that are crucial in the development of true literacy.
Reading together:
 Fosters reading enjoyment
 Provides predictability through repetition
 Introduces new vocabulary
 Expands understanding of story structures
 Promotes critical t hinking
 Encourages language play and creative expression
Each week in class when we read Shiny Dinah or another favorite story, your child receives all these key early literacy benefits. Plus, children develop music literacy through the rhythm and movement elements of Kindermusik stories.
Everyday connection: Act on it! Read your child’s favorite book together and then pretend to be the characters in the book. Is it Shiny Dinah? Be the train or a passenger. Where are you going today and what will you see and hear along the way?

Big Idea for Imagine That!: Accelerando

Here’s a fun word. Accelerando! Say it again. Only this time, start slow and speed it up (throw your hand up in the air, too).  Accelerando!

It means “getting faster” and in music indicates a change in tempo or speed. This change can take place gradually or in certain parts of the music. Noticing the difference in these tempos hones listening skills as well as music appreciation in your child.  The train is a good illustration of this concept. And throughout the week you and your preschooler can find many different sound samples or physical feeling of accelerando in daily life: the car going faster while pressing the accelerator or a ball rolling down a hill.  This week notice accelerando while listening to your home CD or the radio.

Big Idea for Village: Surrounded by Sounds

Babies seemed to be mesmerized with the sounds of the woodblock and the drum.  As soon as these instruments were played the babies were captivated. Their facial expressions were big questions—something new, a new sound, what is this? Babies are developing their own vocabulary of sounds or timbres.  When a baby experiences a variety of sounds, he develops sensitivity to the similarities and differences of these sounds. Tuning in to the subtle differences between sounds stimulates the brain’s language centers and extends your child’s ability to focus and listen attentively.

We are surrounded by sounds—no matter where we go. But your baby is hearing many of these sounds for the first time.  Enjoy re-discovering even the simplest of sounds with your baby this week—a train at the railroad crossing, a bird on your front step, a drum on the CD, or your barking dog.

These three easy steps will tune your baby’s ears:

• Point out the sound.
• Copy the sound.
• Play with the sound (loud/soft, high/low, fast/slow)

Big Idea for Our Time: We like to Move it!

The children in our room go ha, ha, ha…all through the class.   By moving our bodies, arms, and fingers up and down, listening to music with up and down melodies, and exploring our voices as they glide up and down, we not only hear the words, we can feel what these words mean, both in music and motion.   Doing this, we’re learning in a multi-sensory way. People learn best in so many different ways. Experiencing and experimenting with our senses and how we learn best by using them means your child can discover the way she learns best.

Big Idea for Imagine That!: Sea ya!

I see you went to sea to see what you could see!   As your preschooler’s language skills continue to improve, she begins to see great humor in the different ways words can be used. This is an important step in the growth of your child’s sense of humor, which is based on real life experiences and develops slowly over time.   As your child’s understanding of words evolves, she learns about using words in intelligent, creative, and funny ways.   This week think of ways you and your preschooler can play with words.

Big idea:  Village Multi-Sensory Learning
Think about something that you experienced with your child that you hope to hold in your heart forever. What do you remember? The sound of her laughter, the smell of his head, the sight of her sleeping in those footed pajamas, the warmness of his skin right after a bath, the taste of bananas when she tried to feed you her snack? Whatever the memory, you probably recall it through more than one of your five senses. There is a reason for that!
Experiences that integrate several senses simultaneously are responsible for lasting impressions. Each of our five senses (sight, smell, sound, touch, taste) activates specific neurons in the brain. For your child, multi-sensory activities provide more learning opportunities than single-sensory activities. In Kindermusik, we encourage multi-sensory learning. So, while your child listens to and imitates animal sounds vocally or with an instrument, sees the animals in the story, and moves around like them, he is learning….and making musical memories that he will hold in his heart forever.
Everyday connection: Multi-vitamins for the senses. Turn your child’s favorite book into a multi-sensory literacy experience. Hold her in your lap while you read together. Let her feel the pages. If the book features an animal, include a stuffed animal in your time together. Is it a bedtime book? Bundle her up and say good night to the real moon, not just the one in the story.

Big Idea: Our Time Pretend Play
Did you ever have the Jennifer Anniston, Halle Berry, or “insert name of famous person” haircut? Pink hair anyone? While a haircut doesn’t magically transport you into another person’s life, it can be fun to imitate someone else’s look.
Imitation starts young. For your child, imitation is the first stage of pretend play and begins as an infant when she mimics your facial expressions. As imitation evolves, it becomes more imaginative. A child uses pretend play to re-examine life experiences by adding or changing what actually happened. In Kindermusik, we encourage imitation and imagination by working on the railroad, galloping on horses, or even floating down the river. Along the way, your child develops vocabulary and social skills, learns the difference between reality and fantasy, and even experiences emotional support from you as you pretend along with him. So, “Let’s Go Riding Together!”
Everyday connection: Make it a laundry day! An empty laundry basket can transport you anywhere. Is it a car? A train? A pirate ship? A princess carriage? Hop in and let your child lead the way.

Big Idea: Imagine That! Open a Book!

Open a book and open a new world.  Our new book, If I Had a Big Blue Boat, not only helps us explore the sights and sounds of the sea, it helps our language and thinking skills. By reading together, your child will learn and understand new words. Research proves it.  In telling about things that happen in his own day, your preschooler uses new words and begins to develop the concept of beginning, middle, and end, which is good for expressing himself more clearly. And the adventures in the story lend some ideas for his own creative, imaginative play at home. You might be surprised how far his imagination can take all of you.