July 26: A Lollipops Concert -- The Little Engine That Could

Koen, Tysen, Brielle, and I ventured out to Sunshine Community Church on this Tuesday morning to take in the Grand Rapids Symphony's The Little Engine That Could Lollipops Concert.  The Lollipops Concerts are held twice a year and are 45-minute performances geared for younger children.  I hadn't been to any before, but Koen had gone to a performance of Peter and the Wolf earlier this year on a school field trip.  It was both educational and fun, a mixture of music and story, interactive and entertaining.  The conductor introduced each section (easily identifiable with their different color shirts), and each character was introduced with music matching his/her character.  The boys really enjoyed watching each character enter, especially the trains, and I thought it was a great way to introduce them to the symphony and some classical music.  It was a fun morning out for each of us.

May 27: Rainstick



We usually use cardboard tubes as trumpets...



I think rainsticks are intriguing!  When I was teaching I had one I used to quite the class...I'm not sure what happened to that one, but I was excited to make one for this week's project!  I'd found this idea HERE at The Imagination Tree.  I wasn't sure we'd be able to make it, though, because you needed a thick cardboard tube, and we only ever have thinner ones from paper towel and toilet paper rolls.  And then my saran wrap ran out and in the center was a heavy-duty card board tube - perfect! 

Lovin' the hammer!



Tysen was SUPER excited to use Daddy's hammer for the project today, and he did really well with it, too!  I'd start the nail until it was secure and then let him pound it in.  I placed the nails at different levels and different angles so the rice, etc. falling through the tube would hit many of them to make the rain sound last longer.  We probably could have used more nails for this. 



Filling it with rice.



We used book tape to secure the bottom of the tube, and then I had Ty put some rice in the top.  His face lit up with a smile when he heard the rice trickle through the nails!  He quickly added more and more, giggling each time it "rained".  I also had him add dried pinto beans for a slightly different sound.  After adding those he asked, "What else can we put in here?  How about nuts?"  I wasn't sure I wanted nuts in there, so we found some macaroni noodles instead.  We sealed the top with more book tape and tried out the new rainstick.  Fabulous! 

 

So proud!

I asked Ty if he wanted to decorate his new rainstick with paint, paper, markers, or stickers, but he wasn't really interested in any of that.  He was waiting for his friend Ian to come over to play and that's just about all he could think about now that he couldn't use Daddy's hammer anymore.  I decided to wrap the tube in wood-looking contact paper just to protect little fingers from the nail heads...don't need any of those coming out!  Tysen was thrilled with the result!

March 31: A Teddy Bear Picnic

Both Clifford and Ty shake the maracas during class.

Shake that pom-pom!





Chewing her fingers was more fun than using
the measuring cup as an instrument.

Thanks to the info on grkids.com, we had a lovely time at our FREE Teddy Bear Picnic at Music Moves for our special event this week.  Children were invited to bring their favorite teddy bear or special pal (the boys took puppies and Brielle had a doll) for an hour of music and rhythm and then finishing the session with a picnic together.  Music Moves provided juice boxes and Teddy Grahams for a snack, but the website had suggested to pack a picnic lunch, so that's what we did.  We were, however, the only ones to do so, so we stayed after the class much longer than anyone else (that was Koen's favorite part of the morning). 

The class itself was well-planned out with fabulous musical and rhythmic activities for the kids led by Teacher Barbara.  We got to play with kitchen utensils as percussion instruments, shake pom-poms, march and dance around the room, and even play with the large parachute (that was Ty's favorite moment of the class).  The boys didn't participate in every activity, but Teacher Barbara had said in the beginning not to force kids to do anything.  I was impressed, though, with how often they did join in!  We received a sample CD with 6 songs to take home and Koen and Ty have listened to it at bedtime every night since! 



Yummy Teddy Grahams!





Koen loves picnics!



Since we attended the Teddy Bear Picnic, both boys have asked multiple times to go back.  This was a one-time deal, though, so unless we sign up for their classes, we won't be able to return anytime soon.  I think it'd be great to join a class or start the kids' piano lessons there sometime, but it may not be in the near future.     



Picnic time!