It’s early November and the season is definitely changing, at least it is where I live in northern Vermont. It’s a good time to sing with children about how animals get ready for winter, using songs such as my “Nuts for the Winter,” which features my little stuffed squirrel, Chipper….
Rain sticks are a fun instrument for creating the sounds of rain and flowing water. Most of the rain sticks I own were made in different countries of South America. One internet source says their origin is with the Mapuche people of the southern part of the continent, who used…
What better way to celebrate spring than with singing? Well, frolicking in the great outdoors, of course, but singing is great fun, too! I wrote my “Song of Spring” with four-year-old children at a Boston area school. We talked about things we like to do in the spring and used…
It was a bit too cold on Thanksgiving this year in New England, a reminder that real winter is just around the corner. You can find some of my favorite winter songs and stories on this blog. Leo Lionni’s classic story of Frederick the mouse is always great. You can…
This is an October song that I enjoy every fall with young children. The tune is at this link. October, October, leaves orange, green, red, yellow, brown. October, the wind blows. Leaves falling down, down to the ground, leaves fall down to the ground. With its ¾ meter, this is…
This September, I’m learning new things about monarch butterflies and singing my butterfly song. I’d always thought spring was the time to sing about butterflies, but actually, butterflies such as monarchs are very much a part of life and nature in the fall, too. Thanks to one of the teachers…
Here’s a series of fall arts activities that include movement, music, art and poetry. These activities are perfect for arts integration into curriculum, offering children a chance to reflect on fall colors and the change of seasons, as well as botany and earth science related to seasonal change. These lessons…
I recently watched a video about arts integration at the Two Rivers Charter School in Washington, D.C. Second graders created giant Jackson Pollock-style paintings while learning about the physics of flight; fourth graders learned about their local rivers by enacting the history of a river through poetry, movement and drama….
What follows is my full handout from my workshop on STEAM learning at the New England Regional Conference of The Children’s Music Network on May 2, 2015. A Full Head of STEAM! STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) + Arts = STEAM! 1) Why is it such a great idea to…
Below are two fun finger plays for spring days. Teachers can pair these with themes relating to gardens and growing plants, trees and flowers, reminding children that bees and worms play an important role in the life cycle of plants. Here is the Beehive (traditional) Here is the…
