Topic Tuesday - Letter Recognition

Letter Recognition

As soon as Children start to mumble a few phonics, we bombard them with Letters and Numbers and Colours! Sometimes we don't even know how overwhelmed they get - And when this happens they shut us out! So, instead of taking in the endless and amazing information we are throwing at them, they lose interest!
To keep the focused and make it more enjoyable, We work on different games that will help them learn all the things we want them to learn, but in a fun and interesting way!

1) Chalk!
Chalk might be the greatest gift! Go outside (Outside! Yay!) And Draw! Start off by just exploring with shapes and letters and pictures! This could go on for hours!
One of my favourite things to do is to Write out her name (or whichever word you are working on)

We then play a game of Tag-the-letter ... Run to I ... Skip to S ... Bounce to B ...

Now to make it more complicated I get her to run to letters following each other! She loves this - She calls it Isa's Hopscotch!

You can also do it with Upper and Lower Case Letters! Write them out, space them desperately and ask her to help find! As soon as you invent a game, and throw in words like explore or find, they love it! 

You can use this method for Number, Shapes and Colours too! 

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Music and Movement Monday

Potty in the USA

While watching the movie Pitch Perfect, little Miss Boo got stuck on the song 'Party in the USA'. She was just about to turn the wonderful age of 3, and we were , as many of you are now, trying to Potty Train her.

A mission in itself we try to make it as entertaining, fun and enjoyable as possible!

Miss Boo and I then created this song : (used every time we go Potty!)

So, I put my hands up

and playing my song

Poopy goes away!

Nodding my head like yeah,

wiping my bum like yeah.

So, I put my hands,

I know I'm gonna be okay

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah,

It's a Potty in the USA!

She loves singing the song, and automatically relates to it when we Potty! Her word-association skills are improving every day! 

Music and Movement Monday

Music and Movement Lesson Benefits

In Music and Movement, we use our bodies and musical instruments to explore rhythm and music! We use props and costumes to dance and create beautiful movement pieces! These classes are perfect for Grown-Up and me, even if the child can't sit-up by itself - feeling the movement and rhythm from their adult-caregiver can be very educational!

In every Music and Movement class :
  Stimulates the Imagination Is creative and engaging Is Challenging and Fun Use Musical Instruments to express and create Use our bodies and props to dance and explore We learn by singing, playing and sharing

The Wonderful Benefits of Music and Movement:Provides a means of communicationServes as an Emotional releaseDevelops and Promotes Creative ThinkingAssists in the development of physical coordination and body awarenessEnhances the Ability to differentiate SoundsHelps develop Fine Motor skillsStimulates the Part of the Brain that learns.

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Barnyard Music and Movement Party

For our Very First Music and Movement Birthday, we got a Barnyard Theme Birthday for a 4-year Old Boy!This is what we presented on the day:

Farmer Nathali has sent you a very special message that involves your very special birthday.

Here is what we have in store for you!

1) We will firstly hand out Name Tags for all your Students (Names and ages to please be provided 2 days before the Party)

2) Then Comes the 'Hello, Everybody! ' Welcome Song!

3) After the Welcome Song we do a little Physical Warm-up Poem Called the Barnyard Dance.

It is super special, Farmer Nathali will teach it to you while we are doing all the actions! How quickly can we do it??

The Barnyard Dance for Devan

The Barnyard dance is about to begin.

So hitch up your pants and jump right in.

Pick the Apples! Husk the Corn!

Crow with the rooster in the early Morn!

Bow to your partner! Wave Hello!

Clap your hands and tap your toe!

Feed the Chickens! Milk the cow!

Hoe the weeds and push the plow!

The Barnyard dance has come to an end,

So kick up your heels and start again!

4)We then go on a Journey with our Magical Tractor! (Each Child gets a Hula Hoop, that will be used as a prop for the rest of the activities!)

We start off with our Imaginary Tractor Steering Wheel! And we will make stops at every animal on the Farm! First is Mother Duck!

5) Here we will Make and Decorate Duck Masks! (Paper Plates, Feathers, Wooden Sticks, and Boogly Eyes -Included in Price)

After we are done with our Masks we will play a special 'Follow the leader' Game called: 'Follow Mother Duck'

6)It's time to pick up our Tractor Steering Wheels again and move on over to the Horses and Donkeys! 

Here we will play a 'Musical Chairs' Game with Donkey and Horse Pictures! On the floor there will be 9 Horses and 1 Donkey Picture! Every time the Music Stops the person who is on the Donkey Picture is out! We only Take out Horse Pictures as the contestants get fewer!

7)Our Last Animal Visit is for Mrs Hen! She has lay-ed so many eggs that she said we can play with them! The Hula Hoops will be put into 3 different targets! Lets see how many eggs we can get into our Target Areas! (Not real Eggs!)

8) All the Tractor Steering Wheels go Back into the Bag, Now its time to enjoy some Music and Play with the Drama Doodle Parachute!

9) For winding down time we all sit around our Hula Hoops,playing with Musical instruments! Every now and then we will swop our instruments with the person next to us! All we want to do is make a lot of noise!

We will then hand out special party-packs for all the participants! Please let us know about any sort of Food-allergy! 

This lesson could be around an hour to an hour and a half!

Drumming to your own Beat

Last Thursday I attended a Free Drumming Workshop in Newport,RI. Library!

I am a super early-riser, very organized and tend to show up at events about 15minutes before its starting time! Even though I'm early I'm never one of those impatient, tapping-my-feet, annoyingly chewing gum with an open mouth, sorts of person. However ...

I don't know if it was the 32degree Temperature outside, or the fact that I knew I could be on the beach right now sipping cocktails that got to me, OR (This is most likely It!) The 35 minute wait period for the Teacher of the drumming workshop! We were all cramped into a small area in the always-quiet library! All the old-Presidents and Poets staring down at us, as moms try to entertain their children and make nice with their neighbours! Finally ....

They arrive! With One Large Drum and heaps of Loew's Buckets. (for all those not in America - Loew's is a Hardware Shop - Love them!) We go through all the introductory yah-yah and eventually start DRUMMING! Finally! Even without my much-needed caffeine fix in the morning, I enjoyed beating my own - Bucket! .... 

Here is what he basically did:

-He explained the different tempos, rhythms and volumes used in music! And how we can use our body and the elements to make music:

 * Clapping (Softly Clapping vs. Banging Clapping)

 *Snapping Fingers ( I can't do that)

 *Stomping Feet (The poor librarian)

 *Jumping Up and Down

 *Clapping Hands onto Lap

Then he started with a Rhythm Clap: Basically, clap hands together while swishing palms and rubbing them! You know that movement when you are holding a stick between your hands and you are trying to light a fire - rub,rub,rub! Yes! That move, but bigger so that it makes a sliding-clap sound!

The lesson went on, and on, and it was just like jamming with a rock-solid drum band! Some of his examples were really awesome, so I'm going to include and try t explain them!

- Clap Around the World: Very Simple, Clap Hands while forming a circle with arms!

-Rock Back and Forth:Arms over head for back, bringing forward with a clap! 

-As Quick as a Rabbit : Tapping Index Finger on Drum in rapid Motion

-As Quiet as a Mouse: Obviously as quiet as possible!

-As Loud as Elephants: Drum as Hard as possible

He then gave them a few sentences and had them clap-out the syllables! Much like learning Shakespeare's Iambic Pentameter and clapping out the syllables! (I'm using '/' to show syllables)

1) /Tick/-/Tock  /goes/  the  /clock/

2)/Rock/ing/  all/  /night/  long/

3) /Boun/cing/ /on/  /knees/  /at/  /the/  /beach/

4) /Plea/se/  /pass/  the/ peas/

5) /But/  /I/  /want/  /pizza/

The Class had an abrupt ending, but I suppose having a library full of kids and already running late had the 'lesson-plan' off schedule ... Sure! 

A Little Girl Named Boo

Drama Doodle and Dee

I am currently in the Process of Marketing and Advertising my New Company! At a tender 21 years of age, I came up with the idea of starting my own Drama-Academy! With a Speech and Drama background, it seemed fitting to take this route! However, 4 days after I Graduated from a Private College in Observatory, Cape Town, I took a big jet plane to New York City! 

I was an Au Pair to one of the best families I have ever met, and now lucky enough to be a part of! I cared for, played along with and tried to inspire a beautiful little girl named Boo! She was a mere 18 months old when I arrived, and will be 3 and a half when I leave to go back home to South Africa!

She is the main reason behind Drama Doodle. I noticed this growth and exponential development when I introduced Yoga and my easy Speech Exercises to her! Within a few days of doing the tongue-rolls, drills and warm-ups, she started to repeat words and sounds! It was magnificent to watch!

I then decided to do a few courses on Yoga in the Preschool - I was already a Yoga Practitioner, and thought this would even be for personal gain!

Thus, Drama Doodle was born! It is now a Traveling School Set to Open in Johannesburg, South Africa in October 2013! We specialize in classes for Babies, Toddlers and Children Younger than 5 years old!

Our Subjects are: Yoga, Speech and Drama, Music and Movement!
For more Information : www.dramadoodle.com 

Drama Doodle