Tummies Help Make Smarter Babies !

Congratulations!

Your new baby has arrived in a delightful, fetal positioned, bundle of joy. But very soon that little bundle will "unfold" to begin discovering all the world has to offer! One of the first "meet and greets" babies have in the new world is with a somewhat odd playmate, GRAVITY! And boy, gravity makes little one's heads, arms and legs feel awfully heavy, and hard to move in the beginning. What's a baby to do, you ask? Newborns start by immediately exploring sensory input using their eyes and ears, making them the perfect audience of "dada" and "momma" sung lullabies and songs, music and musical sounds very early on. They also are gifted visionaries taking in all the world has to offer through two big, beautiful and curious eyes. Before you know it babies will "spy" with their little eyes those wonderful hands, fingers, feet and toes!

Eureka!

Through exploration, movement, play, touch, and mommy and daddy's cuddles, babies are becoming more aware of their bodies with their muscles getting stronger by the day. Around 3 months babies can now lie on their bellies for small periods of time using their arms to comfortably support some of their weight. This is when you can make some real MAGIC happen in your child's development! Abracadabra it's time for "Tummy Time"!

"Tummy Time":

This phrase, coined by many doctors and professionals in the developmental field, refers to giving young babies time on their bellies to promote motor and cognitive development. Seems simple right? Nope! For starters, those same trusted professionals are now also telling parents to ONLY put their babies on their backs to sleep to prevent SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Doctors also recommend avoiding tummy lying for numerous babies who are either born premature, or have been diagnosed with colic or reflux. This confuses and scares many new or young parents into thinking "Tummy Time" is somehow "dangerous" or "risky" for their baby's health and well being, leading them to avoid it more often than not. Let me put the myth to rest, "Tummy Time" while the baby is awake and supervised poses NO risk to an otherwise healthy infant! Just the exact opposite! "Tummy Time" is a wonderful opportunity for the child to explore and learn so many foundation blocks for motor and cognitive development.

Busy Baby:

This is where and when: the eyes can first appreciate bringing hands to mouth for sensory exploration and self-soothing; the eyes can learn to focus and converge on items near and far; a toy can first be swiped, retrieved and explored; baby can learn how to use all the extensor muscles on her backside against gravity for the first time; the neck becomes stable readying the baby for upcoming feeding ventures in the highchair; some immature reflexes begin to fade away as the baby experiences gravity; baby learns where her midline is and how to use it which she will need for all future use of balance; and muscles in the shoulder girdle develop preparing the baby for fine motor development at the arm, hands and fingers. WOW ! Who would have thought a tummy could make us SO smart?

Easy Ways to Give Your Baby LOTS of Tummy Time Every Day:

• Place newborn baby on thier tummy, over one of your thighs to burp or massage their backs for a few minutes
• Babies can be positioned on their tummies over a "Boppy" type pillow, small wedge pillow, or even by placing a small rolled up towel under their arms and upper chest while looking at a colorful toy
• Try placing a water filled baby "pat-mat" in front of a tummy lying baby to encourage some tummy time
• Place musical instruments that are easy to activate by light tapping or swiping such as bells or rattles
• Place your baby on their tummy on a brightly contrasting colored play mat
• Lie down and place your baby's tummy on your chest for a few minutes to "chat" and oogle with mommy or take a little rest after nursing/feeding

REMEMBER all it takes is just 1-3 minutes of "Tummy Time" several times a day to help your baby's brain flourish!!!!! Let's hear it for Tummy Time!

Join us as we celebrate "We Love Kindermusik" week.

It was a simple concept, really, this idea for a WE LOVE KINDERMUSIK Week. It was born out of an increasing recognition of just how many of us – educators, children, and families – have been touched by being a part of something that’s more than just a curriculum or a weekly activity. The idea came to life as we reflected on just how much love there is for Kindermusik and how meaningful it would be to set aside a week to come together and purposefully delight in all that Kindermusik is and means to all of us.

With this one annual specially designated week, we will be able to publicly and corporately give voice to that light in a child’s eye, that song in her heart, that little person just waiting to blossom – to acknowledge all those precious, miraculous moments we as Kindermusik educators are privileged to nurture and celebrate with our Kindermusik families each and every week. Simply put, WE LOVE KINDERMUSIK WEEK is a small way we can raise up together to celebrate the wonder and magic that is uniquely Kindermusik.

And so, with much joyful delight and anticipation, Kindermusik International and the Partnership for Kindermusik Educators invite you to join us in celebrating WE LOVE KINDERMUSIK Week during Valentine’s week, the week of February 13 – 18, when Kindermusik educators and families around the world will join together to show – and tell! – how much we all love Kindermusik and what Kindermusik means to each of us.   

As a little background, you might find it interesting to know that WE LOVE KINDERMUSIK Week, to be held annually in February of each year, was designed to:

§  raise awareness and generate good will for the Kindermusik brand

§  unite families and educators around a common cause

§  give educators a way to show families how much we love Kindermusik and how much we love them!

§  encourage families to share why they love Kindermusik

§  highlight ways we can all do some good and spread the joy of Kindermusik

§  remind all of us of the magic that is uniquely Kindermusik.

Keep an eye on the Music for Little Hands Facebook Page and KI’s Facebook page all this week for ways that you can celebrate and share what Kindermusik means to you. Kindermusik International is getting the love started by giving away a free download of “Love Somebody” from the Peekaboo, I Love You! album at play.Kindermusik.com. To download, click the link and then select the orange download button. If you’re new to the site, you may need to register to receive the free song, as all our song downloads do require a login. (Don’t worry, we don’t use your information on anything. This login feature is designed for those enrolled in Kindermusik classes to access their digital materials). Upon login, you should be able to quickly download the song to your computer.

WE LOVE KINDERMUSIK week is truly intended to be a week of happy reminders of why we all love Kindermusik and most importantly, of all the special people – educators, families, and children – who come together every week to change the world through music…. one child and one song at a time.

(Information reprinted from mindsonmusic.kindermusik.com)

The Hands Have It!

How do children at the ripe age of 9 months manage to pick up that first Cheerio between their index finger and thumb? Opposable thumbs or the ability to use our thumbs in conjunction with the other fingers on that same hand is one of the distinct things that makes us more advanced then animals. It is also this quality that enables us to achieve fine motor skills including precision grasp.

Fine Motor development begins when we are able to successfully understand touch. As babies fine motor skills include pointing, poking and pinching. Babies turning into active toddlers and preschoolers further hone this hand use and expand to tripod or three-fingered grasps for crayons and tool use grasps for spoons and scissors. School age children take their fine motor skills to new heights with the creations of pre-writing strokes, number and letter writing.

But the hands cannot do their job well alone!! While the hands and fingers may be the MVP of the fine motor game, they cannot do it in isolation. The rest of the "team" includes the trunk, shoulders, arms, wrists. They are responsible for providing a base of support for the hands and fingers. If any of these components or muscles are weak, then the hands/fingers will struggle or fail. So healthy strong bones and muscles is important.

The question remains in order to best nourish my child's fine motor development, when is the best time to start and what are the best activities to do??

Infants/Babies: Give them toys with different textures to hold and touch, like scarves, "Taggies" and "Whoozits". Provide daily massages and lotion rubs to those important touch services like hands, fingers, feet and toes.

Toddlers: Introduce them to touch and feel books, playing with Play Doh, dancing with scarves, holding and shaking instruments with one or better yet two hands together so they can touch and explore.

Preschoolers: Provide lots of opportunities for water, sand and messy play like painting and Play Doh. Crayons of all sizes for drawing and supervised scissor activities with small child size scissors are good options. Easels are a wonderful addition to woo the hands/fingers. Puzzles with knobs that are small and enlarge invite the fingers to grasp.

School Age: Coloring and drawing evolve into strokes, numbers and letters at this age! Continue messy and tactile play adding new elements like beans, rice, putty and clay. Lacing cards, pegboards, bead stringing, pasting/gluing crafts, and scissor cutting continue to be great options.

By doing these types of activities early on in life you as the parent will open a gateway of opportunities for your child's fine motor skills to develop and flourish!

WANTED: "Sensory Seekers" for Excellent Brain and Body Development !!!

That precious first year of life always seems to zoom by in the blink of an eye. In that second year of life soft "coos" are replaced with words and small movements evolve into walking, running and jumping. At this moment many parents are asking themselves, "what happened to my little baby" as their toddlers demonstrate the full extent of their "energies"!

These "energies" represent sensory motor development at a fever pitch. Children are exploring their environments to the fullest extent and often times with more vigor and intensity then we could imagine or anticipate.

They are getting their hands into everything from the kitchen cabinets to the things hiding in mommy's purse. They want to touch everything on the shelves at the store and dump every bin of things out on to the floor so they can look, touch and manipulate them with tiny hands/fingers.

Their ears and auditory systems are are becoming great, "sound detectives" with a new found appreciation for pitch, volume and music. They enjoy listening to voices especially when being read to, listening to rhymes and singing.

Muscles are getting stronger with climbing on the "rise", anything and everything from mom or dad to the nearest bookshelf. Muscle use begins to mature, allowing for fine motor skills like coloring, placing pegs, pouring, scooping and managing puzzle pieces to develop.

Girls and boys are literally, "throwing" themselves into their play, constantly crashing, jumping and falling into people, the couch cushions, piles of toys, you name it! Many children appear to fly around like butterflies, hummingbirds and bees with endless energy that most parents envy.

Their vestibular system, the sensory apparatus responsible for much of their body awareness and balance, is trying to better decode their surroundings and how they fit within them. Children do this by experiencing and "seeking" all kinds of movement that leaves them spinning, running, hanging upside down, and swinging till their heart is content.

What to do?! What to do?! This is all part of typical toddler development! The best thing you can do to support your child's body and brain at this age and stage is to simply INDULGE IT!
Why only paint with a paintbrush when you can paint with a whole hand, foot or body for that matter? Only one container of Play Doh allowed at a time? Sometimes it's better to have a HUGE clump to squeeze, squish, pull and poke with our hands and fingers, even our feet and toes!

Our ears are naturally curious in regards to sound. Music is "priceless" so play it while you are in the house and car, sing as you clean up, play and brush your teeth, have a parade while you explore various instruments. Now might be a great time to add a small CD player to your playroom so music is readily accessible. Read aloud to your child daily, NO EXCEPTIONS.

Why leave your plastic climbers, stairs and slides OUTSIDE all winter? Hose them off and bring them INSIDE to your playroom to climb and explore. How about adding a tunnel to the mix for added opportunities to go under, over and through.

Crashing and jumping are fun and great exercise too, so long as there is a safe place to do it. So gather the throw pillows, couch cushions, a bean bag chair or two and GO FOR IT! Consider adding a small handled trampoline to your play space for supervised, more intense jumping.

Get moving! Nourish that vestibular system by changing/challenging the position of their head. Dance, swoop, slide, hang upside down and swing to turn on those important receptors for learning.

Remember that all those, "energies" may seem random at first to the untrained eye, but it is actually a sign of neurological development and learning at it's finest.

"Sensory Seekers Welcome!"

All children have their own personalities and may develop slightly differently, but if at any time you feel your child is not on track or developing along side his peers, consult your pediatrician.

Children's Books about Friendship

October is Friendship Month at Music for Little Hands. It is a new school year and new friendships are being developed and old friendships are being fostered in our classrooms between parents and children alike. Some of the children have brought friends to visit and the parents are bringing friends to enjoy the class with them.

Here are two recommended books about friendship for your children ages 4-8.

Big Al and Shrimpy
by Andrew Clements and Yoshi
Published September 2002 by Simon & Schuster
Big Al and Shrimpy become pals when they are asked by the other fish to leave their game of tag. When Big Al is trapped by a rock in the dark deep, Shrimpy rallies the others to help him. This tale of friendship and a small fish with big ideas is beautifully illustrated by Yoshi using a combination of painting and batik on silk with embroidery.
Find at Amazon.com



Hogula, Dread Pig of Night
by Jean Gralley
Published October 1999 by Henry Holt & Company, Inc.
Gralley's first book for readers age 4-8 is a delightful tale of unlikely friendship. Hogula, the vampire pig, lives atop Grimy Pork Chop Hill and can send children to sleep with a snort from his snout; but he's lonely, until he meets Elvis Anne at the mall on Halloween.
Find at Amazon.com

These book recommendations are made by PBS at http://www.pbs.org/teachers/earlychildhood/theme/friendship.html

Nourishing the Senses

For many years we learned about and nourished five basic senses: taste; touch; smell; sight; hearing. The importance of nourishing these senses to promote development and learning in babies and young children through our touch, our play, our social interactions, our voice was evident.

Advancements in the research and philosophies of how children's bodies develop and mature, we are now able to further appreciate two additional "special senses" vestibular and proprioception. These two "special senses" play an amazing role in organizing the childs body in space and teaching them how to move and move well.

Vestibular information originates from even the slightest changes and challenges of head position in space such as; shaking your head from side to side, hanging upside down, jumping up and down or spinning in a circle.

Proprioceptive information originates from every single joint space in your body from your teeth to your toes as your joints move closer together or farther apart such as; pushing, pulling, carrying heavy things, biting and chewing.

So remember play and play often and dont forget the "special senses"!

Rock on!

We always include some sort of rocking activity in every Kindermusik class. (It's not as obvious in the 3-5 year-old and 5-7 year-old classes, but it's in there!) You may have heard us tell you that rocking stimulates the vestibular system, which is responsible for balance. Want an excuse to rock your child to sleep every once in a while? As your child is lulled into sleep their vestibular system is hard at work identifying and sending information about movement to the brain. This practice occurs without any effort on your child's part and will help them as they develop body control and balance. It will be demonstrated as they sit and stand independently as infants; take their first steps,  run and jump as toddlers; hop on one foot, skip and learn to climb a ladder as preschoolers; walk on a balance beam, ride a bike, and swing a bat as older children. And because a healthy vestibular system supports our other five senses, rocking is good for adults as well. So...rock on!