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Triangles: Learning Activities for Shapes

March 29, 2013 by Mama Carmody 9 Comments

Triangles: Learning Activities for Shapes

It’s time for some fun learning activities with triangles. What type of triangles do you see around you? Maybe mom or dad cut your toast into triangles this morning. Do you have any toys that are triangle shaped? Take a walk down the street and count how many triangles you see. Do some of the roofs on the houses form a triangle shape? Have lots of fun with triangles today. Please stop by my facebook page, Love to Laugh and Learn, and share pictures of the triangle you see and create.

Content:

Toys
Craft:
Triangle Fish Craft
Snacks
Story Time
Related Posts

Toys

Trying to think of triangle shaped toys is a little hard. Maybe you can help me out. What type of triangle shaped toys do you have around your house? Please leave a comment and help me out.

You may have a shape sorter with a triangle shape in it. I would recommend the Discovery Toys: Playful Patterns (just use the triangle shapes today). There is a game called Tri*ominos that uses triangle shaped pieces. The “home bases” on Chinese checkers are triangle shaped. If you are into music you can play with a musical triangle today. I look forward to any suggestions you have.

Craft

Create a cute fish while learning about triangles.

Triangle Fish Craft
Adapted from DLTK Crafts for Kids

Materials Needed:

Materials for Triangle Fish Craft

Triangle Fish Template
Colored paper, crayons, markers or paints
Scissors
Glue Stick
White Glue
Wiggly Eyes

Instructions:

1. Print Triangle Fish Template
2. You can either use the template as a pattern to cut the triangles out of colored paper or have your child color or paint the pieces and then cut them out.
3. Use glue stick to glue the middle size triangle to the back of the large triangle for the tail.
4. Use glue stick to glue the small triangle to the big triangle as the fin.
5. Use white glue to glue on a wiggly eye (I love wiggly eyes) or draw an eye.
6. Draw a mouth.

Now you have a beautiful triangle fish!

Triangle Fish Craft

Foods for snack or meal time

A sandwich cut from corner to corner, some tortilla chips are triangle shaped, cut watermelon into triangle shapes, cut cheese in triangle shapes, Triscuit Thin Crisps

Story Time

I See Triangles (All about Shapes) by D. H. Dilkes
Reading Level: Birth – 4 yrs old
D. H. Dilkes has a great series of little books that discuss different shapes. In this book you will learn about triangles. I like the fact that the illustrations are photographs of everyday items. The text is simple which is great for a young child that is just being introduced to shapes.

Triangles (Shapes) by Marybeth Lorbiecki
Reading Level: Birth – 4yrs old
A cute introduction to triangles. The rhyming storyline leads you through bright illustrations of a kitten and puppy as they explore triangles. They encourage your child to search out, count and have fun with triangles.

Triangles (The Shape of the World) by Dana Meachen Rau
Reading Level: Birth – 4 yrs old
Dana Meachen Rau has a great series of little books about shapes. In this book you will see several different triangles. You might find some right in your own house. The simple text and bright pictures will give you and your child a lot to talk about. This is a great little book for introducing triangles to your child.

What Is a Triangle? (Harper Growing Tree) by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
Reading Level: Birth – 4 yrs old
You will find many different triangle shapes throughout this book. It is an easy read for young children with a lot of bright pictures. A few of the items are actually cones rather than triangles but I guess if you are just introducing your child to triangles that won’t really matter a lot. It’s written in rhyme, which I always love. The funniest part to me was that is says a triangle (the musical instrument) is a triangle.

Related Posts

Shapes – Overview
The Lessons – Overview
Circles: Learning Activities for Shapes
Ovals: Learning Activities for Shapes
Squares: Learning Activities for Shapes
Rectangles: Learning Activities for Shapes
Diamonds: Learning Activities for Shapes
Stars: Learning Activities for Shapes
Hearts: Learning Activities for Shapes
Learning Should Be Fun
Colors – Overview

Circles: Learning Activities for Shapes with Free Printable

September 10, 2012 by Mama Carmody 14 Comments

Circles: Learning Activities for Shapes
with free printables

Are you ready to have fun with shapes? We are going to start out by having fun with learning activities for circles. There are so many circles all around you. The buttons on your shirt or coat may be circles. The wheels on the car or your bike are circles. What other circles do you see? Maybe you are eating something for dinner or a snack that is a circle shape. Have fun with theses activities and stories that are about circles.

Content:

Toys
Craft:
Circle Pizza
Snacks
Story Time
Music
Related Posts

Toys

What type of circle shaped toys can you find to play with today? Do you have some balls, a hula hoop, a slinky or a game of ring toss? You could play with marbles or a yo-yo (if your child is a little older). Look for circles on some of your other toys, like the wheels on your cars and trucks. A toy that I liked using with my children and with my preschool classes was Playful Patterns by Discovery Toys. When learning about circles I would just use the circles and the pictures that used circles for the children to play with. It is also a good toy for learning colors and sorting activities.

Craft

Circle Pizza Craft

Circle Pizza Craft

Materials Needed:

Materials Needed for Circle Pizza Craft

Circle Pizza craft page
Pepperoni craft page
White Paper
Light brown crayon
Brown crayon
Reddish brown crayon
Red paint
Paint brush or foam applicator
Hole punch
Scissors
White glue
Basil and oregano seasonings

Instructions:

1. On white copy paper, print the circle pizza craft page and the pepperoni craft page. I printed the pizza on cardstock so it would hold up better with the paint and glue.

2. Color the edge of the crust with the light brown crayon. (The Crayola color I used was actually called tan.)

Circle Pizza Craft: Coloring the crust.

3. Color the pepperoni with the reddish brown crayon then cut them out. (The Crayola color was called Mahogany.)

Circle Pizza Craft: Creating the Pepperoni

4. There is an empty area on the bottom of the pepperoni page. Use the brown crayon and color that area. Then use the hole punch to punch out sausage crumbles.

Creating Sausage for Circle Pizza Craft

5. Cut a white piece of paper into very thin strips; to resemble shredded mozzarella cheese.

Assembling the Circle Pizza

6. Use the paint brush or foam applicator to paint the “tomato sauce” on the pizza.

7. Lightly sprinkle the basil and oregano and the “shredded cheese” on the wet paint. (I didn’t use glue for this part. The wet paint held everything well. I did use the handle of the foam applicator to push the “mozzarella” into the paint so it would hold better.)

Seasonings and “Cheese” on Circle Pizza

8. Glue the pepperoni and the sausage on the pizza.

Learn about circles while doing this fun Circle Pizza craft.

9. Now you have a wonderful Circle Pizza.

* The above craft would also work well for a lesson on the sense of smell.

** You can also use the Grape craft from Learning Activities for the Color Purple or the Blueberry Pie craft from Learning Activities for the Color Blue.

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Foods for snack or meal time

Ritz crackers or any round cracker, cut cheese into circles, sliced banana, Cheerios, make some personal pizzas with English muffins, round cookies or slice an apple through the middle for some circle shaped slices.

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Story Time

(affiliates included)

Circles (The Shape of the World) by Dana Meachen Rau
Reading Level: Birth – 4 yrs old
This is a wonderful book to introduce circles to any age. The text is simple and there are great illustrations of circles that we see around us every day.

Circles (Shapes) by Marybeth Lorbiecki
Reading Level: Birth – 4yrs old
A cute introduction to circles. The rhyming storyline leads you through bright illustrations of a kitten’s birthday party. There are many circles on each page to be observed, counted and enjoyed.

I See Circles (All About Shapes) by D. H. Dilkes
Reading Level: Birth – 4 yrs old
D. H. Dilkes has a great series of little books that discuss different shapes. In this book you will find circles in many different places. I like the fact that the illustrations are photographs of every day items. The text is simple which is great for a young child that is just being introduced to shapes.

So Many Circles, So Many Squares by Tana Hoban (only covers circles and squares)
Reading Level: Birth to 2nd Grade
There is no storyline to this book. It is just pages and pages of pictures from the world around us. It concentrates on two shapes; circles and squares. This is a great book for introducing shapes to your child. This book could lead into a great game of finding circles right where you are.

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Music & Singing Time

Because of copyright laws I am not going to put links to songs (unless I have permission from the artist). I will give you the names of songs that I like to use and you can find them on a CD, video or YouTube to sing with your child.

Ring Around the Rosie

Mister Sun (Mister Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun) I would always have the preschoolers make a big round circle with their arms for the sun.

Related Posts

Shapes – Overview
Ovals: Learning Activities for Shapes
Squares: Learning Activities for Shapes
Rectangles: Learning Activities for Shapes
Triangles: Learning Activities for Shapes
Diamonds: Learning Activities for Shapes
Stars – Learning Activities for Shapes
Hearts: Learning Activities for Shapes
Learning Should Be Fun
When Do Children Start Learning
The Lessons – Overview

Fun with Music: Woodwind Instruments

August 11, 2013 by Mama Carmody 45 Comments

Fun with Music: Woodwind Instruments

This post, “Fun with Music: Brass Instruments”, is written in collaboration with Shannon Wijnker, who used to blog on Mamamusing. Shannon is a music teacher and mother of four.

What is your favorite woodwind instrument; flute, saxophone, recorder or some other? Are you aware of all the woodwind instruments available for your playing and listening pleasure. I would suggest reading either “Woodwind (Instruments and Music)” by Daniel Nunn (for the younger child) or “Wind Instruments (How the World Makes Music)” by Anita Ganeri (for older children). You will see more details about these books below in the Story Time section.

Playtime
Craft
Musical Outings
Story Time
Games Online
Related Posts

Playtime

When you were younger, did you ever make a whistle with a blade of grass? That blade of grass works like the reed in a woodwind instrument. When you blow over the blade of grass it vibrates which causes the air to vibrate and the result is a whistling sound. If you have never done this here is what you do. Take a wide piece of grass and place it between your thumbs. Place your mouth over your knuckles and blow. Were you able to make a whistling sound? Sometimes it takes practice, just keep working on it. This is a fun thing to teach your children, they will think you are amazing.

Shannon from Mamamusing shared that a recorder is great for children to experiment with (and it is a woodwind instrument). You can find them very inexpensively at the dollar store. She also says, “Remember that it’s not just about making a beautiful sound, but playing and exploring the concept of sound. Children learn best by constructing their own concepts and ideas, and by trial and error. They will learn how to create a variety of sounds. Some of which they will like and some they will decide they don’t. Your concept of what is acceptable sound may vary from theirs. But be patient and let them explore.”

“A great resource for teaching them music (and how to play the recorder) is a magazine called “The Recorder Classroom”. I believe there are 4 issues printed so far. You can download both the music and accompanying mp3s online. They are fun to play and I find my students are motivated to learn the music, when they have great accompaniments to play along with.”

“As a child, this toy (by Fisher Price) was a great way to experiment with sound. I don’t know if you can still buy it in stores, but if you find it at a garage sale, or used online – it is a great toy! Or the saxoflute is another great option, because the child can build their own instrument with the various plastic pieces of tube. The sound created (high or low) will depend on the pieces they choose to use.”

Fisher Price Crazy Horn Set

*** You can find the Fisher Price version on eBay, as it has been discontinued by Fisher Price. You can find a similar toy on Amazon.com The Quercetti Saxoflute.

Craft

Wind Instrument Made from Straws

Fun with Music: Woodwind Instruments: Craft — Fun with Music: Woodwind Instruments Craft

This craft is adapted from Learning Ideas – Grades K -8

Materials Needed:

Drinking straws
Cardboard
Glue
Ruler
Scissors
Duct Tape

Instructions:

1. Cut 2 rectangular pieces of cardboard. (approx. 5 by 2 inches) I used scrap cardboard from an old box.
2. Cut the straws in varying lengths. I used 3”, 4”, 5”, 6” & 7”. You can use more straws and different lengths if you would like.

Fun with Music: Woodwind Instruments Craft

3. I didn’t trust simply trying to glue the straws into place because it has been my experience that plastic straws and glue are not long time friends so I glued down duct tape (sticky side up) to help secure the straws into place.

Adding Glue and Tape

4. Let the glue dry completely then place the straws on the tape, in order of length.

Placing straws for woodwind craft

5. Place the second piece of cardboard on top (having all ready glued the tape into place).

Fun with Music: Woodwind Instruments Craft - Attaching other piece of cardboard — Fun with Music: Woodwind Instruments Craft – Attaching other piece of cardboard

6. Since I used scrap cardboard I then added some brightly colored duct tape to decorate my wind instrument. Your child could color or paint it if you would like.
7. To hear the different sounds the instrument makes you need to blow across the top of the straws not straight into them.

Fun with Music: Woodwind Instruments Craft

Musical Outings

Take your children to any place that live music is being played. In Indianapolis, you can find many places that give free outdoor concerts during the summer. Maybe you have the same opportunities in your area. Outdoor concerts are a great way to introduce your children to live music because they can sit in their own lawn chair, on a blanket or even get up and dance around a little. Maybe you have older children or neighbors that participate in a school band. Take your children to see them. Expose your children to many types of music. Take the time to talk about what they are hearing, how it makes them feel and the different instruments they are seeing and hearing.

Shannon from Mamamusing wants you to know: “In London, there are several outdoor concerts and festivals in Victoria Park during the summer. One of the best is Sunfest (beginning of July). You can check out a video of my kids enjoying the multicultural music and dancing byclicking here.”

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Story Time

Below you will find books that discuss the many different types of woodwind instruments and some are devoted to one type of woodwind instrument. Have fun exploring and learning about woodwind instruments with your child.

Clarinets (Music Makers) by Pamela K. Harris
Reading Level: Ages 6 and up
Give your child the opportunity to learn about clarinets with this interesting book by Pamela K. Harris. The book covers many aspects of the clarinet; from the way it is made to how it is played. The illustrations are pictures of actual clarinets and people playing them. Enjoy learning about this special woodwind instrument; the clarinet.

Flutes (Musical Instruments of the World) by Barrie Carson Turner
Reading Level: Ages 6 and up
This book has a lot of information in it but it is laid out nicely. The book introduces you to 18 flutes from around the world. You will find some flutes that look familiar to you and there are others you may have never seen before. Each instrument has it’s own page so if you just want to cover the familiar ones or if you want to break the book up into different sessions it is laid out well for that. Although this book is for a little bit older child you could use it with a younger child by becoming familiar with the text and then simply point out and discuss the different instruments rather than reading it word for word.

Flutes (Music Makers) by Pamela K. Harris
Reading Level: Ages 6 and up
Give your child the opportunity to learn about flutes with this interesting book by Pamela K. Harris. The book covers many aspects of the flute; from the way they are played to how they are made. Your child will get to see flutes from several different countries. The illustrations are of flutes and people playing them. Enjoy learning about this special woodwind instrument; the flute.

Saxophones by Sharon Sharth
Reading Level: Ages 6 and up
Saxophones are a part of a group of instruments called woodwinds. This book will help you and your child learn a lot about saxophones. You will be able to see the different shapes and sizes they come in. You will find out how music is played on a saxophone. Did you know a saxophone can make many of the same sounds that we do with our voices? The illustrations in this book are actual photos of saxophones and people playing them. Share this book with your child so they can learn more about this popular instrument.

Wind Instruments (How the World Makes Music) by Anita Ganeri
Reading Level: Ages 6 and up
This book covers many different wind instruments from around the world. They are all played by blowing into them but that is about the only thing that is common to all of them. Some wind instruments have simple carved mouthpieces, some use a reed in their mouthpiece and some even use two reeds. Most wind instruments are played with the musicians mouth but there are a few that are played with the nose. Be sure to pick this book up to learn a lot about wind instruments. See how many you recognize.

Woodwind (Instruments and Music: Level I) by Daniel Nunn
Reading Level: Ages 4 to 8 yrs old
This is a great book to introduce your young one to woodwind instruments. It has simple text that will allow your child to understand and learn about these special instruments. There are wonderful pictures of musicians playing different woodwind instruments from around the world with just a couple of sentences per page. I can’t wait to share this with the little ones in my life.

Music Makers: Woodwind Instruments by Elizabeth Reid
Reading Level: Ages 6 and up
Give your child the opportunity to learn about woodwind instruments with this interesting book by Elizabeth Reid. Your child will get to learn about the many different types of woodwind instruments. They will see woodwinds from several different countries.They will learn how they are made and the different ways they are played. The illustrations are pictures of actual woodwind instruments and people playing them. Enjoy learning about woodwind instruments. Which one is your favorite?

Games Online

Shannon from Mamamusing shares some fun online games:

Now that you have introduced your children to some of the various instrument families in the orchestra, you may want to visit the Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. This is a website created by Carnegie Hall which is a wonderfully FREE interactive online game for young children to explore and learn more about the various instruments of the orchestra. You will need to use a computer, because the game requires Adobe Flash, which you can download for free (if you don’t already have this utility installed on your computer).

There is also a wonderful set of books for children ages 4 to 8 years old that helps them learn different musical concepts. Along with the books the author, Sharon Burch, has a website with coloring pages and games for your child to enjoy and enhance their learning experience: Freddie the Frog Games and Coloring Pages

Related Posts

Music at an Early Age by Shannon at Mamamusing
Fun with Music – Overview
Fun with Music – Percussion Instruments
Fun with Music: Brass Instruments
Fun with Music: Voices
Fun with Music: String Instruments
Fun with Music: Keyboards

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Fun with Music: Voices

September 15, 2013 by Mama Carmody 28 Comments

Fun with Music: Voices

This post, “Fun with Music – Sting Instruments”, is written in collaboration with Shannon Wijnker, who used to blog on Mamamusing. Shannon is a music teacher and mother of four.

Shannon writes:
Many parents want to give their children the gift of music, but don’t know where to start. I think that teaching children how to explore their voice and singing is so easy and something that every parent can encourage. And it doesn’t have to cost a cent!

Content:

Playtime
Craft
Musical Outings
Story Time
Games Online
Related Posts

Playtime

More from Shannon:

I wrote a post about Music at an Early Age, and in my post I touch on my philosophy about educating our children to be musical.

It is never too early to start building a foundation that facilitates musical proficiency. Babies and toddlers learn about music by first learning about sound. They experiment with their voices make different sounds of varying volumes. While many parents will recognize this as ‘noise’ it is a great first step. Encourage them to explore various ways to make sounds with their mouths and talk about how to modulate their volume.

A tip: I teach my students to put their fingers against their windpipe. If they whisper they don’t feel a vibration. If they are talking or shouting, then they will feel a vibration. This helps to build the concept of volume.

Also, let them experiment with their voice. Children will naturally do this, so let them feel free to explore. Though some encouragement, they will create their own songs about random subjects. (The other day my daughter sang about how she was sorry for hitting her sister after she was let out of time out).

Visit my blog I mentioned earlier to watch a video of my 18 month old experimenting with her voice in the car.

Children learn best thru example and modeling. That means that you need to show them that you enjoy listening to music and/or singing. If you aren’t prepared to sing with your kids, then make sure to play a CD or two repetitively so they can learn the songs. Children need to hear songs that only have a few notes. Not pop songs! Learning these songs also helps with language acquisition, because they are learning rhyme. Don’t overwhelm them with too many songs. They will only feel comfortable trying to sing, once they know a song inside and out. You cannot play a song too much for a child. If you’re getting sick of it, they are just beginning to memorize/internalize it!

Echo songs are also a great idea. Small pieces of melody are easier to learn, and they foster a musical independence. Many children will only sing with a recording, and they need to be confident with their own voice. (eg. Down By the Bay)

A common complaint by many adults is that they are simply ‘tone deaf’. I disagree. They are not tone deaf, but did not develop the proper muscles to sing in tune. Trying to sing up a scale is very difficult for a child. It is much easier for them to start high and sing down. If you pay attention, many children’s songs have a lot of descending passages because of this. Until the muscles develop (you can work on these muscles by singing, and by starting from a high note and singing to a low note), singing outside of a notes which are naturally comfortable will result in ‘out-of-tune-ness’.

Some exercises:

· Sigh from the top of your voice to the bottom (test how high/low you can go)
· Use sounds such as “mmmm” “zzzz” “vvvv”
· Sing lying on the floor
· Make “siren” noises without straining
· Teach them to match pitch by singing back the note you are singing
· Have them follow your hand up and down with their voice (or draw their name while following the hand with their voice!) – this may take some practice
· Have them hum and get them to recognize that sensation when they sing

Remember that kids learn best by doing, not by being told how to do something. When they lose interest, move on and try again another time. Children learn best by repetition. Also, songs are much more fun with movement and actions. Have fun!

Craft

Microphone

Love to Laugh and Learn: Materials Needed for Microphone Craft

Materials Needed:

Empty paper towel roll or toilet paper roll
Small styrofoam ball – 2 1/2 inches (63 mm)
Fancy scrapbook paper, construction paper or paint
White craft glue
Decorations (sparkly stickers, foam stickers, markers, etc)

Instructions:

1) Cover the workspace. I used parchment paper because I was able to get it cheap at the Dollar Tree Store. And cover the child. I found an old tee shirt.

2) I cut a ring from a toilet paper roll to set the styrofoam ball on so that it wouldn’t roll away.

3) Paint the styrofoam ball black or silver. I like to use foam applicators for painting large surfaces. The most difficult part of painting the ball was learning that its okay to get your fingers messy.

Love to Laugh and Learn: Microphone Craft - Fun with Music: Voices — Love to Laugh and Learn: Microphone Craft – Fun with Music: Voices

But he got used to it and enjoyed the painting.

Fun with Music: Voices - Microphone Craft — Fun with Music: Voices – Microphone Craft

4) We are making two microphones; one from a paper towel roll and one from a toilet paper roll. I couldn’t decide which would be better for a 2 year old so we made both.

5) You can decorate the rolls however you like. You could paint them but I decided to use a fancy piece of scrapbook paper. I cut it to fit each roll.

6) We glued the paper and then applied it to the rolls. Jeremiah used the glue stick and then I added some white craft glue for extra adhesion.

Love to Laugh and Learn: Gluing Paper for Microphone Craft

7) Jeremiah added some stickers because stickers are fun and they are a great fine motor exercise.

Love to Laugh and Learn: Applying Stickers

8) Finally we attached the balls to the top. Make sure to use a thick craft glue. I ended up adding some super glue but super glue should be used with caution and by adults only.

9) Now we can enjoy using our voices by singing into our microphones. The toilet paper size was better for little hands but the paper towel roll was a great size for older kids.

Love to Laugh and Learn: The microphone craft is a hit! Fun with Music: Voices

This microphone craft was adapted from itmom.

Musical Outings

Take your children to any place that live music is being played. In Indianapolis, you can find many places that give free outdoor concerts during the summer. Maybe you have the same opportunities in your area. Outdoor concerts are a great way to introduce your children to live music because they can sit in their own lawn chair, on a blanket or even get up and dance around a little. Maybe you have older children or neighbors that participate in a school band. Take your children to see them. Expose your children to many types of music. Take the time to talk about what they are hearing, how it makes them feel and the different instruments they are seeing and hearing.

Shannon from Mamamusing wants you to know: “In London, there are several outdoor concerts and festivals in Victoria Park during the summer. One of the best is Sunfest (beginning of July). You can check out a video of my kids enjoying the multicultural music and dancing byclicking here.”

Storytime

Freddie the Frog® and the Flying Jazz Kitten – 5th Adventure: Scat Cat Island by Sharon Burch
Reading Level: Ages 4 – 9 yrs old
Freddie the Frog meets the Flying Jazz Kitten and learns about wonderful new ways to use his voice. The Flying Jazz Kitten teaches Freddie the Frog the swingin’ beat and excitement of jazz scat singing. There is also a CD with the dramatized story, sing-along songs and an instrumental blues track to create your own special scat.

The Voice and Singing (Let’s Make Music) by Rita Storey
Reading Level: Ages 6 yrs old and up
Each person carries around a special instrument with them wherever they go; their voice. Your child will enjoy learning about their voice in this cute informational book. In simple descriptions, they will learn how their voice works. They will learn about many different styles of singing and different ways they can enjoy singing. Whether they are listening to others sing or using their own voices, singing is fun.

Voices (Instruments and Music) by Daniel Nunn
Reading Level: Ages 4 to 8 yrs old
An instrument that we don’t discuss very often is the voice. This book describes how people use their voices to make music. Sometimes they are accompanied by another instrument or other voices. Sometimes they sing all alone. Share this book with your child and help them learn how their voice is an instrument to enjoy.

Voices and Singing (How the World Makes Music) by Anita Ganeri
Reading Level: Ages 6 and up
This book covers voices as a musical instrument. Your child will learn about many styles of singing from all over the world. The way people use their voices from other parts of the world can sound very different than what we are used to hearing. Along with reading this book take some time to look on the internet and find examples of the different ways people use their voices, such as jazz singing, gospel singing, throat singing and yodeling. How do you and your children use your voices to make music?

Games Online

Shannon from Mamamusing shares some fun online games:

Now that you have introduced your children to some of the various instrument families in the orchestra, you may want to visit The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. This is a website created by Carnegie Hall which is a wonderfully FREE interactive online game for young children to explore and learn more about the various instruments of the orchestra. You will need to use a computer, because the game requires Adobe Flash, which you can download for free (if you don’t already have this utility installed on your computer).

There is also a wonderful set of books for children ages 4 to 8 years old that helps them learn different musical concepts. Along with the books the author, Sharon Burch, has a website with coloring pages and games for your child to enjoy and enhance their learning experience: Freddie the Frog Games and Coloring Pages

Related Posts

Music at an Early Age by Shannon at Mamamusing
Fun with Music – Overview
Fun with Music – Percussion Instruments
Fun with Music – Brass Instruments
Fun with Music – Woodwind Instruments
Fun with Music: String Instruments
Fun with Music: Keyboards

Fun with Music: Keyboards

November 18, 2013 by Mama Carmody 8 Comments

Fun with Music: Keyboards

This post, “Fun with Music – Keyboards”, is written in collaboration with Shannon Wijnker, who used to blog on Mamamusing. Shannon is a music teacher and mother of four.

There is a debate going on among musicians, both amateur and professional, as to whether a piano is a string instrument or a percussion instrument. Although a piano has strings in it, the sound is made by little hammers striking the strings. The definition of a percussion instrument is “a musical instrument (as a drum, xylophone, or maraca) sounded by striking, shaking, or scraping”. So what do you think? This might be a fun survey for your child to do with family and friends. Teach them how to make a chart from their findings.

When exploring keyboards remember there are other instruments besides the piano. In the keyboard category there are also organs, electric pianos, harpsichords, accordions and so much more. Lets have fun experimenting with keyboard instruments.

Playtime
Craft
Musical Outings
Story Time
Related Posts

Shannon shares with us:

One of the most popular instruments is the piano. Every parent wants to play it and every parent hopes that their child will learn. So we sign them up for piano lessons and at first everything is going well. But then the children are expected to practice. Repetition isn’t fun and all of a sudden the piano is not as fun as it used to be. Sound familiar?

Don’t get me wrong – I am all for children taking piano lessons, but I have encountered way too many children who are forced to take lessons because they had displayed an interest in learning, but have since fallen out of love with the idea.

Many parents ask when it is a good age to start teaching children the basics of piano. My answer – it’s never to early to let them play and explore. Structure can come later, and I’ll talk about that in a second. I have a piano in our house and it is located in the playroom. My girls will experiment by pressing the various keys, making up pretend songs, imitating myself playing the piano and also fooling around with the multitude of timbres (different instrument sounds) available. Here are my two older daughters making up songs at the piano. I have not given them any lessons, they have creatively come up with this setup (the microphone stand) on their own. I encourage their exploration, and leave it at that for now.

There are two streams of thought. Some believe that learning how to play by ear is the best way to go. Others believe that learning how to read notes off a page is other. Neither better than the other, it simply depends on the student. I learned how to read music at an early age and it has served me well. Once your child has learned the basics of reading (kindergarten) they can then grasp the basic concepts of learning how to read music. There are several method books out there which can help guide your child. Just remember that their attention span is not very long and you will be lucky to have them sit and concentrate for 15 minutes. When they are practicing try to split it up into 2 or 3 sessions of about 5 min each. Repetition can be very boring, so look to Pinterest for ideas of how to make their learning (and the repetition which is essential) fun. Click here to see Mamamusing’s Pinterest Board about Keyboards

Playtime

If you don’t have a piano or keyboard at home, for your little ones to experiment with, there are some virtual ones online and apps for your phone. I found Virtual Piano online. It was fun to play around with but not nearly as much fun as getting my hands onto a real piano. I found a toy piano by Melissa & Doug and several toy accordions on Amazon.com that your child could have fun with.

Shannon also suggests:
Besides having a keyboard at home, there are a multitude of keyboard toys on the market: xylophones, floor pianos, keyboards, baby pianos, etc. Just give them the opportunity to explore.

Craft

P is for Piano

Materials needed:

Keyboards: Materials Needed for Piano Craft

P – Capital Letter (comes from the set Upper Case Stencils (Large) A-Z by Lani)
White cardstock
10 Tongue depressor sized craft sticks
White paint
Black paint
White craft glue
Scissors
optional – crayons or markers

Instructions:

1. On cardstock, print the letter P template letter P template
2. Cut the 10 tongue depressor sized craft sticks to 2 ½ inches.
3. Paint them white.
4. From the scrap pieces of tongue depressor sized craft sticks, cut 7 of them to 1 ½ inches.

Cutting Craft Sticks for Piano Craft

5. Paint these 7 pieces black.

Painted "Piano Keys" for Piano Craft — Painted “Piano Keys” for Piano Craft

6. Spread the white craft glue on the long “stem” side of the letter P. I like to use foam applicators for spreading glue. (The craft sticks will not go all the way from the top to the bottom so you might want to lay them out before you put down the glue just to get an idea of where you want them to end up.)
7. Add glue to the back of the black pieces and lay them out in the pattern of a piano keyboard (3 black keys, the 2 black keys) Refer to the picture if you aren’t sure how a piano keyboard looks. If you have a piano at home have your child look at your keyboard and see if they can figure out how to place the black keys.

Keyboards: Piano Craft: P is for Piano

*** Other options would be to let your child color or paint the letter P before you glue the piano keys to it. This craft would also be good when learning the alphabet. You can purchase the entire alphabet collection from Lani at Upper Case Stencils (Large) A-Z. This set would be great for crafts, when learning and practicing the alphabet, or to make up games to help with letter recognition.

Musical Outings

In Indianapolis, you can find many places that give free outdoor concerts during the summer. Maybe you have the same opportunities in your area. Outdoor concerts are a great way to introduce your children to live music because they can sit in their own lawn chair, on a blanket or even get up and dance around a little. Expose your children to many types of music. Take the time to talk about what they are hearing, how it makes them feel and the different instruments they are seeing and hearing.

Shannon from Mamamusing wants you to know: “In London, there are several outdoor concerts and festivals in Victoria Park during the summer. One of the best is Sunfest (beginning of July). You can check out a video of my kids enjoying the multicultural music and dancing by clicking here.”

Story Time

Pianos (Music Makers) by Pamela K. Harris
Reading Level: Ages 6 and up
Your child will gather a lot of interesting information about pianos from this book. For instance, did you know that a piano is sometimes considered a string instrument? Most of the time you can’t see the strings but they are in there. Other people say that a piano is a percussion instrument because little hammers hit the strings to make the sounds you hear. Your child will learn how a piano is made and how it is played. They will hear and see that pianos come in many different shapes and sizes. They will hear about some great musicians that played and wrote music for the piano. The illustrations are pictures of pianos and people playing them. Your child will enjoy learning about pianos while reading this book.

Keyboards (Instruments and Music) by Daniel Nunn
Reading Level: Ages 4 to 8 yrs old
This book is a great introduction to keyboards, for your young child. It explains the different types of keyboards; pianos, organs and several others. Some keyboards are small enough to carry around and others take up a large part of the auditorium. Have fun helping your child learn about keyboards with this informative but simple book.

Related Posts

Music at an Early Age by Shannon at Mamamusing
Fun with Music: Overview
Fun with Music: Percussion Instruments
Fun with Music: Brass Instruments
Fun with Music: Voices
Fun with Music: String Instruments

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