Reinforcing Healthy Habits with Kids Music and Videos

Kids music and videos are great tools for teaching and reinforcing habits essential to a happy, healthy life. The invention of the iPod, satellite radio and on-demand programming has made it easier than ever for parents and educators to teach and emphasize healthy choices. Whether in the home, in the car or at school, children can watch, listen and learn. Simply by taking the time to select and share kids music and videos, parents and teachers can enrich the lives of children.

All music and videos, however, are not created equal. Kids music and videos should be chosen based on theme and feel. To encourage healthy living, parents and teachers should select music promoting healthy habits. Habits every child should know and follow include: (i) Getting rest through naps and a good night’s sleep; (ii) Washing hands and regularly bathing; (iii) Brushing teeth and flossing; (iv) Exercising regularly (running, dancing, swimming, playing with friends, etc.), (v) Good nutrition (healthy meals and healthy snacks); (vi) Keeping your room and clothes clean and (vii) Wearing sunscreen. Parents and teachers should instill these habits in their children and students at a young age to ensure a lifetime of health and fitness.

In addition to teaching and reinforcing healthy habits, kids music and videos provide an enthusiastic way for children to be active while playing, laughing and having fun. The feel of the music is what makes this possible. Children can’t help but move around when listening to irresistible, energetic music. Music containing upbeat drumming and grooving bass lines creates the perfect exercise environment. Parents and teachers should encourage movement as often as possible when children are listening to music.

To find healthy habit themed, upbeat music and videos, parents and teachers need not go far. Google, I-tunes and CD Baby have made searching as simple as turning on your computer. Word searches might include “kids songs” or “children’s music.” Examples of such songs include Silly Bus’ “Jump Up” http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/silly-bus/id156493677, “Yawns at Night” http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/alphabet-volume-1/id282427190 and “Healthy Dose” http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/silly-bus/id156493677 . Fun, energetic videos to use at home and in the classroom include Silly Bus’ “Falling Leaves” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GsCuUvpNTk and “Earth and Sun” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM01YJF8xT4&feature=related.

Making small changes today in a child’s routine can yield years of health and happiness.

Author: Justin Laughter

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The Magic of Music for Kids

What’s so great about music? We all know that music can make us want to jump, dance, and tap our feet. But did you know that music has been linked to math scores, brain development, and anxiety relief? During the critical young ages of learning while the brain is still developing, the impact of music is at its greatest level. But even beyond the younger years, music can still play an important role, providing instruction for pre-teens, anxiety relief for adults, and even therapy for Alzheimer patients.

Psychologists and Educators are just beginning to uncover the many benefits that music provides for our mental health. While we all may be somewhat familiar with the idea that loud and fast music makes us feel different than quiet and slow music, research is showing that the predictable ways that music can influence us goes beyond altering our moods. Some studies show that we can predictably alter many of our mental states, and even heal damaged brains. Another study has found that students with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) were able to improve their focus, given neurofeedback results while listening to background music.

There are many genres of music, and for a student wanting to benefit from the motivational and instructional elements of music, the first step is to appropriately align their age and interest with a particular music genre. Parents and teachers know that pre-teens are not going to be caught listening to music that kept their attention as a toddler. But while there are many genres and songs to choose from for the very young and for adults, there are fewer selections for those in the middle, who could benefit the most from the educational value of music.

Educational music for kids can be influential for teaching values, instructional for memorizing the alphabet, for example, and motivational for wanting to learn more about a topic. Some teachers play “welcoming music” as the children are entering the classroom, which captures their attention and desire to learn more about the subject of the educational song.

Kids are hard-wired to want to learn, and the teaching approaches that work the best are aligned with the natural learning process and interests of the learner. Music for kids is a powerful way to connect, motivate, and teach young students, in a method that is not forced, but yet aligns with their interests and natural desire to learn.

Authored by John Lewis, Ed.D, Explanation Age LLC.

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Repetition and Musical Learning

Mastering musical concepts often requires much repetition. Repetition of patterns in songs reinforces content and retention of words and melodies. Since all children do not learn in the same way or at the same rate, much repetition using a variety of learning strategies is important. When planning repetition strategies, they should be chosen with thoughtful consideration in order to maximize the learning opportunity. Meaningful learning and music-making experiences are the result of well-thought out plans for teaching a song. Avoid mundane drill-like repetition. Add something new and engaging to each repetition. Do it again, but in a different way.
High repetition enables the child to develop an appreciation and enjoyment of a song or musical selection. Repetition reinforces the memory of the listener which, in turn, lays the foundation for comparing new musical material. Repetition aids clarity and understanding of music and words.

Through repetition and multiple applications of their musical learnings, children enhance their abilities to transfer new concepts with understanding from one musical setting to another.

Follow an orderly, sequential plan for high repetition. The process should include modeling, a positive feeling tone, and lots of variety. The repetitions should always be meaningful to the child.

When using high repetition in a group setting, keep an energetic pace to maintain the interest and concentration of the children. Avoid long practice sessions that cause them to become unfocused.

Examples of high repetition strategies include:
• Listening to the song and patting the steady pulse or beat;
• Echo-speaking the words of a verse or section of the music;
• Echo-singing the melody on a nonsense syllable such as “la;”
• Singing song phrases antiphonally, e.g. parent/child; teacher/class;
• Select a repeated word from the song and have the child stand or raise his or her hand when the word is sung.

After the song is learned, sing the song omitting a few key words. Have the child speak or sing the missing words at the appropriate time in the song. Then play or sing a song and have the child “draw” the melodic contour with his or her hand.
Let creativity and imagination be your guide in planning for repetitions of a song or musical selection. Consider the use of visual aids and movement to reinforce the concepts being repeated.

Using a diverse palette of repetition strategies brings freshness and excitement to the learning process. We are the engineers of successful learning for our children through the use of creative and meaningful repetitions.

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How to Find Great Music for Kids

We all know that the internet has become a dominate force in helping find things and answering questions quickly. One of the questions that arise for parents is "how to find great music for kids?"

Ten years ago people took the time to stop by the local music store and search for music. Stores readily provided a highlight of top selling CDs. This provided a good starting point for people to discover new music enjoyed by others. As we have moved farther into the Internet Age, more and more music has become available to anyone having access to a computer. This has been good from a content perspective. However, it can make finding great music for children a challenge given the volumes of songs and artists available online.

To find great kids music online today, the most popular resource by far is to simply utilize search engines like Google or Yahoo and enter key words such as "Kids Music." This will yield pages of results, but you can leverage the first page or two in the same way that the record store was used ten years ago. By reviewing the links that these search engines provide, you will quickly find that these sites are either 1) the most popular music groups for kids or 2) the most popular sites to find great kids music.

The second way that parents can quickly find great music kids is to utilize iTunes. iTunes provides the same search ability so that anyone can quickly search by artist name, song title, or general description. For instance, if a parent enters the words Preschool Music, they will find hundreds of artists listed on iTunes. The good news is that iTunes provides the songs and artists in order of popularity. So again, much like the old record store, parents can quickly find songs enjoyed by the masses and that are typically very good.

As we move forward in the Internet Age, we will certainly find new and exciting ways to quickly and effectively find the music that we want. Over the past few years social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace have grown into popular places for people to discuss and showcase music. These avenues will certainly continue to grow in popularity as people find ways to share information more quickly and as media companies learn to use them as distribution tools for their most popular songs and artists.

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The Benefits of Educational Music for Kids

It is interesting to observe how fast children learn when they are young! Research supports our observations that learning experiences must begin in the early years from birth to age five. This is a critical time in a child's musical and cognitive development. The benefits of music and movement in the preschool years have been well documented. Research studies show that music enhances brain development and academic learning. Music affects many areas of brain function and neurological development. Many levels of neurological readiness exist in children, and music is a powerful enhancer at each stage of neurological development. The earlier a child is exposed to music and movement, the better. Research findings include:

-Children who receive early music training score higher on standardized tests.
-The use of music during learning can increase a child's IQ.
-Young children who take music lessons show different brain development and improved memory over the course of a year compared to children who do not receive musical training.
-There is a link between spatial reasoning and participation in music and movement activities.

Preschool children are at the beginning of the learning spectrum. Parents and teachers set learning patterns and attitudes and introduce children to learning by providing the first exposures. These exposures should encourage the joy of participating in music and making music. Joyful experimentation will result in the growth of musical skills and lay the foundation for future music learning as well as for future academic success.

As a music educator for 40 years, I have seen the positive results of music education for children. At Silly Bus performances, I enjoy seeing the positive reactions of the children to the songs and interactive presentations as they learn a variety of educational skills and concepts. The music and shows have great appeal for children.

As children make music, listen to music, and move to music through a variety of experiences, they develop creative abilities, attention spans, motor and rhythmic coordination, socialization skills, mental agility, and the ability to process aural information. It is very important for parents to expose their children to music and to encourage participation in music and movement activities informally at home and in more organized music education settings.

Movement is innate in children and provides the basis of everything young children learn. It contributes to the growth and coordination of the large and small body muscles. In addition, movement is an important nonverbal learning tool. Preschoolers understand much that they cannot yet put into words. They demonstrate their understandings through gestures and other movements. As we observe the child's movement, we gain insight into what the child is thinking and understanding.
Songs help us to learn as well as express ourselves in a musical manner. Appropriate songs for preschool children include nursery rhymes, finger plays, educational songs that incorporate counting, letters of the alphabet, animals and animal sounds, colors, etc. Songs and recorded music should promote activities such as walking, jumping, dancing, and marching. Clapping or patting the steady pulse or beat of rhymes, songs, chants, and recorded music is a valuable activity and preparation for future music ensemble participation. The ability to perform a steady beat while singing, speaking, or listening to music aids the child's success in reading and other academic areas. Music education is an important aspect for a child's learning process in life. From simple beginning experiences the child is guided to more sophisticated musical and creative activities.

While music is a viable stand alone educational program, music also reinforces and enhances the learning of other skills and benefits learning in many ways. This is especially true for reading and language arts. Music helps children focus on the structure of sounds which is an important aspect in language development and literacy skills. Having a musical vocabulary of melodic patterns and phrases directly transfers to the ability to develop a spoken vocabulary of patterns and sounds-thereby aiding the child's success in reading and communicating.

It has long been believed that brains change as a result of music learning. Researchers in neuroscience, utilizing recent advances in MRI technology, are actually studying the human brain in the act of creating or listening to music. And what they are finding is remarkable.

Perhaps the most exciting news is the evidence that music can actually change the physical structure of the brain - a fact that has critical implications for both education and medicine. Music may even be a major key to unlocking the mystery of how the brain actually learns.

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Writing Silly Bus Kid Songs

A lot of work goes into the writing of a Silly Bus kids song. Our approach in Silly Bus is to write songs that appeal to both kids and parents, and finding that balance of sound and style that appeals to both generations is not easy to achieve.

Let's take for example the song, “Teddy Bear Boogie.” The concept of the song was to write a song with a very youthful theme, and we wanted to emphasize the letter ‘B' because we were writing songs to align with an alphabet curriculum. We also wanted the song to have a lot of movement. The need for movement was to keep kids entertained while listening to the song both at home and at our shows. We have found that if we write songs with a lot of movement, kids feel that they can participate with the songs, and they respond more positively than to songs with less movement.

Taking into account all of the requirements we wanted to incorporate into our song, we came up with a theme about a dancing teddy bear. A dancing teddy bear certainly met our desire to create a song with a youthful theme. The fact that the teddy bear danced opened up all sorts of possibilities to add movement.

The end result is the song we have today about a teddy bear that starts out dancing to the front and back, and with each chorus the teddy bear performs additional moves. By the end of the song, the teddy bear is moving forwards and backwards. He is clapping, snapping, patting his head, and tapping his knees. These are all moves that children can happily perform while listening to the song. (Read the full lyrics below this article.)

The final effort for the song was the actual music to support the lyrics. As previously mentioned, Silly Bus writes songs to appeal to adults as well as children. Since this song was about a teddy bear who liked to boogie, we adopted a boogie-woogie blues style of music. This style just seemed fitting. It is a style of music that gained popularity in the early 1900's, and different flavors of boogie-woogie music are heard in many music genres today. One of those genres now happens to be kids' music. So, for those parents who appreciate classic styles of music, this song is for you…and of course your kids too.

Teddy Bear Boogie
My teddy bear likes to boogie
Over here and over there
My teddy bear likes to boogie
Almost everywhere

Boogie to the front
Boogie to the back
Let's all do the teddy bear boogie

My teddy bear likes to boogie
When he hears a funny song
My teddy bear likes to boogie
Sometimes all day long

Boogie to the front
Boogie to the back
Turn around and clap
Make your fingers snap
Let's all do the teddy bear boogie

My teddy bear likes to boogie
He really really likes to dance
My teddy bear likes to boogie
Whenever he gets the chance

So, boogie to the front
Boogie to the back
Turn around and clap
Make your fingers snap
Give your head a pat
And give your knees a tap
Let's all do the teddy bear boogie
Let's all do the teddy bear boogie
Let's all do the teddy bear boogie

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Music Education - Effective Rehearsals In The Class Room

An efficient rehearsal is dependent upon a stimulating, interesting, and well-planned rehearsal with maximum use of rehearsal time. Use of rehearsal time and pacing are important factors in producing a successful rehearsal. Time management includes starting and ending the rehearsal at the appointed times. Use every second of the rehearsal time to achieve rehearsal goals.

Long-range goals and individual rehearsal objectives are an important part of making the most of the rehearsal time. If we don't know where we want to go in rehearsal, valuable time will be lost and less will be accomplished.

Make connections between what is known and what is to be learned whenever possible. Where are the musicians in their musical, physical, cognitive, and emotional development? What is the attention span of a specific age group? What are their language and music reading abilities? What do they need to learn, experience, or review in the next rehearsal? What activities are most suitable for teaching a musical selection, skill, or concept? Answers to these questions provide the backbone of the rehearsal plan.

Planning and providing references to previously learned musical concepts or skills saves rehearsal time. Develop objectives that are sequential and become building blocks from one rehearsal to another. Have expectations in place for each rehearsal. Expectations and procedures will need to be practiced and reviewed while children are becoming accustomed to the routines of the rehearsal. Always be consistent throughout all rehearsals as far as expectations and procedures.

Develop and write out a teaching plan for each musical selection to be rehearsed. Subdivide the teaching plan into several segments based on the amount of time available to rehearse.

Post an agenda or roadmap with objectives and rehearsal activities. We are more successful when we have goals and have an outline for learning and rehearsal activities. This enhances learning and facilitates maximum use of rehearsal time.

There are times when flexibility during the rehearsal is needed. Have a plan for adapting and adding activities when the unexpected happens.

Conduct a rehearsal evaluation. Use written notes for instant notation as well as video/audio taping, etc. Refer to these notes and tapings to assess and generate the next rehearsal's plan. Involve the musicians in the assessment of their learning and performance. As soon as possible after the rehearsal is concluded, take time to reflect on all components of the rehearsal.

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