Classical Music for Little Ones

I love classical education. I love that it is just that: classic. I love that subjects are studied in light of history, and I love that literature is selected for its beauty and richness. And I love that music education is a part of this course of study and that it is the finest of classical music that is appreciated. As I write this, I must confess that musical talents are not mine to claim. I'm afraid I dearly love to listen to beautiful music. The soothing notes of jazz pianist Beegie Adair are a treat to me even at this very moment. And how I love to sing spiritual hymns with other Christians, and even to our little ones throughout the day. How wonderful God is that He takes notice of the heart when we sing, rather than our voices! (Ephesians 5:19,20 and Colossians 3:16) And how beautiful are our children that they should so allow their eyelids to gently close at the day's end, as songs of our Saviour and God's bountiful love drift toward their listening ears and rest upon their tender hearts.

I want to share the richness of beautiful music with our children. And so it is that we regularly enjoy classical music throughout our day. As I have been so encouraged by other mothers who freely share their educational goals, I hope that the passing on of a few ideas will also uplift any lovely readers of The Blissful Pear!

Here are a few things that really work well for our little ones:

We regularly listen to 25 Children's Favorites. As I mentioned, I'm truly a novice when it come to classical music. But in a short time, I have come to appreciate these selections. Mozart's Variations On Ah Vous Dirai-Je, Maman is among my favorites. I have found that I enjoy these traditional selections most in the morning time while I'm getting ready and our girls are playing. I have uploaded these songs to my iPod, and they are ready for us at any time!

We sing! We sing everything! We sing spiritual hymns and children's songs. We add music to common words and phrases to aid in the memory of new language. We sing the letters of our oldest daughter's name to help her to remember how to spell it. Even simple two-word phrases are uttered in song when teaching our youngest basic concepts.

We talk about music, and we identify instruments when we see or hear them.

And I love the website  PreKinders! What a help it was in getting us started!

And here are some great literature selections, as they relate to music education:

   Various renditions of Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev

Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin by Lloyd Moss and illustrated by Marjorie Priceman

Animal Orchestra, pictures by Tibor Gergely

For the Love of Music: The Remarkable Story of Maria Anna Mozart

by Elizabeth Rusch, paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher 

  And while these selections still await us, they are worth mentioning, in part because they come with a CD.

Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens, commentary by Barrie Carson Turner and illustrations by Sue Williams

Can You Hear It? by William Lach

  

I also love the Mozart Magic Cube by Munchkin. This is great for both Baby and Big Sister!

Upon the Land of Counterpane

What a sweet afternoon it was when, with all the elements of spontaneity, we read The Land of Counterpane by Robert Louis Stevenson. With the beauty of the verses fresh within our minds, our little girls and I crawled into bed, ruffled the covers so as to make pillow-hills, and began to make our own Land of Counterpane. The moment was so special with our two little girls sitting opposite each other pretending to be in the Land of Counterpane, that even searching for a camera seemed ill-fitting. It is moments such as these that only a mother can understand, the moments that sweetly rest upon the heart.

The Land of Counterpane

by Robert Louis Stevenson

When I was sick and lay a-bed,

I had two pillows at my head,

And all my toys beside me lay,

To keep me happy all the day.

And sometimes for an hour or so

I watched my leaden soldiers go,

With different uniforms and drills,

Among the bed-clothes, through the hills.

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets

All up and down among the sheets;

Or brought my trees and houses out,

And planted cities all about.

I was the giant great and still

That sits upon the pillow-hill,

And sees before him, dale and plain,

The pleasant land of counterpane.

This post is part of Make Believe Mondays at My Three Rivers Home

To travel...

Bonny and Owl

Bobby Shafto's gone to sea,

Silver buckles at his knee;

He'll come back and marry me,

Bonny Bobby Shafto!

Our little one loves this traditional English nursery rhyme! She delights in playing the part of Bonny Shafto, so we couldn't pass up on these matching sailor outfits! She regularly pretends to be Bonny, and she happily carries "Owl Shafto" along with her at times. She has such a fondness for this nursery rhyme that Mommy couldn't help but provide her with a homemade wedding veil to complete her dream!

What a joy it is to share in the delights of our little ones!

This post is a part of Make-Believe Mondays at My Three Rivers Home

Apple Picking 2011

We have a lovely fall tradition of visiting an apple orchard with our very dear friends. This year we visited a new orchard, which turned out to be so wonderful! The weather was perfect, the orchard was quaint and charming,

the apples were delicious, and the company was even better!

What special memories we made this year!

Autumn Anew

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

~Albert Camus

Shared by The Quote Garden

With thankfulness for a delightful summer, we enter into this most glorious season of autumn! The leaves have begun to change here, with beautiful hues of yellow and orange appearing. The air is starting to cool, and our fall traditions of apple picking and pumpkin gathering have already begun.

One of the joys of having children is that everything seems so much more beautiful. The seasons themselves become more apparent, the activities become more vivid, and the anticipation of a new day awaits with eagerness. With thankfulness for the dawning of autumn, I cannot help but pass into a new season without remembering the delightful days of summer.

For both my enjoyment now, and, Lord Willing, for our little ones to recount with

fondness in the years ahead, here's a look at Summer 2011...

Toddling with Fractions

Our 3-year-old loves her bathtub crayons! Not only are they great for making bathtime masterpieces and for painting fingernails (and yes, she really has done that!), but they are also wonderful for helping her to learn fractions! Our little one sometimes has trouble remembering how much of her milk she is allowed to drink while she is waiting for Mommy to finish preparing a meal, so I use one of the bathtub crayons to incrementally mark the side of her cup. I then let her know which marking she is to drink to. She is not only learning fractions along the way, but she's leaving a little room in her tummy for dinner!