Toddler toy to promote musical intelligence

When Em was little she L-O-V-E-D this toy! She still does :) I originally loved the toy because it wasn't electronic. Your child makes the music, not a button :)   The toy comes as a set of musical instruments within this cool drum, which makes for great storage. The set includes a tamporine, drumsticks, rattle, and xylophone. I found the toy at Target. It is called Bee Bop Band. It is made by the brand Parents. I love all the toys made by this brand. Target has a decent selection. What I like best about this brand of toys, is the hands-on play involved. Can u tell by the background, we love play!! The first school I taught at used the following phrase as their school motto, Play is Childswork!

Children need play everyday! I encourage parents to provide a variety of toys to encourage a variety of play: wooden, electronic, educational, stuffed, hands-on, realistic, imaginary, etc. The other day Em and I were discussing her sharing time at school. She told me in her exact words," Mom, I want to bring my computer. Then, when (blank) says, what does it do? I can show her." I felt a little sad. When did toys start having to "do" something? I thought it was the other way around and children do something with toys; it's called play :)

Sorry for the blurred pics~
M.I. MaMa

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Emery made this at school but it was TOO cute not to share. Plus, it is quite a simple prep!

To prep this activity you will need: 3 paper plates, scissors, stapler, tape, black construction paper cut into strips to represent spider legs, yellow construction paper cut into triangles to represent sun rays, and a marker. Before you sit down with your child cut the black strips and yellow triangles. Also, cut 1 paper plate in half. Bring child(ren) to the work area where tape, marker, and whole plates are within hands reach. Have child draw a face on each whole plate. Choose one plate to be the spider, one to be the sun. With tape secure each spider leg; 4 on each side :) Also, secure sun ray triangles on the sun plate. You may need to help with the tape dispenser. Once legs and sun rays are attached, staple one of the paper plate halves to the sun or spider. This makes a nice pocket for a child to slide their hand into. Repeat with other half of plate and other whole plate. Done!! Have fun with your child and exercise both your musical intelligences while teaching the song "Itsy bitsy Spider"...chances are they know it. Make up a skit for the song to spice it up. In the video, Em is trying to hide the sun until it comes out. She also tries to hold the subject more forward when she is singing about it. 

Did you wash your hands....??

Did you wash your hands? Lately, this is an ever important question, I've been asking of my 3&1/2 year old.

The more bathroom independence Em develops,  the more crucial it's becoming to reinforce this bodily-kinesthetic,  interpersonal, and intrapersonal skill. As all moms know, we can't be there all the time! In fact, for me, now that Em is capable of going to the bathroom by herself, I prefer it that way! Of course, bathroom independence comes with a whole new line of parenting. I hear, "Mooooooommm, I need yooooouuuuur HELP" bellowing from the bathroom almost daily. Bathroom trips are usually followed with the ever important question, "Did you wash your hands?" which is followed with a "yes",(even though I know I heard the water turn on for maybe five seconds) which is then followed with," Do I need to do a mommy check?" Don't get me wrong, when Em started potty training, I dove right in and modeled a hand-washing routine that involved myself and her always washing our hands. Unfortunately, in her ever growing independence, our routine isn't quite sticking without the watchful eye of a grown-up. And if you are wondering why this is a big deal even at home, I will simply say two words: toddler wiping. This should probably give you a visual image as to why it's important. Remember, these toddlers then come touch everything in the house!!    

My goal for Em is hand-washing be a habit, just like second nature(naturalist). My brain began wracking the following question, 'How can I invest Em in the development of a hand washing routine that will promote her independence with personal hygiene, be developmentally appropriate, FUN, and change the constant mommy responses from questioning to praising?"

I came up with the following idea: a visual chart for the bathroom. Em helped me construct the chart.

 I first started by gathering the materials needed(sorry, no picture): 2 sheets of  white paper, scissors, a few markers and crayons, tape, soap dispenser from bathroom, and a drying towel from bathroom. I chose to gather the objects used in the hand washing routine so Em would have a visual reminder as we made our chart.

After gathering the supplies, I called Em to the table and said we were going to make a chart(spatial intelligence) together to help her remember all the steps people do when they wash their hands. Seeing a table full of supplies always seems to intrigue her. In front of Em, I modeled folding the paper into 4 even squares(fold the paper in half, and then in half again). Unfold paper and cut along the crease lines to make 4 squares(logical-mathematical).

Since, our routine has already been established, I asked her leading questions like, "What do we do first when we wash our hands?" She replied, "we get them wet." I labeled one of the squares with a 1 to represent the first step. I drew something that resembled the faucet and then drew water droplets. She even drew one of the droplets. I continued asking leading questions for each step. I labeled each step with a description word(water, soap, sing, dry) to exercise her linguistic  skills. She added her personal touch to each square. 

We sing the ABC song to help make sure a proper amount of time is used for scrubbing. Em added bubbles to this card. This simple moment in time is also exercising her musical and linguistic intelligences.

The step she got stuck on is the one she always forgets..DRY your hands :)  On this card she drew the shape of the towel and colored it the color of our bathroom towels(logical-mathematical and spatial).

We concluded with her idea!! She wanted to trace her hands on the leftover blank squares because she has recently learned this skill. I thought what a great incorporation. I labeled each hand with the word hand. A great extension for this would be to include the words right and left.

We taped the pictures near our sink and ,voila, we were done.

~Happy hand washing,
M.I. MaMa

St. Patrick's Day a Multiple Intelligence Way

We've spent the month of March talking about how Spring is coming and the holiday, St. Patrick's Day. Along with a few original stories associated with the holiday, I put my own twist on the holiday and explained to Em the Leprechauns help bring Spring. The day finally arrived and what fun we had!

We woke up to a display of our day's activities. I intentionally didn't want candy associated with this day. Candy seems to be associated with every holiday....she even looked around for some :) This leprechaun only left healthy and fun treats though.  

 Here is a letter our Leprechaun left Em(linguistic intelligence)

Here are the leprechaun's healthy GREEN snacks she likes to eat,

The juice, Em actually loves this too:)  "It tastes like apple juice" is what she said when she first sampled it at Trader Joes.

The gold,

And a game board to help Em find the gold our leprechaun made. I adapted this game from one of my favorite blogs, No Time for Flashcards.

This game became a big part of our day, and the next morning. Her logical-mathematical, naturalist,bodily- kinesthetic, and spatial skills are all at work here. She immediately wanted to hunt for the gold.

To make the game board is very simple. Find a piece of paper or cardstock to use as the game board. Label the board with whatever you decide to call the game. Then use one coin to trace multiple circles. I chose to draw 15 circles. Em has been leaving the number 15 out while she counts. I used this game as an opportunity to exercise this important number. (When you are making your decision just think about where your child(ren) are in counting skills. If your child is still mastering 1-10, stop there. If you need to count higher, than do so). I intentionally didn't label the board with numbers, YET. I did this because I wanted to model number writing with Em. Since I had to pre-make the board the night before, she wouldn't have seen this important modeling. 

As she placed the gold on the board she started counting. 

 Look at that one-to one correspondence in action!

We continued playing this game. First, I hid the gold and she found it. Next, she hid the gold and I found it. To exercise our intrapersonal intelligence,  we dressed up in leprechaun clothes when we were the one's hiding the gold. I believe when a child dresses up or plays make-believe, their self- intelligence is being developed. We kept the hunt inside because it was mighty cold and wet outside. Even inside, her naturalist and spatial skills were still at work. The hunt was focused to two rooms of the house: the kitchen and the living room.  I thought the whole house was to large of an environment for our first scavenger hunt. She really had a good practice with perseverance and  her under, behind, in, and above observation skills. 

All sorts of counting(logical mathematical intelligence) was happening as we played the game: How many have you found? How many more do you need to find? When she found big piles she'd count each one, then say I found four. I loved hearing all the math language she was using!! We had to stop playing to get ready for school, but our afternoon continued with rainbow painting!( More to come below)

The next morning we added the numbers to the game board. Em dictated each number while I wrote. We when got to 12, she lost track. This is a great opportunity to teach the count-on skill. I went back and pointed at the number 10 and said "ten". This got her going. I pointed at 11, she said "eleven". I pointed at 12, she said, "twelve, THIRTEEN!" She was so excited she remembered. We actually had to repeat this again for 14, and 15.  Parents, this is why I love playing games. It gives you the opportunity to assess your child's needs in the moment and teach from there. I call this experiential learning! 

  

Our Rainbow paint afternoon!

The supplies needed:

The recipe:

I discovered I needed more water! Also, while the mixture is cooking, a wooden spoon works way better for mixing than a plastic spoon. When the mixture is smooth and slighty thick, it is done. After you cook it, if it looks like this put more water in!

 Don't make my mistake :) Mine was too thick and started hardening in the yogurt containers

(I love using recycled yogurt containers for painting projects.)

We went to work exercising our spatial, logical-mathematical, and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences, with some color mixing.

Making orange. Emery did the dropping. I instructed her with how many drops. For example for orange, I stated," Put three drops yellow, two drops red." Please adapt this to what your child(ren) developmental levels are....meaning you may need to do all the prep and just let them paint. 

The end results! I could tell the paint still wasn't quite the right consistency. I once again added water.

Can you tell a difference in the two paints? The bottom is before more water.It is too thick! Also, please notice our work station. I had plenty of paper towels around. I laid out the rainbow cards we made on a previous day. This helped Em recall the order of a rainbow.

The next photo is of a  very important tool. It is a paint knife. We used it for stirring. The paint quickly wiped off when we had to make a new color. If you don't have a paint knife, popsicle sticks would work as a stir stick. Just use a new stick for each color.

When our paint was all cool, Em started painting. I had told her we needed to make Lucy the Leprechaun a thank you card for the gifts and fun ideas! The point of this was to exercise her interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence. Here is her card and mailing envelope.

&, of course throughout the day we were working our musical intelligence with the following tune:

Feeling Lucky,

M.I. MaMa

The Leprechauns are Marching

This month we have been reciting the following poems/songs. Em really enjoys them. I used these two poems while teaching Kindergarten. Currently, they are hanging on the fridge.  Poems and songs are a great tool for building linguistic and musical intelligences. 

This poem is from Maurice Sendak's book Chicken Soup with Rice. It is a fabulous book for introducing calendar months to children. I introduce each month's poem on the first day of the month.

Hope you enjoy,
M.I. MaMa

Valentines Day the Multiple Intelligence Way

Holidays just seem to get bigger around here the older Lil' Em gets. 3 really has been the magical year! To start the day off with a little spice and surprise, the night before I made a display of all the next day's activities. This is what Lil' Em woke up to.

We discussed how today was Valentines Day~a day to celebrate LOVE!!! This immediately led to a discussion about the feeling of love, followed with her listing who she loves in life. What a great intrapersonal lesson first thing in the morning! We then briefly discussed how people use the heart as a symbol of love. Of course by this time she wanted to dive right into the candy, but instead we first had a heart packed breakfast of brainberry pancakes. That's right, I called them brainberries. Those little berries are loaded with good nutrients for the brain and body! This is my best attempt at a heart pancake..I need to invest in a larger heart cookie cutter, it would have made life a little easier at that moment.

After breakfast we continued cooking. Cooking is a bodily-kinesthetic experience that people of all ages can benefit from. Children especially love to cook! The best part is that MANY lessons and intelligences can be involved in the cooking process. Currently my daughter is (finally) grasping the concept of step -by-step while doing a large project. Being she has always been 3 or under, she was the dive right in kind~ if ya know what I mean. If you have tried cooking with your toddler before and it turned into a disaster I strongly encourage you to try again.

While the cookies were in the oven, Lil Em and I went back to discussing the shape of a heart. For a spatial activity we used pipe cleaners to construct these hearts.

We started by bending the pipe cleaner in half.

Next, we opened up the pipe cleaner and formed a 'V' shape. This makes a nice point for the bottom of the heart. We then curled over the top of each pipe cleaner to form the heart curves. When the two tops are curved they should meet in order to twist and secure them together. I had to help with the twisting but she sure gave it a try! Fine motor skills at work!!

Em's heart shaped easel painting is also another spatial activity that is well incorporated into the day's theme.

After a few cookies, we were on to the next activity. We re-visited an interpersonal activity from earlier in the week. For Lil' Em's preschool party we constructed hand-made Valentines. Today we were going over to GG's house(Grandma Gail) and we made a Valentine to take with us. These pic is from previously made valentines.

We took a little break to go visit GG, but returned back to our activities later in the day. To inspire the naturalist in us we started with collecting rocks from around the house(It was POURING today). We then constructed a rock heart together. 

This very shortly became a solo activity, which led to Em constructing lots of other shapes. The logical-mathematical was emerging and integrating before our eyes. When she was done with this I asked for her to help me with clean-up. I had intentionally left all the heart gems, candies, and ribbons on the counter to use in a logical-mathematical activity. I pulled out a veggie tray and asked her to help me clean by sorting each piece. 

This is the end result. She sorted by color, except for the ribbons. Afterwards she counted out some hearts one by one to 13. She always gets a little confused after this point and I hear numbers like twelve-teen..LOVE IT!

To end our day of activities we did a pre-reading lesson to reinforce the linguistic intelligence. We also read Valentine books from the local library and home library.

Throughout the day we were listening to music we "loved" to connect with the musical intelligence in us! After Lil' Em was in bed I thought about how a dance party would have been perfect!! O well, next time. Here is Lil' Em doin what she does best...the little HAM!

These ideas can be adapted in any way you can think of, with any holiday or theme you can think of. The beauty in it all is when the child emerges with their own ideas!! When I design my ideas I focus on a few learning objectives, than think of how to incorporate all the intelligences. Since Em is 3, I focused on social relationships with family and friends, emphasizing the feeling of love, following directions, shapes, beginning math skills, and early literacy skills.  I'm excited to get the shamrocks out!!

Musical Intelligence

Everyone knows what music is! It may even be the most known out of all the intelligences we're born with.

In some form or another, we all have the inclination for music, yet when it comes down to it, people usually classify them self as either musically talented or not musically talented.

 Although I am not one of the “musically talented” people, I still like to think I can sing…well I can, especially in the car J Which leads me to the point of my ramble here...we all have music ability, some are just more blessed than others! Heck, each of us have ALL the intelligences I’m writing about on here, it’s just depends on how ya use em! I’ll save that ramble for another post…

Even with being extremely prominent in our society, I'd still like to properly define music intelligence as sensitivity to sounds, rhythms, tones, and music. If a person’s intelligence is dominated by the strengths of this form they have keen abilities in pitch, vocals, musical instruments, and composing music.  There is a strong auditory component associated with learning; singing songs or rhythms is a common strategy when approaching new tasks. These folks obviously make great musicians, composers, and disc-jockeys.

Every time I am writing an entry I keep coming back to how each intelligence and its attributes are prominent and crucial in child development. I started singing to Lil’ Em the day she was born. I admit it may have been the ABC’s. No, I am not one of those over-expose, shove it down your throat moms, it just happened to be the first song that popped in my head after years of teaching, plus the tune is so easy!  Don’t worry many other songs came rushing back. I have to say though, that girl had no problem learning her ABC’s. She’s been singing and identifying them since 18 months. As she grows, she continues to develop her love for singing and playing instruments. Here she is last summer doing her version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. We had recently attended a FREE concert in the park Summer series in which an Irish man played his guitar on his lap. When we came home she immediately started her own musical play.

Here’s a little Old McDonald too. (I wish these weren't such short horribly filmed snippets. These videos are my first shots; the second videos are too long for here and WAY cuter!! At that time I wasn't planning on file size for a blog, I was thinking long content. hmm, Maybe there's a way to post larger files and I just haven't figured it out..? Help needed here )

& a little "drive" by Incubus

As I ponder this intelligence, I can’t help put visualize the performer:

There are great community classes out there to help promote musical intelligence in all ages! For the little ones check out local movement and music classes. These are usually held at local music centers, community centers, or private studios. When age-appropriate, enrolling in a local preschool is usually a musical experience as well. For the older kiddos, it’s never too late to learn an instrument or join a choir. For adults, it's never too late either! We all can benefit from a little harmony!

Good Read #1- Let's PLAY!!

This article was handed out at the local preschool co-op we belong to. Choosing a path for your child’s education is an important decision every parent faces. With that said, every stage in development seems to have its buzz choices. Since my daughter is 3, we are still in the preschool years. This article was handed out at our last general meeting. It basically wraps up every reason why I chose the school I did. It can apply to the later years as well.  Don’t worry, I will not jump on a soapbox right now about choosing a certain type of school for your child. Every parent knows what their child needs. Nor, do I think that because we chose a play- based preschool vs. a skill-based, Lil’ Em is goin to Harvard. She will aspire to be whatever she aspires to be. Hope you enjoy the article!

www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/12/29/christakis.play.children.learning/index.html?iref=allsearch

A Network of Thought : The 8 Intelligences Introduced

    Hi All! Let’s talk Howard Gardner, not that I know him personally or have I ever met him in passing. I do know about some of his work or should I say theory. Howard is a psychologist well known for his Theory of Multiple Intelligences. He and his wife are professors at Harvard University. I could tell you a few more facts on him, but as I already said, I don’t know him personally so if you want to know more about him just Google him and you’ll find out all the info you need to know(Surprisingly the wikipedia page does a fine job). 

   How Gardner’s work applies to my life is more like an inspirational platform. Gardner’s work coincides with how I view intelligence. Intelligence is not just an IQ score, nor can it solely be measured by a test. The theory implies there are eight different types of intelligence that each human naturally has..meaning we all have each type of intelligence; it’s just few or even only one type end up being prominent in our life, very similar to strengths and weaknesses. Gardner's eight classifications of  intelligence  are as follows: linguistic intelligence, logic-mathematical intelligence, musical intelligence, spatial intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, naturalist intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, and a intrapersonal intelligence that each human possesses. Gardner stresses in our society only the linguistic and logic-mathematical intelligences are emphasized/valued because these are the two types of intelligence measured in IQ tests. As an educator and mama, I can say I believe this opinion true especially when you look at the current educational model that influences the public school system and a lot of children’s toys made by major manufacturing companies! I can also say this is where our educational system may be going wrong and why a lot of student's end up struggling with intellectual development. Not here though! My adventures will lead to nurturing all the intelligences, whether a strength or weakness. By using our individual strengths we can promote weaknesses to flourish. Each human deserves to belong in the network of thought.

     With that said, Each intelligence has its own characteristics that I will describe in detail in future posts.   I’m sure right now most of you are already starting to define these 8 categories..which is a good thing :) They pretty much do define themselves although a detailed description is very worthy. When I was exposed to this theory I immediately started recognizing how it applied to my own intelligence, my family member’s intelligence, student’s intelligence, and the greater human population. I am hooked for lack of better words.