Kindermusik Educators' Performance at Tanglin Mall.

All who attended the Kindermusik educators' performance on 21st May at the Tanglin Mall had a good time. The educators exhibited their considerable talent and versatility performing with different musical instruments, sang in different languages, and generally won the hearts of all those present.

Indeed, the audience enjoyed themselves so much that we received numerous enquiries from parents who are now interested in enrolling their children in the programs after the performances! We like to extend a big thank you to all the Kindermusik parents who turned up to support and sing along with our educators.

Kindermusik welcomes its new business partners.
In order to bring Kindermusik curricula to parents who are unable to make the trip down to Tanglin Mall, Kindemusik Asia has embarked on an expansion program in which it seeks new preschools, infant/child care centers, enrichment centers, churches etc to offer Kindermusik curricula to its children. We are happy to announce the following new partners have joined the Kindermusik family:

A New Electronic Learning Program
Once in a while, our newsletter provides its readers with what's news in the market on children learning programs and services that are not Kindermusik's. A recent article in the UK on FasTracKids endorses this new concept of learning:

"Recent government guidance on education of children aged 3 - 7 described parents as the "children's first and most enduring educators". Originally from USA, FasTracKids Education Program gives parents a structured approach to continue their important role in their child's education. The home learning program includes a wide general knowledge covering arts, science, environment and commerce. However the goals also give great emphasis to developing the child's ability to learn. The program is underpinned by the belief that there are different kinds of intelligences including linguistic, logical, visual and personal. The curriculum covers the range making it likely that parents will uncover any particular talents or interests that their children have".

If you like to find out more about the program visit www.askhub.com

Storytelling
There's a mini-audio theatre inside your child. A big-screen imagination. Surround-sound stereo. Pick a script-like a favorite song, book, or movie-and studies show that the more storyteller skills he uses to hear and retell that story, the more his memory, comprehension, and ability to think on his feet dramatically improve.

How can you develop the storyteller in your child? Cue your recorders and cameras and capture some great storyteller moments with the activities in this edition of Tune In.

Masterface theatre

Your baby already uses the techniques of great storytellers. You can read her like a book. She pulls her ear when she's tired. She makes a face at that impending spoonful of strained peas.

She's predicted what happens next when she giggles before the last piggy goes "all the way home." Repeating familiar stories like these with exaggerated physical gestures-making faces, changing voices, touching and tickling her toes in "This Little Piggy"-helps her identify the pattern, or the sequence of events, of that story in her mind.

Here's how you can help to define that pattern for your baby:

• When singing songs or playing games like "This Little Piggy," leave out the last phrase "all the way home" and she will "fill in the blank" eventually developing her ability to "hear" a story or song internally.

This is My Dance (with CD & Mini Drum) (Big Book @ S$ 63 before GST) - limited stock (Small Book @ S$ 54 before GST) available @ Tanglin Mall Studio or Online Internet Purchase

"I am the story"

A toddler learns the power of the spoken word when he says "no." He usually gets an instant response from the adults around him. And eventually he realizes that words produce other actions. He says "bottle" or "juice" and out comes the bottle. Out comes the juice.

He's interested in stories that produce similar reactions-reactions to him from adults. The hard part is helping him sit still long enough to get to "the end" of stories. He likes to move and has a hard time understanding others' points of view.

Here's how to help your toddler "become the story." With enough repetition, he can eventually "pretend" to read the entire story to you.

• Provide actual objects of the ones mentioned in the book. Use real stuffed animals, musical instruments, or little plastic boats.
• Demonstrate the action words. If it's a story about a boat, rock back and forth. Stand up and pretend to zoom around the room.
• Sing a favorite song in a section, like "Wheels on the Bus," for a book about trucks.
• Build anticipation and ask, "What's next?" before you turn the page.
• Substitute your toddler's name for the main character of the story.
• Put together a photo-story of a typical day for your toddler. Take pictures in the morning as you go through the rituals of his day. Sit with your toddler and tell the story about what's happening from one picture to the next.

Watch Me ! (with CD & Headed Tambourine) (Big Book @ S$ 63 before GST) - limited stock (Small Book @ S$ 54 before GST) available @ Tanglin Mall Studio or Online Internet Purchase

Sounding pictures

A preschooler has an almost supersonic sense of hearing, one she uses for developing phonemic awareness, or the ability to break down sounds so she can learn to spell and read. It typically develops as a preschooler plays around with poems, songs, and stories filled with rhymes and alliteration.

You can help your preschooler "play" a storytelling game while developing her listening skills at home.

You need:
A tape recorder
Paper and crayons or markers

• Ask her to go around the house and record the sounds that she would hear in her favorite story.
• Ask your preschooler to draw a picture that represents those sounds.
• Put the sounds and pictures together and ask your preschooler to retell the story without the book.

Welcome To Our House (With CD with House @ S$ 56 before GST) - limited stock available @ Tanglin Mall Studio or Online Internet Purchase

Story box

Stories that are less predictable, with less predictable endings, satisfy a big kid's curiosity for more information and new words. Turning around and telling one herself is a different story altogether. It's also the mark of great storytellers and public speakers: to think on your feet and use words in creative ways that hold a person's interest.

This activity develops your big kid's interest in books and stories, as well as her understanding of the elements of story. The fun for her is filling in the blanks between those actions.

That's a square story
Your big kid can make up her own story using two storytelling boxes. Roll one box to determine the character then roll the second box for the action. Then your big kid "acts out" the story.

You need:
Two medium-sized boxes, cube-sized works best
Paper Scissors
Glue
A tape recorder or journal to write down the stories your big kid creates

• Create the character box. Choose favorite characters from a familiar story, movie, or cartoon. Tape, draw, or paste those faces on all six sides of the character box.
• Create the action box. Create six examples of actions those characters would do and paste them on the box.

Let the story "roll"

• Roll each box, one at a time. Your big kid then "acts" that sequence out based on the character and the actions on the box.
• Ask questions: What was that character thinking? What was she wearing? How did she feel?

Write down or record the plot. Or your big kid can write the story down.