Say Hello To Our New Partners

Additions to the Kindermusik Family We like to extend a warm welcome to our new partners

A NEW MEMBER HAS JOINED THE BAND !

Kindermusik @ Jurong West promotes programs to children and families living in the Jurong West neighbourhood. Programs held at The Frontier Community Club include Kindermusik Village, Kindermusik Our Time, and Kindermusik Adventures.

Also offering a new program from Kindermusik, Kindermusik Family Time is a one-room schoolhouse approach to family music-making and learning while exposing your children to social and emotional skills they will need for school, or even at the playground. Skills they will need to take them through a lifetime of learning!

For more information, please call May Wong at 94525200 or

email may.kindermusik@gmail.com.

NEW PRODUCTS JUST ARRIVED!!

	SING AND MOVE WITH KINDERMUSIK CD SET @ S$84.50/set OR S$29.90/pc (before GST) Kindermusik’s early learning and music experts put together a special collection of CDs to strengthen a child’s emerging learning skills—from head, to heart, to toe. Each CD features a different theme: cars and trains; animal dances; and sing-along songs with high-quality musical arrangements for music and learning time. Boost literacy and critical listening skills, too. Set features a mix of folk songs and genres from a variety of cultures. Includes: Wheels Go Round CD, Get Up & Move CD, and Pick a Song & Sing Along CD. Ages 2 to 5 years
	SYMPHONY DOLL - SUN @ S$17.90 (before GST) Press this soft-squeezable sun in the center and you’ll hear Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. With two krinkly-layers of sun-beam coming from the center of this warm, smiling sun face, you’ll want to attach the easy clip-on and off teething-ring handle to almost anything: strollers, diaper bags, and cribs. Ages Newborn to 18 months
	BABY RAINBOSHAKER @ S$12.90 (before GST) Create your own rainbow with multi-colored beads that cascade through colorful balconies inside a clear plastic cylinder. Ages 6 months to 3 years

Check out our Studio at Tanglin Mall for more products Tel : 6467 1789

Just Hanging Out

Have you ever spent a "just do nothing," relaxing day gently swinging in a hammock? Lilting back and forth in an outdoor hammock is not only relaxing to adults but beneficial to babies and young children. Rocking, swinging, twisting, and swaying stimulate the vestibular system, which handles the sense of balance, gravity, and physical orientation.

Rock-a-bye, Baby

Treat your baby to some outdoor vestibular system stimulation in the security of a blanket hammock held between you and another adult. It's as easy as following a few important safety tips and then singing and swinging.

Side to Side Hammock Ride:

• Find a blanket or throw and a shady outdoor spot.
• Fold the blanket to make a baby-proportionate "hammock" (with a foot or more of extra blanket surrounding Baby when he is lying down).
• Hold the blanket at one end, one hand at each corner, and spread the rest of the blanket on the ground.
• As you keep your end of the blanket slightly elevated, the other adult will place Baby on his back on the blanket, head supported at your end of the hammock.
• The second adult will then pick up the "foot end" of the hammock and the two of you can gently raise Baby just two or three inches above the ground and begin to rock him side to side.
• Watch your baby closely. Most babies enjoy hammocking. Some children, however, may not or simply may not be in the mood for it. You can always try it again later.
• Finally, sing to your baby as you rock him. The traditional favorite "Rock-a-bye, Baby" suits this well. (We like to adapt the words of the last phrase to "And mother—or father—will catch you, cradle and all.") You can also enjoy the enchanting garden tune, "White Coral Bells."

Note: If your baby is small, you may also try holding the hammock as pictured for a forward and back swing.

Zooming In

The outside surrounds us with colorful activity—busy insects on the ground, clouds moving across the sky, the rustling and bustling of animals, and much more. At any one time, there is "busy-ness" all around, but your child cannot pay attention to everything!

There are many benefits to zooming in and focusing on one thing. The intentional act of choosing what to observe for a period of time allows your child to develop the attention skills necessary for learning. Such skills include observing, discriminating, understanding, and remembering. With repetition and practice, your child can improve this type of focus by being selective and paying attention to one thing while choosing to ignore others.

I Spy with My Little Eye

Your child will naturally be ins pired to use her senses—especially her sight—when peering through her own, handcrafted "binoculars." Using items you already have, you can create this tool together to support her budding observation and attention skills.

Binoculars Construction and Games

Materials Needed:

• Two short cardboard tubes (toilet paper roll tubes as is or a paper towel tube cut in half)
• Assorted art supplies (paint, tissue paper, glue, markers, stickers, etc.)
• Hole puncher
• String, ribbon, or yarn

Steps:

1. With your child's assistance, glue or tape the two tubes together, side by side.
2. Once the tubes are securely fastened, decorate the binoculars. Encourage your child to make choices in this process, asking either/or questions to help her if she doesn't have ideas for where to begin. For example, "Which would you like to use first—the markers or the stickers?"
3. Fashion a simple strap using the hole puncher and string.
4. Show your child how to look through the binoculars.

Games:

• Spot outdoor things and creatures playing "I Spy" (e.g. "I spy with my little eye something up high that is green.").
• Listen for birds and other creatures and play "Who's Making All that Noise?" Sing the song with your child about each creature she identifies looking through her binoculars.

Blowing Like the Wind

Is blowing bubbles one of your child's favorite outside play activities? The mere act of blowing increases the strength of the diaphragm and lungs, hel ping to develop breath support. Blowing also is beneficial in strengthening mouth muscles for singing, speaking, or reading a complete sentence or thought. With increased muscle strength and control and breath control, language development is supported. Blowing also leads children to experiment and become aware of the fact that they can use breath to make a variety of sounds, to move things, to blow out candles, or to create a cooling breeze.

Wind in Your Sails

Let your child provide the weather and the vessel for a miniature sailboat expedition. Assist her first in creating a sailboat of her design. Then find a small "sea," let the "winds" blow, and enjoy the afternoon.

Sailboat Construction

Materials Needed:

• Margarine tub or other similar container, or a piece of Styrofoam or balsa wood for the boat body
• Straw, pencil, or tongue depressor for the mast
• Construction paper for the sail
• Modeling clay or play dough as a base for the mast
• Assorted art supplies (stickers, markers, tape, stapler, etc.)

Steps: Assist your child as she builds an original sailboat. Throughout the process, enjoy singing "Build Me a Boat" together.

1. Invite your child to select materials for a boat body and mast. Offer suggestions such as those listed above.
2. Allow her to decorate the sail in her preferred way. Ask questions as needed to spur on her creativity.
3. Engage your child's problem-solving skills in deciding how to fasten the sail to the mast and the mast to the boat body.
4. Set sail! Find a small pond or wading pool and test the seaworthiness of the newly built sailboat. Before embarking, discuss with your child the possibility that the boat might be damaged in the water but that it will lead to some fun play and interesting discoveries.
5. Encourage your child to create windy weather to propel the boat on its course.

Solving Problems

A steady stream of questions is the makings of a healthy problem-solving habit. You can help your child establish this habit by creating and flying a homemade kite together. The process is bound to lead to inquiry—"How can I make a kite that will stay up? Does the weight of the paper change the way it flies? Does my kite need a tail?" Questions such as these are expressions of your child's need to research, explore, and discover. Trying new things, making errors, and learning from the whole process are all part of problem-solving, a habit that shapes lifetime learners.

Go Fly a Kite!

There are as many homemade kite designs as people to fly them. Check out a book or the Internet to find fancy designs or invent one (problem-solving skills will be especially fortified in that process!). Or simply try the following kite that begins as a paper bag.

Making a Kite

Materials Needed:

• Large brown paper grocery bag
• Strong string
• Child-safe scissors
• Tape
• Assorted art supplies (paint, markers, crepe paper, glue, etc.)
• Hole puncher

Steps: Assist your child while allowing him to lead the process as much as possible.

1. Reinforce the top four corners of the bag with masking tape.
2. Punch a hole in each reinforced corner.
3. Cut three 30-inch pieces of string. Set one piece aside.
4. Tie each end of two of the strings through the holes, one string in each, creating two loops that look like string handles.
5. Use one end of the third string to tie the two loops together. The free end of this string is your pull-string.
6. Invite your child to decorate his kite. He might attach "tails" (crepe paper streamers) or create an animal kite.
7. Go fly your kite! Hold the pull-string and run until the wind lifts your kite. When you've mastered that, sing a kite-flying song such as "Blow My Kite" as your kite dances with the weather.
8. Be safe! Never fly your kite near electric power lines or other hazards.
9. Finally, engage your child's problem-solving genius. "Did the kite surprise you in flight? Why? Could we improve the kite?" Follow your child's interest through the process of new kite creations.