Tuesday is cleaning day, but I try to take breaks to play with L. RJ has Kindergarten in the morning and co-op in the afternoon, so all these activities are for L. Like yesterday, I probably won't get to all of these, but it's nice to have options of what to do when I take breaks from the cleaning to play with L.
1.) Listening to Baroque & Classical Music while cleaning
2.) Looking at Pictures of the pages we already covered in Usborne book - reinforcing topics
3.) Making of a Piano video (since L missed it yesterday): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAInt7hIZlU
4.) Rhythm practice
4.) Rhythm practice
5.) Pitch Practice
6.) Glee Karaoke (L's favorite song of the moment is Don't Stop Believing and I've been intending to catch him singing it on video)
How it went:
1.) L did want to listen to music, but he insisted on listening to a variety of different versions of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing". Luckily after the 4th version (We listened to the original and then 3 different Glee arrangements), he let the playlist continue. We'll try Baroque & Classical music another day.
2.) Didn't get to this
3.) He did get to watch the video, and I was impressed it kept his attention the whole way through, since it was a bit technical. Even if he didn't absorb the details, I would file this experience under "It's better than him watching cartoons when I'm trying to sweep the living room floor".
4, 5, & 6.) We did not get around to these. I suppose singing along to "Don't Stop Believing" on repeat was pretty much what we would've done with the Glee Karaoke on the Wii, just without the microphones and knowing if we were hitting the right notes. Unlike the karaoke game, I was able to sweep the floor in our family room and kitchen as I was doing it, which was a bonus. When we were in the family room sweeping (and listening to music), he brought out the drumsticks and was freely playing the drums (okay, he was playing the RockBand drum pad even though it wasn't on - his drum kit is in the other room) along with the music.
While you would think that L's obsession with one song would get old, I have to consider myself lucky that this time it's one of my favorite songs too. It is completely normal for 3 year old children to crave repetition. Most parents probably see this most clearly in their child's frequent requests for a favorite book or a favorite movie, but it's common to see lots of repetition in music choices and in children's play as well. It makes sense from a developmental standpoint, because repetition, both with and without variation, allows for mastery of skills, as well as deeper understanding with each repetition. Even in your own life, you probably find that you catch something new when you watch a movie for the second (or the 10th) time. Since children don't necessarily grasp all aspects of the plot (for books or movies) or lyrics (for songs) the first time around, they choose to go back and try again (and again and again) until they fully understand it. In L's case, he's heard the song here and there for a good portion of his life, because I like the song and it's featured in one or more of it's incarnations on at least three different heavy rotation playlists. Something about it was interesting to him, and he latched onto it. He started asking for it as his bedtime lullaby a few weeks ago, increasing his frequency of asking to play the song, and now he walks around the house singing parts of the chorus and also sings along to the verses and chorus when the song is playing. With that said, it's a good bet that part of his motivation for this little obsession was learning the lyrics was that he could sing along like I do.
I think the main reason why we didn't engage in the book review, rhythm practice, or pitch practice today was because he wanted to build with legos for our longer cleaning break in the morning. So, I was spending time with him in between the cleaning, just not on music themed stuff. It happens. I try to maintain a balance of child-led play and adult-led activities, and some days have more of one while others feature more of the other. It really depends on how much RJ & L are engaged in their free play and how the lulls in their play fit in with the times that I'm free for playing (because while I'd love to always be able to play, the house doesn't clean itself, nor does dinner cook itself, etc.)
2.) Didn't get to this
3.) He did get to watch the video, and I was impressed it kept his attention the whole way through, since it was a bit technical. Even if he didn't absorb the details, I would file this experience under "It's better than him watching cartoons when I'm trying to sweep the living room floor".
4, 5, & 6.) We did not get around to these. I suppose singing along to "Don't Stop Believing" on repeat was pretty much what we would've done with the Glee Karaoke on the Wii, just without the microphones and knowing if we were hitting the right notes. Unlike the karaoke game, I was able to sweep the floor in our family room and kitchen as I was doing it, which was a bonus. When we were in the family room sweeping (and listening to music), he brought out the drumsticks and was freely playing the drums (okay, he was playing the RockBand drum pad even though it wasn't on - his drum kit is in the other room) along with the music. While you would think that L's obsession with one song would get old, I have to consider myself lucky that this time it's one of my favorite songs too. It is completely normal for 3 year old children to crave repetition. Most parents probably see this most clearly in their child's frequent requests for a favorite book or a favorite movie, but it's common to see lots of repetition in music choices and in children's play as well. It makes sense from a developmental standpoint, because repetition, both with and without variation, allows for mastery of skills, as well as deeper understanding with each repetition. Even in your own life, you probably find that you catch something new when you watch a movie for the second (or the 10th) time. Since children don't necessarily grasp all aspects of the plot (for books or movies) or lyrics (for songs) the first time around, they choose to go back and try again (and again and again) until they fully understand it. In L's case, he's heard the song here and there for a good portion of his life, because I like the song and it's featured in one or more of it's incarnations on at least three different heavy rotation playlists. Something about it was interesting to him, and he latched onto it. He started asking for it as his bedtime lullaby a few weeks ago, increasing his frequency of asking to play the song, and now he walks around the house singing parts of the chorus and also sings along to the verses and chorus when the song is playing. With that said, it's a good bet that part of his motivation for this little obsession was learning the lyrics was that he could sing along like I do.
I think the main reason why we didn't engage in the book review, rhythm practice, or pitch practice today was because he wanted to build with legos for our longer cleaning break in the morning. So, I was spending time with him in between the cleaning, just not on music themed stuff. It happens. I try to maintain a balance of child-led play and adult-led activities, and some days have more of one while others feature more of the other. It really depends on how much RJ & L are engaged in their free play and how the lulls in their play fit in with the times that I'm free for playing (because while I'd love to always be able to play, the house doesn't clean itself, nor does dinner cook itself, etc.)
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