Raising Creative Children » creativity

You Can Teach Your Child to Play the Piano

Lorelei — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:25:20 +0000

Piano Lesson

One of the best ways to help a child succeed is to get him or her involved in music at an early age. Even a few minutes per day is enough to teach your child a musical instrument. This would be a great way to spend your time, because studies have shown that children taught to play music at a young age do better in school and have better discipline. Piano is a great instrument to start on, because it can be a great gateway instrument – meaning that if you can play piano, it’s easier to pick up other instruments down the road. Furthermore, you can’t lose a piano, and it’s also very hard to drop or crack!

Purchasing a Piano

You don’t need to buy an expensive piano to teach your child how to play. Even a simple keyboard is enough to help him develop coordination and the ability to read music. Visit a local electronics store, or consider trying Craigslist or Ebay to find something simple. The bigger the keyboard is, the more useful it will be to you in the long run, but it might be beneficial to choose a cheaper, smaller model. If your child doesn’t enjoy it, you won’t be out too much money. A standard keyboard has 88 keys, but try to purchase something with at least 42 keys.

Finger Dexterity

When playing piano, the goal is to develop finger independence, so that each finger can play each key of the piano effectively. The last thing you want is for your child to become frustrated because his fingers aren’t cooperating. So, have your child place all five fingers anywhere on the keyboard. Then, ask him to depress one key at a time very slowly. The goal is to try and depress the keys without moving any of the other fingers. This will be difficult at first, but with enough practice, he will learn to do this effectively on his own.

Identify Middle C

Music Lessons Can Increase Your Child's Intelligence

Help your child identify where “middle C” is on the piano. This is the basis for good posture and will help him find his hand position. Have him sit in front of the keyboard. The keyboard or piano should be adjusted so that the keyboard falls just beneath his hands. His arms should be at just less than a 90 degree angle and parallel to the piano. Show your child middle C by asking him to find the white key to the left of the set of double black keys. Then, ask him to find the C that is closest to the center of the piano. This is middle C, and is one of the most fundamental aspects of learning how to play piano.

Finger Numbers

Next, you need to teach your child the numbers of each finger. When playing piano, early music has numbers written above the notes. These numbers tell you what finger to use to play a note. By learning the numbers associated with each finger, your child can more easily play songs. Have him hold both hands out in front of him, with palms facing away. Tell your son (or daughter) that the thumbs on both hands are 1s. Then, the fingers go up to 5, ending on the pinkies. Next, have him place his right hand on the keyboard. Tell him to play the finger that you call out. Call out random numbers until he correctly plays the finger associated with each number. Once the right hand is mastered, he can move on to the left hand. When he can play with each hand separately, have him place both hands on the keyboard, to see if he can play “hands together.”

Further Instruction

Work on these basic lessons for at least a month. Once your child has mastered these skills and developed some coordination, purchase a method book for young beginners. Guide your child through the book or hire a piano teacher to help him continue to develop. As long as you dedicate yourself, you can keep up with him for quite a while. Eventually, you’ll have to hand the reins over to a qualified instructor, but you can definitely save some money in the beginning while your child works through the first few books.

Guest Post
This post was written by Melissa Tyler. She likes to write, spend time with her family and frequent www.dentalinsurance.net

Photo Credits:
Top: photo by Will Merydith.
Middle: photo by Iampeas

Welcome Summer! Preschool Lesson Plans

Lorelei — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 22:30:57 +0000

Wearing Sunglasses May Protect Young Eyes from Damage

Summer is nearly here! Gardens are growing, flowers blooming, bugs buzzing about – and it is a great time to teach your preschooler about the great outdoors. For this Welcome Summer lesson plan, your child may learn:

Summer is the season that comes after spring
In summer, the days are often sunny and hot
gardens that were planted in the spring now continue to grow
many flowers bloom
Trees that bloomed in the spring may now be growing fruits
Baby animals that were born in the spring are growing bigger
We need to protect our skin from too much sun
We protect our eyes, as well, from bright sun by wearing sun glasses
Water is fun to play with, but we must be careful around water
We should drink more water in the summer

Teaching the Concepts

This week you will also focus on the letter R, the color red, a rectangle shape, and the number four. These concepts are introduced during the calendar activity. You might have a shelf around your calendar, where you display objects that begin with the “r” sound, like a rubber band, a ring, a toy rabbit, a silk rose, a rag, something red, a rook from a chess set, a ruler. When you and your child talk about the date, and count the numbers from the first of the month to today, then you may point to the items and teach your child the names if he doesn’t know them. Help him to recognize the sound that they begin with. Show him a letter R. I buy six-inch wooden alphabet letters in the craft store and paint them. They come with a plastic hook stapled to the back, that I leave on, and hang them on the wall. Tape a rectangle shape to the wall. Display some things that are rectangular. Display four things, and have your child count them with you. You might not cover all of this every day. Always end an activity before your child is restless and bored.

Summer Sun and Sunscreen Use

This summer, you may want to move many of the projects and other activities to the back yard. It will keep the house cleaner, and your child will enjoy it more. Many children in the U.S.A. are actually deficient in vitamin D! This may be because they spend too much time indoors playing video games, or because they never go outside without sunscreen. The “authorities” disagree on how much sunlight exposure is too much. Those who push for sunscreen use insist that you apply it every time you go outside, and frequently during the day. Those who believe in a more natural approach, insist than thirty minutes outside without sunscreen is sufficient for your child to soak up some vitamin D. You must chose for yourself. I allow myself and my granddaughter to go out without sunscreen for a half an hour, especially if it is before 10am or after 4pm. After that, I either put on a long-sleeved, loose-fitting shirt, move to the shade, or apply sunscreen. I have sensitive skin, and I’m not convinced that sunscreen isn’t part of the skin-cancer problem, but that’s my issue. Encourage your child to wear a hat and/or sunglasses, to protect his face, ears, and eyes. You may wish to read these two opposing articles:

Serve Something Red

This week you will focus on the color red. Try to serve red foods at every meal. Some may be family favorites, and some your child might never have tasted before. Foods that are bright, bold colors tend to be very high in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. This week, consider serving some beets, strawberries, watermelon, cherries, cranberries, tomatoes, and red peppers. Visit Red Foods, the New Powerhouse for more information.

Wet Sand is a Different Sensory Experience than Dry Sand

I hope you and your child enjoy this week’s activities! Here is a list of great picture books. See what you can find at your local library, or purchase these from my store – which helps to keep this website free.

Five-Star Books:

Summer by Alice Low
Summer (Four Seasons) by Nuria Roca
Mouse’s First Summer by Lauren Thompson
Mama, Is It Summer Yet? by Nikki McClure
Carl’s Summer Vacation by Alexandra Day
Caterpillar Spring, Butterfly Summer by Susan Hood
Under Alaska’s Midnight Sun by Deb Vanasse
One Hot Summer Day by Nina Crews
Sunflower House by Eve Bunting

Quality Products for Your Preschooler: (Optional)

Drink Lots of Water in Warm Weather

These are extras, and not required for the lesson plans. However, if you are looking for a birthday gift, or if you want to create a great backyard play area, you may find these items helpful. Of course, the Alpine swing sets do not include the wood! You would purchase that extra at your local hardware store. My children had the geometric dome climber when they were little, and they loved it. My granddaughter has the Schwinn Roadster 12″ tricycle (in pink) and I feel it is the best trike on the market. It is solid, sturdy, stable, and easy to pedal on a variety of terrains.

Worksheets

These are optional. If your child is not ready for pencil and paper activities, just ignore them.
Letter R worksheet 1
Letter R worksheet 2
Letter R worksheet 3
Letter R Itsy Bitsy Book
Itsy-Bitsy Book Directions
Count and Trace number 4
Rectangles worksheet 1

Lesson Plans for Welcome Summer! week

Photo Credits:

Top: photo by Flyheatherfly
Middle: photo by Grandmamusher
Bottom: photo by wealhtheow1

When to say “No!”

Lorelei — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:14:39 +0000

Temper Tantrums

Whether you consider yourself to be permissive or authoritarian in your child-rearing style, it’s certain that at some point you will tell your child, “no!” It is very likely that your child hears this word many times a day. We say “no” when a toddler is about to stick a penny in the electric outlet, or in his mouth. We say “no” to an energetic preschooler running towards the street. We say “no” to the young child who wants to stay up late and watch just one more show on television. Sometimes, it may seem that all we ever say is “no”! Is there a way to get around this? No. Probably not! But the point of this discussion is to encourage us to think, before we shout this overused and under-heard exclamation.

Recently, I was at Wal-mart Optical helping my husband pick out new frames when a family came by with three grade-school aged children. The youngest might have been six. He was sitting in the shopping cart, screaming at the top of his lungs with a shrill pitch that made everyone think he had blood pouring out his eyeballs. The problem? He didn’t want to get his frames repaired, he wanted new frames. The parents were bent over him, anxiously trying to please him so he’d be quiet. They used every word in the dictionary, except “No!” Now if you’ve ever read the Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmies, then you know the right way to deal with this situation. You leave the store immediately. You do not placate a child in a tantrum, but neither should you subject the entire population of the store to his inappropriate behavior. You cannot reason with a child in a tantrum. You should not EVER give in to a child in a tantrum. Take him out to the car, take him home. Send him to his room, or his cry-rug, or his time-out corner. Then later, when he’s calmed down, you teach him.

That same day I was walking my dog, and saw a little two-year-old girl on the sidewalk, jumping up and down. She wore a sundress and lacey socks and shiny black shoes. Her wispy blonde hair was tugged back in a pony tail, but precious strands had come loose and were floating on the breeze with her enthusiasm. It was a joyous, carefree moment. But her father squelched it instantly, yelling “No! Don’t do that. Can’t you just walk like normal people?”

Both sets of parents did not know the correct use of the word. Both had failed to understand children, or the role of the parent. In both families there were hurt feelings and a lack of communication between adult and child.

So when do you say no?

As little as possible, and only when it’s absolutely necessary. If you say it all the time, your child will learn to tune you out. The best way to change your habit of overusing the word “no” is to just stop and think a moment before you speak.

Here are some examples:

Climbing Up The Slide

Your child is at the playground, trying to climb UP the slide. Every child does it. Most adults tell them not to. Is he going to hurt himself? Probably not. Is he hurting others? Not usually. Is he going to break the slide? Definitely not. So why not let him? This was a major peeve of mine when I worked at preschools and day care centers. There were sooooo many rules regarding the playground equipment! Children could not climb up the slides, they could not come down on their bellies. They could not come down head first. Walk up these stairs only. Walk down those stairs only. Don’t jump from the second to the bottom stair. Argh! Companies have been designing and developing playground equipment, trying to make them so safe that children can’t possibly get hurt (yeah, right, where there’s a will, there’s a way!) and still we feel compelled to restrict their creativity and imagination with a list of rules that would make the IRS cringe.

Throwing Sand is Fun

Your child is at the beach throwing sand. Do you really need to say “no?” Why do children like to throw sand? I don’t have a clue, but they ALL do it! They like to throw. Recently my granddaughter amused herself for nearly thirty minutes by picking up the annoying large green pods of the black walnuts and tossing them into the dumpster. She shrieked gleefully, “I won! I won!” every time she heard the satisfying thunk of the nut striking the heavy metal container. But we don’t like it when our children throw sand. We don’t want others to think our child is undisciplined. So we yell at our child (why not yell at the other people?) and threaten to take them home this minute if they don’t stop throwing sand! The last time I took my granddaughter to the beach, I tried a different tactic. The beach was not crowded. There was not a strong wind to carry the sand. I told her she could stand at the edge of the water and throw sand into the water, but not to throw it at anybody. I also warned her that she might get sand in her eyes. Then I left it up to her to discover. She gleefully threw fistfuls of sand into the waves for all of five minutes. That was it. She’d had her fun, and was ready to go on to another activity.

Suppose your child wants a piece of birthday cake for breakfast, and you want to tell him no, he needs to eat cereal. Is there really any less sugar in that box of honey-yummy-crunchies than the cake? It became a beloved tradition in my family, that the morning after a birthday, everyone could have cake for breakfast if they wanted to. And I rarely bought sugary honey-yummy-crunchies anyway. I am not in favor of letting children eat sugary sweets, but it is much easier just to NOT keep them in the house than to try to explain to a three year old why we only eat chocolate covered grahams after we’ve had a nutritious breakfast.

Another way to get around overusing “no” is to have clearly defined rules. I’ll go into more details about rules in another post, but for now, know that if you have a set bedtime, and your child asks to stay up late, you can just ask him the rule. “What is the rule in this house about bedtime?” Then the child can answer his own question. You’re not the big meanie saying “No”. Your child is learning to live by a set of rules, which is absolutely necessary to live in a society.

So remember, think before you answer. Do you really have to use the word “no”? If the answer is yes, then do it! Say it once. Say it with authority. Do not repeat yourself. If it seems appropriate at the time, you can explain to your child why you must say no. If your child throws a tantrum, then you discipline the tantrum. You do not change your “no” to a “yes”. If your child accepts the “no” well, praise him! Tell him how proud you are that he listened to you.

The more you can step back and allow your child to explore his world, the more you allow him to develop his innate creativity.

Books by Others:
Ten Days to a Less Defiant Child
Parenting with Love and Logic

Photo Credits:
Tantrum: Saad Aktar
Up the Slide: Kissy Face
Throwing Sand: CarbonNYC

Backyard Sandbox

Lorelei — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 08:16:34 +0000

Sand - Nature's Perfect Toy

Sand might be called the world’s most perfect toy. It is natural, readily available, generally affordable, and will provide hundreds of hours of enjoyment for your children and grandchildren. If you’re on a limited budget, the backyard sandbox should be the first thing you build, before a swing set or climber. Many families like to put the swing set and climber directly IN the sandbox, but I recommend that you don’t. First off, sand isn’t the softest thing a child could land on when he falls. It would be better to place wood chips, pea gravel, or recycled rubber under the swings. Secondly, children like to travel. If they have a sandbox in one area and a climber in another, they have two play spaces. Besides, if you have more than one child, naturally one is going to want to build a sand castle when the other would rather jump on top of it. Two play spaces is definitely better than one!

Select an area in your yard for the sandbox. Place it towards the back of the yard, so much of the sand falls off your child’s shoes (or bare feet) and clothing before he makes it to the door. Place it where you can see it from a window, but not too close to the fence. Find an area that is mostly flat, and gets shade for part of the day, unless you are planning to build an awning over of the box.

Think BIG! Build the biggest box your budget and your yard will allow. Ten-feet square is a nice size for two or three children. Mark out the area, then remove the grass and dig down. Sinking the box down into the ground will help keep the sand in the box and not blowing around in your child’s eyes on a windy day. It also helps prevent grass from growing up through the sand. Once you’ve dug the area out, level it as best you can, then loosely spread landscape fabric and staple it into the ground. This allows water to drain, but blocks weeds from sprouting.

Build the Largest Sandbox Your Budget Will Allow

You can build your box walls out of boards, or landscape timbers, or landscape blocks, or old tractor tires, or old splash pools, or any other material you can think of that is not toxic to your children. (Do not use pressure treated lumber, for that reason!) You don’t even have to use any walls at all, but fill the dirt hole up with sand. However, most sandboxes do have wooden sides, and some even have wooden benches for little bodies to sit on.

Finally, fill the box with sand. Many recommend buying play sand in 50 pound bags. It would take a lot of bags to fill a large sandbox! Washed sand is the same thing as play sand, and can be bought in bulk. Washed sand is free from dust and debris, weighs about 2700 pounds per cubic yard, and is tan in color.

Six Methods to Discourage Cats from Using Your Sandbox

Most websites recommend covering the sandbox to prevent cats from dirtying it, but I always felt that covers were unwieldly and limited how much use the sandbox would see. Small children can’t move the cover by themselves. There are a number of cat deterrents that may work just as well.

1) electric fencing. If you have a tall backyard fence, then run a string of electric wire across the top of the fence out of your child’s reach. No cat will cross it.

2) Keep a non-cat friendly dog in the yard. However, although the dog might not mess in the sand, he will still leave calling cards somewhere in your child’s play area.

3) Scarecrow Sprinklers are motion sensitive and hooked up to a garden hose. They will blast unwanted pests with water, but not harm them. (Of course, teach your child to turn it off, or it will blast him, as well!)

4) Motion-activated pet deterrent uses a high-pitched sound and blast of air to send cats on their way, without water. Great for indoors, too.

5 Smells. Some smells are offensive to cats, even when humans can’t smell them at all, such as the wintergreen scent of Keep Away. Other homemade cat deterrent sprays use a variety of herbs and spices like lavendar, cayanne pepper, rosemary, or citronella. These sprays will last up to two weeks, but need to be reapplied regularly.

Spread Pine Cones or Gravel Around the Sandbox to Discourage Cats

6) Texture. Cats don’t like to walk on certain bristly, rough-textured products like pine cones or gravel. You can surround your sandbox with a wide ring of shredded coconut shell mulch, and it may stop most cats.

If none of these methods work for you, then a web search should reveal more than fifty other options. Something will work. Of course, you could just cover your sandbox. I’d suggest screen instead of tarp for covering the box. You want the rain to wash the sand clean, rather than the damp dark tarp to keep the sand the right temperature and humidity for breeding bacteria.

Finally, you’ll want sandbox toys! Rotating the toys periodically will keep the interest level high. After spending all that time making the sandbox for your child, the best reward would be watching him enjoy it! So, for younger children, keep a supply of plastic measuring cups and spoons, small plastic cars, and play figurines will provide many hours of enjoyable, educational activity. As your child grows, add sand pails and sturdy shovels, then construction trucks like a dump truck and a steam shovel or back hoe. Children can bury things in the sand for scavenger hunts, or sculpt sand into interesting shapes with the addition of a little water. And sand can still be played with in the fall, even though the beaches are closed and it’s too cold to take off a jacket! There is a small window in the northern states when the sand simply freezes – effectively ending the sandy season for a little while.

Don’t forget, children model us. If you want your child to reap all the benefits of sand play, play with him in the sandbox! Once he sees how important you realize sand play is, he will play in the sand more. So what if he gets a little dirty? That before-bedtime bath is a great way to wind down from an exciting, educational day of play.

For further reading:
Sensory Play
Water Play
Working with Wood
Sand Castle

Photo Credits:
Top: amrufm
Middle: tammra
Bottom: bruno brujah

The Three “Ls”

Lorelei — Mon, 24 May 2010 04:18:36 +0000

“Love, Laughter and the Lord.”
I just watched the most amazing video on youtube! A couple in their nineties giving a piano duet at Mayo Clinic! They were fantastic, adorable, energetic, and wonderful role models.

When I think of being ninety, I’m not usually so enthusiastic. I think of myself being old, infirm, and maybe a burden to others. I picture the forgotten generation drooling away in nursing homes wearing disposable underwear. It’s not a bright future at all. But then along comes someone – two someones – a couple who have been married for more than six decades, to show me that my future has not yet been written! It will be whatever I make of it.

Marlow and Frances Cowan believe that the secret to their longevity is love, laughter and the Lord. I encourage you to watch their performance. It won’t take long. And I bet you won’t be able to keep from smiling! By embedding this darling video to my webpage, I’ll be able to watch it again, whenever I feel the need of a happy-gram.

Find what makes you happy. Share all your love. Live every day as if it might be your last. Then when you are old, you will have no regrets… only wonderful memories.
Lorelei

Mud Madness

Lorelei — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 02:56:51 +0000

Children are Drawn to Mud

It is nearly spring! The snows have mostly melted here in Michigan, although it is currently snowing right now. We just had a week of warm, sunny weather (in the low sixties!) so the grass is starting to green up, and there were birds building nests. A good thing, too, because I brushed my shedding huskies outside, and created a huge mass of stray hair that looks a bit like dead rabbits. Now the birds can use the dog hair to soften their nests!

With the spring comes the mud. We lived down south for eight years, and springs there were absolutely stunning. There’d be redbud trees and wisteria and apple blossoms and tons of flowers, and spring actually lasted a couple of months, like it’s supposed to on the calendar. Not so up here. There are only a few weeks between winter and the humidity and heat of summer, and those weeks are marked by mud. Mud everywhere! You can’t walk anywhere without stepping in it.

Mud is a Readily Available, Cheap and Educational Toy

Some of the mud may be caused by the sand and dirt that were scattered on icy roads all winter. Then the spring rains mixed and mushed that sand and dirt all over the place. Some comes from cracks in the sidewalks that heaved in the winter, and pushed mud up from below. Some may be from little critters digging away, trying to escape through the ground that is no longer frozen. Whatever the cause, springtime in the Midwest is mud season.

There is some good to my tale, though. Mud is a wonderful toy! It’s cheap, plentiful, and educational! And kids really do need to get dirty; that’s why God made them washable.

Sensory Play

Here are a few suggested mud activities to get your imagination going:

Mud cakes. Bring your preschooler / toddler outside with a jug of water and some toy dishes. Let him make mud cakes. He can set the pans in the sunshine to “bake”. Then serve the mud cakes to a favorite (washable) toy or two.
Construction. Bring out some Tonka trucks, or the smaller matchbox size construction vehicles, a jug of water and some small shoves or spades. Designate an area that is okay to dig up (not the rose bushes). Let your child push, dig, carry away, and remodel the area with his toys. Complete the activity by serving a lunch in a workman’s lunch pail and eat it outside.
Farm. Bring out plastic farm animals, small tractors and the jug of water (to soften hard mud, or rinse off muddy toys before coming in). Let child design a farm with the tractor. “Plant” crops by sticking blades of grass of stems of leaves into the mud upright. Build fenced enclosures with sticks plopped into the ground. “Feed” the animals acorns or whatever nut falls to the ground in your yard.
Art. Bring out wide paint brushes and jug of water. Let child mix water in a mud hole and paint the sidewalk with it. Rinse clean with a hose.
Dug out. If you have the room, give your child a spot where he can dig a hole big enough to hide inside. Kids absolutely love hidey-holes! They are just as much fun as a tree house, but they can’t fall out of them. Later you can help your child build a roof by nailing some boards together. And much later, when your child has outgrown the dugout, you can turn it into a duck pond or plant a tree.
Mud bath. Let your child fill a hole with some water and splash in it, and get totally completely filthy. Talk with him about what it feels like. Help him learn new words to describe it, like squish and mushy. Paint mud on his face and arms. Take a mud bath with him. Some people pay lots of money for this, and you can do it to yourself for free! Don’t forget to take some pictures. Your relatives will think you’ve lost your sanity, but your children will think you are the coolest mom on the planet.

Finally, don’t forget to wash up. You can hose off the worst of it outside, then rinse off in a shower, and finish off with a bubble bath soak to get all the grime out from beneath their fingernails. You’ve just created some wonderful memories, helped your child engage in sensory activities, and it didn’t cost a dime.

Kids Need to Get Dirty

Kids need to get dirty; that’s why God made them washable.

Related Reading:
Water Play
Sand Play
Child’s Play

Photo Credits:
Top:http://www.flickr.com/photos/kessiye/ / CC BY 2.0
Middle:http://www.flickr.com/photos/mymollypop/ / CC BY 2.0
Bottom:http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimmiehomeschoolmom/ / CC BY 2.0