Toys Lesson 2

Hi mums and dads, the first class went really well ( both Friday and Saturday classes) considering there are new kids in class and dynamics of the class tend to be different when a new semester starts. It was a joy for me to see the cute adorable faces staring at me when I'm telling the Toy maker story and to see how much they enjoy being in the class, learning and participating in all the activities.

We are going to continue with our toy shop adventure this week, with some old ( to reinforce) and some new activities. Don't forget to bring in your kid favourite toy as we are going to use them as props for the kids to give suggestions on a movement or a sound that toy makes.

We are going to introduce a new toy this week, a top. We are going to look at tops from different countries, and have a live demonstration on how a top works. When we are familiar with it, then we will use our hands and our bodies to move like tops in I am a Top.

Througout the semester, I am going to give the kids a chance to see and feel different types of drums from different countries; how drums are played, what sounds they make, why are they different......this week we are going to India! We'll get to play with a tabla drum ( which my hubby lug all the way back from Nepal) and see how different the drum is from our other drums in the studio.

You will be surprise how many different kinds of drums there is and how every drum has it own unique sound. We are going to listen to some other drums: the pow wow drum, the doundoun drum and the snare drum. The focus of this activity if listening skills. The range of listening skills in young children may be quite wide.

- marginal listeners - who hear all sounds with equal aural value
- attentive listeners - who can give some priority to a single sound source
- analytical listeners - who focus on a single sound source and can describe characteristics of that sound source.

Lastly, we will dance to Al Tambor. This song, popular in Panama, was written in 1918 to publicize a toldo, an open air dance hall which was popular during fiesta times. It was written in the style of tamborito ( a popular Panamanian style of dance and dance music) featuring several drums, dancers and singers, The adaptation uses words which loosely translate to mean "I want you to escort me to the drum of happiness".

See you in class!!