A child who expresses himself through music or other means draws a sense of belonging. Music also helps develop coordination and fine motor skills.

To make sure we anchor the concepts and to continue learning in baby steps, we will proceed in the same way as during our 2nd second session:

We’ll start with vocal warm ups, including singing the major scale accompanied by a xylophone or keyboard / piano. Next we’ll do some simple, rhythmic music awakening activities.

And in closing I will sing some songs for children by Nana Mouskouri.

Step 1 : Creating a ''music space''

You will need :

  • A metallophone or a xylophone (it can even be homemade);  
  • Your maracas if you made some with us; 
  • Other percussion instruments you may have around the house; 

Setup your music space to be inviting and comfortable. Parents are certainly invited to participate, as are children.  

Fabriquez vos propres maracas!

Step 2 : Vocal warm up and musical exploration

  • Siren and major scale
  • High note, low note
  • Simple rhythms

 

TA-TA titi TA 

Remember that TA is slower, ti is faster. Two ti (titi) = one TA.

TA-TA tiritiri TA 

Other variants :

Step 3 : Make way for Nana's songs!

Here are a few children’s songs by Nana Mouskouri. I always encourage parents to sing at home with the children, as the educators do at daycare. We call it modeling and it can make all the difference in the child’s participation!

For this reason, we encourage you to go check out Nana Mouskouri’s children songs before hand, and of course show them to the children! In 1972 Nana Mouskouri recorded the album “Pour les enfants”. It was a major contribution to music for children.

These are the songs I will sing :

Diary

In today’s log, kids can document the day’s activity. For example, by drawing characters from Nana Mouskouri’s songs, such as the rabbit, the turtle and the 17 crazy monkeys or even the sunflower … or the bean in the ear!

If your child is documenting alone, you are invited to ask him or her questions to feed and improve the journal entry. Here are some questions you can ask:

  • What was your favorite character from Nana’s songs?
  • Does Nana have a deep voice? Or high pitched? Soft or hoarse?
  • Does Monsieur Coco have a high pitched voice? Or deep? Soft or hoarse?
    Is Mr. Coco funny?

Did you know… 

  • … Nana Mouskouri began her career in 1958 at the age of 24 and has recorded more than 1,550 songs ​​to date, and in several languages, at the age of 85!
  • … Nana has sung in many languages, including French, Greek, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Welsh and Hebrew.
  • … It is sometimes claimed that Nana Mouskouri has sold more than 400 million records worldwide. This information is however contradicted by the Guinness Book of Records, which claims that no singer has sold more records than Madonna and her 335 million.

 

To go further, you can discover Nana Mouskouri’s immense discography with your family!
It is truly rich and there is something for different tastes, ranging from folk to jazz to pop and even classical.

 

Activity by Monsieur Coco.