1, 2, Ready, Play!

Hickory, dickory, dock! (clap)
The mouse ran up the clock. (clap)
The clock struck one, the mouse ran down, hickory, dickory, dock. (clap)

Here's the pattern: short, short, long.....
We are noticing patterns with our ears.
We are measuring time.

We are using the clapping movement to accentuate the math.
And this example of Hickory Dickory Dock is another way of experiencing 1+1=2 and 1+1+2=4 or a + a + 2(a)= b.


Even though we aren't using numbers or symbols in our class this IS all about math.
See the new information at the Kindermusik Website about the connections of music and math for the toddler's brain.

Here's another example: In Kindermusik Village we are singing a major scale from the top down. We sing it on LA (but think: Do, ti, la, so, fa, mi, re, do, Do, ti, la, so, fa, mi, re, do, do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do, ti, la, so, fa, mi, re, do.) Our ears and our babies ears hear the intervals and even at the tiniest baby age they are measuring the distance between the intervals. In music a close interval would be a 1/2 step and the next size would be a whole step. Between the top "do" and the "ti" it's a small interval. Between "ti" and "la" it's a whole steps. This is a pattern of measurements that is used in music around the world.

I believe we are preparing the spaces in the baby's brain to be ready for inserting the numbers when they study math later on. Playing with these patterns without numbers may make it easier to do all those crazy calculations those engineering majors do with x's, y's, z's and all those greek letters!!! Well that's maybe a hypothesis I might use for my next thesis paper....in my next life!