Ring Around the Rosie

From Wikipedia

Kate Greenaway's Mother Goose (1881)

It's the circle song for Kindermusik Our Time right now. Children love it.

It's a very important game-song for growing children. I've tried to give you some information during the classes this week but, as always, children have only a certain amount of patience for adult talk. (Who can blame them?) Here on my blog I can finish my sentences and even carry on in infinitio.......

1. Deep pressure: This is what they crave the most and why the song delights them to no end. They anticipate falling down...then "boom" with glee! The deep pressure of falling down helps children to understand the dimensions of their body, especially if they've just had a growth spurt ...what child isn't going through a growth spurt?

2. Practicing balance: Falling allows them to go just past the point of balance in a controlled way. Taking the risk of falling over and practicing this improves your range of balance.

3. Social skills; understanding community. You can't play this game by yourself. It can be a challenging lesson to the timid ones who don't yet feel comfortable holding hands with other adults or children who they don't know. Sometimes they learn that they have 2 hands, one for mom and one for .....oh, a stranger? hmmmmm.
4. Flexibility: Occasionally there's a child who isn't happy if the circle's not perfect. We have to be flexible if there's a child who won't hold hands and make ours a perfect circle!

5. Being an individual with in the context of a community. This applies those visual children who choose to watch the game instead of holding hands and going around. There's a lesson for everyone!

6. Visual spacial skills and time: A child's place in the room changes as measured my time (musical phases). (Musicians make good mathmaticians, good engineers...etc!) I see the children predicting by anticipating the phrase end but stopping a few beats early and beginning their "fall" but waiting till the right time!

7. Vestibular Stimulation: Any time a child's head changes position in relation to the earth their vestibular system is stimulated. The vestibular system is deep inside the inner ear and is important for balance, emotional well being, memory, attention and focus etc. It's very important that children get lots and lots of vestibular stimulation. (Or they will demand it when they are in the second grade trying to sit still in school.)

8. Repetition: Children are creating new neural connections all the time but they depend on repetition to solidify these connections. We adults don't always have the patience for this repetition but it is so important!

9. Love: oh, delight. This is what I see when the children are playing their favorite songs with their favorite adults. "Again! Again!" they say full of glee. And we will. But have no fear. In a few weeks we'll add more circle songs to your repertoire.

Game

The words of Ring a Ring o' Roses differ by region, although the tune remains consistent. The playground game that accompanies these verses also changes by region, but the most common form consists of participants standing in a circle and holding hands, followed by skipping in one direction as they sing the tune that accompanies these verses. At the end of the line We all fall down, the group usually falls down into a heap. Lyrics to other versions show that the final action was sometimes sitting, stooping, squatting, or even a curtsy, rather than falling.^[2] In some versions of the game the last down would choose a favourite or take the place of another in the middle of the ring.^[3] Ring games which end in flopping to the ground or similar are common throughout Europe.^[4]

In this game description from Wikipedia I see that there are variations in the "falling down". You can stoop, sqatt or even curtsy! Well I'm going to guess those variations were invented by adults who just would fall all the way down!!!

Which....it should be said, you shouldn't do if you know it would do more harm than good for you as an adult to be falling on the floor. Even if it is the nice soft floor we have in our Kindermusik room!

Have fun holding hands with your little ones .
Peace,
Yvette

Kindermusik classes are two for one! ;-)

When kangaroo bounces she won't go alone.
Her little one comes in a pouch all his own.
Snug, with his mama, along for the ride,
He can peek out and he can hide!

Baby jumps out of his pouch with a bound!
See how he bounces and bounces around.
Jump, Joey, jump with a hippity hop;
Back to your mama, then leap in and stop!

Two for one you ask? Why, yes! It's a children's music and movement class and an adult aerobic class all rolled into one! Today we were bouncing around like kangaroos and my heart rate was goin'!

But there's so much happening with this little poem that I really wanted to take time and break it apart so you can understand all the important work it invites.

Jumping is reported to increase bone density (no matter your age!) . And beyond that dimension of the physical, for young children and adolescents who experience growth spurts, jumping can give children information they need to know about the new dimensions their bodies...It tells helps them understand where they begin and end.

One more side affect from jumping is deep pressure applied to the joints between the spine, knees, hips, etc. Stress hormones are worked out by deep pressure. This can have an affect of calming or focusing for the child. Children might be better primed for learning after a series of jumps! The best recipe for that would be a short burst of jumps followed by a pause then more jumps and another pause....etc. (Whereas just doing lots and lots of jumping can really wind up a bunch of kids...look out!)

And that's exactly what we did with the music today! "Jump, jump, jump...then back in mama's pouch (with a big deep pressure hug) and sway, sway, sway......then jump......"

There's even more good stuff in this activity about the Kangaroos. The "peek out" and the "hide" section is so much fun for children...that's usually a clue that they are "working". If your little one jumps in your lap and you hide them with a big, deep hug and they can peek out and hide it's a way for them to know it's OK to bound away and jump back in when they realize their world just got bigger then they had ever imagined! When children are about 18 months old (the line is grey and fuzzy, it's not exactly 18 months!) they will recognize themselves in the mirror. This is a milestone in their understanding of themselves as separate from you. Though it takes much longer for this concept to be fully realized (well beyond 3 years old), it is a moment that must be treated gently and with the lesson of trust. Their confidence and self esteem will grow stronger if they know you will be there when they come back from the scary edge of the universe for some reassurance and love. It tests a parent's observation skills, patience and creativity when no one can predict the moment they will take the two steps back to the kangaroo pouch with clingyness and whining!

Only this is certain:
Parenting is hard work!

Keep up the jumping!

Love,
Yvette

Kindermusik Village

In our Kindermusik Village I've talked about what Jane Healey has called the "contingent response". It's an element that does not exist when a child is seated at a video...no matter how wonderful or educational you might think that Baby Einstein video is.

So what is a "contingent response"?

When you read a board book to your 6 month old she pats the picture of the doggy or reaches out to chew on the corner of the book. Your response of either delight, naming the doggy or concern, by slipping your fingers between the book and her mouth, alerts your child to a perfect learning moment. She may be intrigued by your reaction and she'd like to know if it's related to her action so she repeats the tapping or drawing the book to her mouth. You react again and maybe even make eye contact. She'll probably pick up immediately on cues relayed by your eye contact and body language.

Here's a link to a brochure that I found that describes this contingent response as a social response and explains using games to heighten a baby's awareness of cause and effect.

As I read about the games on page 2 of this brochure I am reminded about our stop and go songs where we waited for the child to signal for us to sing again! Such good games!

Here's the link to the Puckett Institute's brochre. I found the Puckett Institute very interesting too. I'm proud to know they are in Asheville!

Patience

Here we are just finishing week 12 of our 15 week semester. What amazes me is that this week was a week of firsts for so many children.

Brady sang in class for the first time. So did Danny, Brighton, Lauren, Gianni...I should have kept a list! Lucas let me pick him up and even hold him upside down! Thomas in our Imagine That! class was very outgoing in building our "fort" to keep us warm "when cold winds blow"...

I know they've been singing at home before this and many children have been singing in class all along. But in a social setting some children need more time....and the assurance of routine...week after week like a steady beat. Consistency...

I remember Henry's mom who waited 30 weeks to hear her son sing in class. On the last day of the 2 semesters...he did and she had tears! Of course he went on to "graduate" from Kindermusik at 8 years old and then on to piano lessons....

Consistency matters.

I've also noticed this week how well the children are doing with stop and go activities. I like to do a lot of this work in all my classes. It really helps children learn how to control their own bodies and it's work they LOVE LOVE LOVE to do. (Shake shake shake you bells, shake shake shake your bells, shake shake shake your bells and then we STOP!) Studies done on actual Kindermusik students show that children with more than one consecutive semester of classes were more able to stop when told to do so..Well the parents in my classes are seeing the benefits of our little clean up song!! Bells away, Bells away! Works like a charm....when almost every time.

The Effects of Kindermusik® on

Behavioral Self-Regulation in Early Childhood

Consistency matters.

We are building an environment that the children can trust...then they will bloom and amaze us with their creativity. All these children have amazing potential. Let's nurture it.

Join the experience with your child. Call the Arts Center to visit a class: 253-4000.

Or email me with your questions.

Yvette