Sukey Molloy really connects with the preschool crowd. Her songs are spot on with what interests and engages little ones. The girls were following along the songs that invite actions and Scott was bouncing and bobbing along to every song.

I Am Happy is available on Sukey Molloy’s website and on Amazon, though it’s currently out of stock there. Enjoy!

We were at their house for dance lessons and the two year old called her mom by her first name. Her response sounded like my own: “My name is Mommy.”

As each of the girls have gone through the stage of calling us by our first names instead of Mommy or Daddy, Brent and I have had different responses. I thought it was hilarious when Sammi first started. I laughed and played along. After a week or so she was back to calling me mommy most of the time. But Brent resisted it. He fussed at her about calling him Daddy. To him there was an element of rejection in her refusing to call him Daddy. But after a couple weeks of trying out his other name she was back to calling him Daddy, too.

When Elli hit this stage Brent started to get frustrated again. Even though he knew it would pass it still bothered him. He wanted Daddy to mean something special to her and because it was special to want to call him Daddy. We have joked about them calling us by our first names but never really thought anything of it.

Then a few weeks ago I read on Good Morning Tennessee’s facebook page about a little boy who was found wandering across a main road in the middle of the night. He was found by a truck driver who called the police. The boy didn’t know his name or his parents’ names. He looked to be four or five. In that moment I was so grateful for every time one of my children has called me by my first name. I have peace knowing that they can tell a police officer their own name, first and last,  as well as both their parents’ names.

But wait, there’s more!

Part of their cognitive development allows children to attach multiple labels to the same object. It’s how they are able to know that this is a dog, it’s a golden retriever, AND her name is Sofie. If they were only able to have one label per object they couldn’t group like objects together, understand color or shape, or use adjectives.

By having the ability to assign multiple labels to a single object, children build a depth of knowledge instead of just a wide range of knowledge. Theses connections help them learn new information faster and more efficiently because they can link new info to old knowledge.

So when your child starts calling you by your first name, just smile and know their brains are hard at work sorting out relationships, hierarchy and their own place in the world. And it’s okay if you respond, “My name is Mommy!” We’ve all done it.

How did you respond the first time your child called you by your first name?

I love the imagery and the illustrations (our version is illustrated by Adrienne Adams). The princesses walk through three different forests to get to the castle where they dance. Each forest is described in a different way: one has leaves with silver drops, one has leaves sprinkled with gold and the final has leaved that sparkle with diamonds.

We started by making leaves from each of the different forests. I drew three different leaf shapes on water color paper. Then I had Sammi (5) watercolor the leaves. Since we’re working on color mixing and tertiary colors she used green, blue-green and yellow-green. After the leaves were dry we cut them out and decorated them with glitter and clear jewels (for diamonds). We were then inspired by this picture:

And put our leaves into a bouquet. This time we painted the water color paper first, then doodled different flowers on the dried paper. Then we cut them out. We put the branches with the leaves down first then layered the flowers over the top. I was just as invested in the creative process of this project as the girls and did way more than I usually do. But it was hard to resist the temptation to make a bouquet on a 12″x17″ sized paper.

I’m not great at taking pictures during the process. But it took us three or four days to do all the parts and finally get it put together. Check out other great books and art projects here or learn more about stART here.

Today we are privileged share our email interview with Recess Music’s founder and CEO, Nancy Doan. I’m inspired by her story and how she used her talent to add value to the music industry and the lives of our little ones.

BBGU: How did music become important in your own life?

Nancy Doan: For as long as I remember I have loved listening to music. My earliest music memories are staying at my aunt and uncle’s farm, eating breakfast in the kitchen with the radio playing the hit songs of that time. Musicals from the 30’s and 40’s on TV also were also a favorite. Fred and Ginger, (Astaire and Rogers), were something to behold! The musical interest of my life was set!

BBGU: Why was it important to you to pass music onto your children?

Nancy Doan: I wanted my kids to hear music that I considered part of our musical heritage as a country… Oh Susannah, Home on the Range, I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy as examples. Also, music from the “Great American Songbook”, like In Your Easter Bonnet, White Christmas, Catch a Falling Star are special to me and I wanted my kids to know them. They were happy, uplifting, and easily sung in the car.

BBGU: How did you feel when your children wanted to pass your love and their love of music on to their own children?

Nancy Doan: How great is it hear your kids talk about something that was meaningful in their childhood? That they want to pass the same experience on to someone else? How happy that made me. Those years of being the taxi service to dancing, gymnastics, school games and events, etc, etc, etc, actually served a purpose. Clearly, we built family memories.

BBGU: How did the Celebrate Earth series come about?

Nancy Doan: My first music compilations were done just to share with my kids and contained the music they remembered from childhood. Then I did compilations for my best friend’s parents. They were elderly and on a very fixed income. I made sets of albums which contained all “big band” music from when they were young adults, during WWII. They were so excited and expressive about the joy they felt when they listened to “my music”, as they called it, that was a special moment for me.

I had found something that I could do for others that added joy. I wanted to find a way to do that for other people and especially kids, like my own.

I was also becoming “green” in my life and I thought, “What a great way to add joy to kids lives as well help them look outside of themselves for meaning as well. The idea of the Celebrate Earth Music Series was born.

BBGU: I’d love to hear your thoughts on using music to teach children. Please share!

Nancy Doan: Studies about the impact of music on people of all ages are many. Music therapy is proven to benefit people. Children love to jump, clap, dance and wiggle to the beat of music. Don’t we all? We remember music experientially, relating it to times and events in our lives. Music carries meaning.

We have music to teach the ABC’s, music about the itsy bitsy spider for teaching finger play, music that celebrates “America the Beautiful”, that we share nationally. Music is a good tool for conveying thoughts, ideas and information…including ideas about taking care of our planet.

BBGU: How do you envision families receiving and acting on the music and message of the Celebrate Earth series and specifically La Bella Stella?

Nancy Doan: When I began to work on La Bella Stella, I remembered being very young, in my room at night, where my bed was placed close to the window. I loved laying in bed and trying to count the stars, looking at the moon and making hand shadows on the wall using the moonlight. While creating the La Bella Stella album I thought of children doing the same thing in their beds, looking at the same moon, counting the same stars, or searching for the big dipper.

I like to think of parents taking their children out on a beautiful summer night, laying on the grass in their yards, and together counting the stars, looking for the man in the moon, and talking about traveling in space. Something as simple as that will be remembered by their children for years to come, just like my kids remember us singing together in the car.

Thank you so much, Nancy for your time and for sharing your passion about enjoying our Earth, protecting its resources and teaching our children to do the same.

Congrats to Heather, comment #3, who won the album. Please check your email for details on receiving the CD.

We have more great music to share with you over the next several weeks. We hope you’ll come back to find some new artists to share with your families.

Arms are for big, big hugs! We love Bari’s upbeat music and positive messages. Her last album, Rock and Roll Garden, is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers with its easy to hear and follow lyrics. It guides the littlest ones on a journey of music and movement. The songs are playful and center around themes familiar to little ones.

In Anna and the Cupcakes Bari Koral presents songs for a slightly older crowd. Don’t get me wrong, Elli (3) also loves the CD but these songs are perfect for Sammi (5). The songs tell stories and include such wonderful imagery. Sammi loves the songs Butterfly and Gingerbread Man. While still upbeat, the overall feel of this album is calmer and more mature. It sets a mood of creativity and storytelling. I love watching our kids play while and after listening to the album Anna and the Cupcakes.

Bari Koral’s latest album Anna and the Cupcakes is available today on Amazon.com and on her website barikoral.com. Happy Valentine’s Day and sweet listening.

The giveaway is now closed. Congrats to our winner, Heather!

We’re excited to be able to offer a free copy of Anna and the Cupcakes to one lucky BBGU reader!

To enter the giveaway for your copy, please leave a comment on this post. The winner will be chosen by Random.org and announced next Tuesday. Giveaway closes Monday night, Feb 20, 2012 at 10 pm EST.

We received an advance copy of Anna and the Cupcakes from Bari Koral to assist in our review. The opinions in this review are our own. The giveaway is open to US residents 18 yrs and older. The winner will be chosen at random and emailed with information on receiving the CD. The winner will also be announced on the blog on Tues Feb 21, 2012.

The ebook also includes information on child development and music as well as how to adapt the book for different ages of little ones. There are even some different theme ideas with songs, books, and crafts. We love the Laptime program as a way to share time together centered around music. This is right up Elli’s avenue!

Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing this ebook’s treasures and showing how we have used it in our home. For now, you can download Laptime Songs for Mommies for free and get started exploring and singing.

Challenge: Wearing a different heart shirt everyday till Valentine’s Day

Day 1

Elli sporting her heart shirt and a bit antsy to get that cape on!

Sammi wearing her hearts and thinking about that tooth missing from her mouth and the money the tooth fairy brought her.

Scott looking out the window. No hearts for him, but the dinosaurs are reminiscent of the Valentine’s Cards we made two years ago.

How to Help Little Ones Memorize

We’ve memorized several things so far this year including the Pledge of Allegiance, the Star-Spangled Banner, Articles of Faith, and Sammi’s parts in last year’s Primary Program. Sammi, 5, has a knack for memorizing quickly and I’ve been impressed with how long she’ll remember things we’ve memorized. Elli, 3, has less interest in memorizing but tends to pick things up incidentally, over time. Here are some of the things we do to increase exposure and make memorizing fun.

Get Visual

In addition to the written words of what we’re memorizing, we find pictures that help us understand the meaning of what we’re memorizing. This is especially great for pre-readers since they aren’t really helped by written-word cues, but pictures can help them remember specific words.

Get Moving

Elli, especially, is a movement kind of kid. She loves moving, dancing, leaping and wiggling. While movement is often distracting for adults, this is not true for kids. They are great listeners even when they are moving. It takes a lot of concentration to keep a little body still and usually there just isn’t any left over for concentrating on memorizing. So we add movement to what we’re memorizing.

You could make up actions that match specific words in your passage. This is a great vocabulary builder as well because it helps them grasp the meaning of new words and the overall message of what they’re memorizing. Sometimes I’ll say “Touch your toes then head.” Then for every word we’ll go down and touch our toes then on the next word stand up and touch our heads. We vary the actions each time we repeat what we’re memorizing. Elli really loves doing this. We can repeat a passage ten times before she loses interest.

Get Singing

Setting new words to music speeds the memorizing process. Music is memorable. Using that to help little ones memorize creates lifelong memories. I still remember all 50 States in alphabetical order because we learned that song in second grade. Somethings we memorize already have music, like songs and the Articles of Faith. But other things don’t. I just say it in a sing-songy voice till a familiar tune emerges. Nursery rhyme melodies and traditional kids’ songs are great, simple, already familiar tunes that help little ones memorize something new.

Get Interactive

I print a copy of what we want to memorize. Then I have rectangles of construction paper. For each time we go through the passage one person gets to choose a rectangle (there are different colors) and then choose which words to cover up with their rectangle. We take turns, we make choices, we respect each others’ choices and we work as a team. Going through the passage this way keeps my little ones’ interest longer because they love the anticipation of it being their turn again along with the surprise of what someone else will choose.

Application

We often do a combination of several of these at one time. This list addresses four different learning styles from Multiple Intelligences theory. Namely, linguistic, bodily-kinesthetic, musical and interpersonal. Approaching the task of memorizing with an arsenal of activities creates enjoyment and memories that will last as long as, if not longer than, the passage you memorize together.

Other resources for memorization that inspire us:

Scripture Memorization by Kris on The Homeschool Classroom

Incorporating the 2012 Primary Theme in Family Memory Work by Tristan of Our Busy Homeschool

What have your little ones memorized that has surprised you?

I  babysat a three-amost-four year old who had an entire, long Clifford book memorized. I was astounded. This was my first experience with how extensive little kids’ memories are.

If you click on the picture you’ll get the big version to download. Enjoy!