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Welcome back to Latticed Learning! This year, we're continuing to learn while we play - repeating many of our favorites from the past while adding in all sorts of new activities as well.
This day's post is devoted to our weekly themes - some weeks have more activities than others, but each lesson will be fun for you to explore with your little one!
Read All About It
Welcome to the Symphony - First of all, let me say that I've never actually seen this book in person, but I want it, because it is just frankly genius. Usually these musical books are full of annoying sound effects that kind of go along with some poorly-adapted Disney story. But this one includes the sounds of the different instruments in an orchestra - how cool is that?
Peter and the Wolf - this book with accompanying CD got even more awesome after we'd watched the little movie of the story (see below).
Vivaldi and the Invisible Orchestra - my favorite composer and I'd had no clue he'd had this little orphan orchestra thing going. Such a cute story that taught about a famous life at the same time.
Yankee Doodle - I'd thought this book wouldn't interest Gv until she was older, but it was probably the one she wanted me to read the most - and since it was pretty much just the verses to the song, that meant she was able to "read" it all to herself by week's end. The pictures are so detailed, but that translates into this book consuming loads of time for your little one.
The Philharmonic Gets Dressed - this book had me laughing like crazy when I first read it to Gv. G asked what was so funny about it and I told him - the book really is about the symphony players getting dressed! Despite the name, that was totally not what I expected!
The Story of the Orchestra - the first of two amazing books that will just get better and better as Gv gets older - we got both from the library, but you can bet these are going on my must-purchase list! This one came with a CD to play at specific points in the book to go along with facts about different composers and instruments.
Those Amazing Musical Instruments! - the second of two amazing books I now must own. This one includes an interactive CD-ROM, but to be honest, we didn't even explore that, because the information in the book was plenty to keep us busy. (Must save something new for next time, you know!)
My First Music Book
Lives of the Musicians
Froggy Plays in the Band
Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers series (you pick a composer, there's pretty much a book for him)
M is for Melody
I Know a Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello
Peter and the Wolf - this book with accompanying CD got even more awesome after we'd watched the little movie of the story (see below).
Vivaldi and the Invisible Orchestra - my favorite composer and I'd had no clue he'd had this little orphan orchestra thing going. Such a cute story that taught about a famous life at the same time.
Yankee Doodle - I'd thought this book wouldn't interest Gv until she was older, but it was probably the one she wanted me to read the most - and since it was pretty much just the verses to the song, that meant she was able to "read" it all to herself by week's end. The pictures are so detailed, but that translates into this book consuming loads of time for your little one.
The Philharmonic Gets Dressed - this book had me laughing like crazy when I first read it to Gv. G asked what was so funny about it and I told him - the book really is about the symphony players getting dressed! Despite the name, that was totally not what I expected!
The Story of the Orchestra - the first of two amazing books that will just get better and better as Gv gets older - we got both from the library, but you can bet these are going on my must-purchase list! This one came with a CD to play at specific points in the book to go along with facts about different composers and instruments.
Those Amazing Musical Instruments! - the second of two amazing books I now must own. This one includes an interactive CD-ROM, but to be honest, we didn't even explore that, because the information in the book was plenty to keep us busy. (Must save something new for next time, you know!)
My First Music Book
Lives of the Musicians
Froggy Plays in the Band
Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers series (you pick a composer, there's pretty much a book for him)
M is for Melody
I Know a Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello
Sing Some Songs
We listened to these selections this week:
This site lived up to my usual BBC expectations - we both enjoyed exploring the sounds and stories together this week.
We checked out what different instruments sound like here and also here - which also had a fantastic section on composers, tons of games, and lots of information on the symphony!
We love the version of Peter and the Wolf that's included on this Make Mine Music DVD, but the rest of the selections are great, as well (we also love Melody Time and Fun & Fancy Free, which not everyone knows about).
And this fancy set is equally fabulous.
And, of course, these two movies were an absolute must - I've loved the original forever, but we like the 2000 version, too.
We did several things to correspond to our topic this week:
Gv has loved to "play" my piano ever since she could stretch waaaay up on tiptoe to reach the keys, so we played around with some of the lessons on this site all week in addition to her beloved lessons with Mr. Hoffman.
We spent some time drawing to the music we were listening to, like this site suggested.
But mostly, we just listened all week and spent most of our time exploring all the different instruments and musical toys in our house.
Like the piano...
...and a keyboard...
...a guitar...
...a violin...
...and a big, old cello...
...G's saxophones...
...various noise-making toys...
...and that instrument pretty much everyone possesses, the voice:
SingSolfa is another of Gv's favorite lessons to "take" and already she's got a better voice than her mom {grin}.
This site has a great list of classical songs to listen to (and even download!) for little ones.
At first, I was a little put-off by Kids Meet Composers, but then when I realized that it was putting fun facts to different composer's tunes, I completely changed my mind.
I still think the albums I wrote about here are genius, so we listened to all of them over and over again.
We love all the Maestro Classics CDs, but this one is probably our favorite.
We also played Bibbidi Bobbidi Bach, Heigh-Ho Mozart, & Mozart TV constantly, as well. I mention them a bit more in this post.
I discovered this most excellent version of Peter and the Wolf (hello, David Bowie!) and that became a new favorite to add to our list.
We also tried listening to my entire Classical Music playlist, but seeing as how it's 2.5 days of music, we have yet to get through them all.
At first, I was a little put-off by Kids Meet Composers, but then when I realized that it was putting fun facts to different composer's tunes, I completely changed my mind.
I still think the albums I wrote about here are genius, so we listened to all of them over and over again.
We love all the Maestro Classics CDs, but this one is probably our favorite.
We also played Bibbidi Bobbidi Bach, Heigh-Ho Mozart, & Mozart TV constantly, as well. I mention them a bit more in this post.
I discovered this most excellent version of Peter and the Wolf (hello, David Bowie!) and that became a new favorite to add to our list.
We also tried listening to my entire Classical Music playlist, but seeing as how it's 2.5 days of music, we have yet to get through them all.
Watch Some Videos
We checked out what different instruments sound like here and also here - which also had a fantastic section on composers, tons of games, and lots of information on the symphony!
We love the version of Peter and the Wolf that's included on this Make Mine Music DVD, but the rest of the selections are great, as well (we also love Melody Time and Fun & Fancy Free, which not everyone knows about).
And this fancy set is equally fabulous.
And, of course, these two movies were an absolute must - I've loved the original forever, but we like the 2000 version, too.
Play and Create
We did several things to correspond to our topic this week:
Gv has loved to "play" my piano ever since she could stretch waaaay up on tiptoe to reach the keys, so we played around with some of the lessons on this site all week in addition to her beloved lessons with Mr. Hoffman.
We spent some time drawing to the music we were listening to, like this site suggested.
 |
| We went a bit of a different direction and drew on a chalkboard for this activity. |
But mostly, we just listened all week and spent most of our time exploring all the different instruments and musical toys in our house.
Like the piano...
...and a keyboard...
...a guitar...
...a violin...
...and a big, old cello...
...G's saxophones...
...various noise-making toys...
...and that instrument pretty much everyone possesses, the voice:
SingSolfa is another of Gv's favorite lessons to "take" and already she's got a better voice than her mom {grin}.
Looking for all the great posts associated with this concept in one place? Check out my Latticed Learning page here!
What's your favorite thing that we did this week? I'd love to hear! Either leave a comment below or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.
Also, if you don't want to miss a single minute of great tips like this and all the fun around here, be sure to sign up for free updates and then look forward to having each post delivered straight to your inbox!
Looking for all the great posts associated with this concept in one place? Check out my Latticed Learning page here!
What's your favorite thing that we did this week? I'd love to hear! Either leave a comment below or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.
Also, if you don't want to miss a single minute of great tips like this and all the fun around here, be sure to sign up for free updates and then look forward to having each post delivered straight to your inbox!
