5 Ways to Fill Your Home with Music

1. Cut Loose. Ditch your inhibitions by starting music play with a wild kitchen dance or some loosey-goosey movement.

2. Sing Out. Anywhere, anyhow, anytime. Kids learn by repetition, so incorporate songs into your daily routine.

3. Feel the Rhythm. To help pre-walkers (and even older kids) catch the beat, gently bounce or tap your child's body while you sing or listen to music.

4. Shake, Rattle, and Roll. Keep a basket of shakers, whistles, bells, tambourines, drums, harmonicas, and xylophones on hand. And take them out of the basket — often. (Here are a couple of sites where you can buy musical instruments: mindysmuskids and kindermusik or you can check out your local music store) *Also, I'd like to add that ANYTHING can be a musical instrument, as we've all learned as we watch our kids play drums with pots and pans. Let your kids explore different timbres, tempos, and dynamics.

5. Give Them an Earful. Expose kids to the sounds you love — not just children's music.

*The original article can be found at wondertime.go.com

A Cute Blog and A Cute Book

I really shouldn't be posting at this late hour, but I was just introduced to the cutest blog! I was on Shannon Hale's blog (another good one), and she wrote about a blog with her favorite review of her graphic novel Rapunzel's Revenge. The blog (man, I've said that word a lot!) is called Bookie Woogie, and the writers are a dad and his three young kids. Every Monday they review a book and create some accompanying fan art. Their review on Hale's book was the stinking cutest thing I've every seen! What cute kids and what a great dad they've got! You need to read this.

I wanted to tell you all about this not only because it's darling, but it's a great idea! They read a book together and make their own art work about the book. That's such a simple but fun thing we can all do with our kids. I'm excited to try it with N tomorrow. He loves to draw, so I'm pretty sure he'll have a lot of fun trying to depict what he reads in a book.

Now, I'll give my own review of Rapunzel's Revenge. We actually checked it out from the library today. I got it for me to read because I LOVE Shannon Hale, but when I opened it and saw all the pictures (it looks like a comic book) I realized N would probably like it too. I was right. While I was feeding C some dinner, N grabbed the book on his own and started reading it (by reading it, I mean he looked at the pictures and imagined his own story in his mind). He "read" the whole thing (it's not that short), cover to cover. Then, after C was in bed, he wanted me to read it to him for real. We haven't finished it yet, much to his disappointment, but we'll definitely start up again tomorrow. I'm glad he's interested in it because it's totally different than anything I've read to him. It will give him a whole new experience in reading. And I'm so excited to have him do some fan art when we finish it.

So, check out the blog and check out the book! And have fun with your kids!

FHE Lesson: Helping

Gathering Activity: My Hands (Children's Songbook, p. 273)

Opening Song: Sunbeam (Children's Songbook, p. 60)

Prayer:

Picture: p.62 in Nursery Manual (or use your own- something that shows people helping others). Talk about how we should always help those in need because it makes them happy and makes us happy too.

Scripture: Deutoronomy 22:4 (something I've found that helps N get excited about scriptures is I have him read it. By that, I mean I whisper the words in his ear and he repeats the words. He loves this and always has to be holding his Book of Mormon too. He even graced us with his own reading of the scriptures. It made no sense and for some reason he read like it was Chinese- from right to left. Anyway, moving on...) Briefly explain what the scripture is saying.

Role Play: I had Dad carry some papers across the room and drop them. Then N and I helped him pick them up. Then I took a turn and dropped some books and N and Dad helped pick them up. Of course N wanted a turn to play. He was much more dramatic about it. When he dropped his books he threw himself on the floor too. It was pretty cute and funny.

Song: A Happy Helper (p. 197) or When We're Helping We're Happy (p. 198). We sang the latter one. We sang it holding hands and walking in a circle.

Testimony: Mom and Dad bore brief testimonies about helping others.

Prayer:

*We hold FHE in the family room. Usually we clean up toys beforehand, but not this time. We purposefully did not clean up toys because we wanted another opportunity to teach helping. N seemed to enjoy putting the toys away a lot more because he understood better that he was doing something good that made him feel good too.

*I always try to help N recognize when something makes him feel good. Like, after he helped clean up the toys, we asked him, "Don't you feel good inside?" He enthusiastically said, "Yeah!" Then we reiterated the moral of the story- helping makes us happy.

What was your FHE Lesson this week? Please share!

Sacrament Meeting Tips

Is this a good example of how your kids feel at the end of church?

Now, is this a good example of how YOU feel at the end of church?

I hope I'm not the only Mom who's felt like this after church. I'm pretty sure I'm not, which is why I'm posting on the subject of church and children. I don't have a lot of experience in the area, and heaven knows I have a lot to learn. Even still, I do have a few tips to share. But I'll be expecting plenty from all of you!

1. Don't take the whole play room to church. I've learned that kids aren't better behaved if they have tons to play with. Here's what I take: a sandwich bag of cereal, N's "My First Book of Mormon," N's mini magna-doodle OR a notebook and pen, and 2 or 3 little board books for C. That's it!
2. Books and Treats AFTER the Sacrament. I learned this one from a friend. Her kids have to sit reverently during the sacrament. Then, if they're good, they are rewarded by getting their books and treats. *I'm not very good at this one, but I'm working on it.
3. Leaving the chapel is NOT fun. If we had to take N out we tried to make it not fun. It wasn't time to play. I'd try to find an empty room far from the chapel (since he's VERY vocal) and make him sit in a chair until he was ready to go back. *We have to take C out now, but she's still too young to be punished for being irreverent. She doesn't know! So, take your child's age into consideration.
4. Teach them at home. FHE is the perfect place to reinforce reverence. Teach them to sit and listen at home, and it will help them do the same at church.
5. Be clear and consistent. When we've been clear and consistent about our expectations, the results have been better.
6. RELAX! C is starting to get the age where she's hard in church, but I feel much more relaxed about it than I did with N. Since I've gone through this once already, I understand better that children are not wired so that they sit perfectly still and listen intently, so we can't get too angry when they don't. They have to learn it, which they will...eventually. Some kids are more wiggly than others, so it may take longer to learn, but they will. Just relax. It will end...eventually.

N isn't perfect, that's for sure. But now that he's older, which also makes a huge difference, he's a lot better than he used to be. I actually enjoy church now! The biggest struggle with him, though, is that he is still pretty wiggly and does not sit on the bench. He does sometimes, but most of the time he's on the floor or on my lap. I'm looking for a way to cure that. I think a lot of it is his age and personality, but I would like to help him learn to sit on the bench instead of the floor. Any advice?

I hope these tips help. If you have any other tips to add to mine PLEASE do!

Book Spotlight

If Animals Kissed Good Night

by Ann Whitford Paul, pictures by David Walker

This will be your new favorite bedtime book. So cute!

Teaching Obedience

We've had some trouble lately getting N to obey. When asked to do something he often returns our request with a harsh "No!" Needless to say, it's very frustrating. One morning it was particularly annoying, but I knew getting mad wouldn't solve anything. So, in a fit of desperation and with some help from above I'm sure, I came up with a plan. I quickly drew a little chart that says I CAN OBEY, and on it are 15 circles that say "I can quickly obey". The rules are 1. N gets a sticker every time he quickly obeys without complaining 2. N gets a prize each time he gets 5 circles covered with stickers 3. If he is disobedient he gets a sticker taken away.

Today is the third day of our little experiment, and it's worked pretty well. Today has shown the biggest improvement. He has been a lot more willing to do things that used to be like pulling teeth. He gets so excited when he gets another sticker and even more excited when he gets a prize. The prizes have been very simple, but you could call a rock a prize and he'd love it.

Here he is proudly holding his chart

To help him understand better the principle of obedience, that was our topic for our FHE lesson this week. I just used Lesson 14 in "Behold Your Little Ones," the church's new nursery lesson manual (so much better than the old one). We followed almost all their suggestions, except for an activity I had Joel give an example of disobedience and obedience. First, I asked him to do something and his reply was "No!", and each time I asked he got more whiny about it and threw a little fit. Then I asked N if Dad was obedient, and we decided he wasn't. Then I gave Joel another chance and asked him to do something. This time he said, "Yes Mommy. I will quickly obey." N liked the activity so much that he wanted a turn to see if he could be obedient.

I also talked to him briefly about how sometimes it's hard to obey, but it will always make us happy. That right there has been a big help with his obedience chart. I make sure and reinforce the feelings he gets when he obeys vs. when he disobeys. When he disobeys he is sad, but when he obeys he is happy.

The lesson went very well. He really enjoyed all the activities. The rest of the month I will try to similar topics that have to do with obeying (like helping and doing chores).

How have you taught this principle to your kids? Any suggestions?

Christmas Time Ideas

Here are a couple things to do at Christmas time with your kids. Sorry I didn't post this earlier. I guess if you like the ideas you can do them next year. Or, if you already thought of these ideas, which you probably did being the wonderful mothers you are, then just say, "Duh, Marianne. We already thought of that like forever ago."

Teaching the Nativity Story

There are two primary songs that make life so simple for parents. They are "Picture A Christmas" and "The Nativity Song." You can use actual nativity pieces for visual aids or you can draw pictures of each nativity piece.

Family Activity

This was fun. For family night last week, after going to see the lights downtown, we came home and had hot chocolate to warm our frozen bodies. The, we all got ready for bed- Mom and Dad included- snuggled up on the couch with warm blankets and watched a movie. The movie we watched was "The Muppet Christmas Carol." I made popcorn, which is a rare treat for N. After the movie was over we made up beds on the floor, read some Christmas stories, and went to bed on the living room floor by the lit Christmas tree. N went straight to sleep because he was exhausted from staying up much later than usual. It was very fun, and N has since requested to sleep in the living room again. I've told him we only do that once because if we do it all the time it isn't as fun anymore. If you decided to do it I would recommend maybe turning off the Christmas tree. While it was fun to have it on, it made it hard for Mom and Dad to sleep because it was so bright.

What fun things did you do with your families this year?

Merry Christmas everyone!