"The Graham Cracker Kid and the Calico Girl" Picture Book

I am very honored to interview Tommy Overstreet, legendary singer/songwriter who co-wrote The Graham Cracker Kid and the Calico Girl with Dale G. Vest. It is a beautifully written poem with 46 pages illustrated from oil paintings by Jesse Anderson. This book is a touching and timeless story about two charming children in the Old West, filled with humor, suspense and a host of delightful characters that add joy and delight to every page. {Below is a link to adorable Free Printables to go with the book.}

Teach Kids about Diversity with Multicultural Activities

We are living in a global community. We can connect, google, share, tweet, pin, blog, and comment all hours of the day and night. It's daylight somewhere, right?  It should be easier than ever to teach our children about world cultures and diversity. I'm including people with special needs because I am reminded every day how prejudices can affect people. My daughter has a seizure disorder. She has suffered from unkind remarks and people staring or wondering why she acts strangely sometimes. Yet she brings me more joy than anyone. Can we all try a little harder to see the good in everyone? Young children learn from their parent's attitudes and behaviors. They are great imitators of what you say and do.

5 Ways to Teach Children about World Culture and Diversity

We can teach children to respect and value others regardless of their skin color, language, or physical and mental abilities. Here are five ways to help children learn about differences: 

I. MUSIC

Children can learn about world cultures and different languages as they learn songs. Music crosses all barriers and transcends boundaries. Award-winning Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou travels around the globe spreading the message of peace, tolerance and most importantly, fun, through her music for children. Daria believes that children need music that is not only enjoyable, but also positive and empowering.  Children can learn to create their own multicultural instruments that they might find by traveling around the planet. From Australia’s “way too funny” didgeridoo, to a box-shaped drum from coastal Peru, to recycled rattles, there are a multitude of ways to be creative with music as you shake, rattle, and roll.

Every month Daria has a monthly song and giveaway plus she also blogs at My Favorite Multicultural Books. Your children will enjoy learning this funny song while they watch her video of La Cucaracha (Dancing Cockroaches). Daria has songs and videos in many languages but I just discovered this beautiful video in which she sings in Yiddish and English.

II. FOOD  

Glittering Muffins features the amazing Around the World in 12 Dishes including a fabulous Linky Party.

III. FLAT STANLEY

Crayon Freckles started a Flat Stanley world-wind project and Sarah is enjoying it very much. It is always fun to get mail. Flats can teach children geography but also reading and writing skills by using the traveling journal. We are putting together the neglected puzzle of the United States and will buy a globe for a 3D hands-on experience of finding locations.  Sarah is excited to make new friends including Tiaras and Bowties and We Can Do All Things -- and I'm happy to connect with moms who also have Children with Special Needs. We have started a new Flat Stanley project for children with special needs.

IV.  OLYMPICS

There are 204 countries competing in 2012 Olympics being held in London. The Olympics inspire children to play new games or reach for new physical or athletic goals. If you are having a party while you watch the Olympics, here is an adorable printable for Olympic Party Fry Box Favors which can hold pretzels, celery, baby carrots, or crayons. For many ideas on celebrating the Olympics, world cultures, games, outdoor play, and children's activities, click on these Pinterest boards:

Pinterest

MeMeTales Children’s Stories

World Culture Book, Activities, Crafts & Learning Curriculum
Kindergarten & Preschool for Parents & Children

V.  BOOKS

A love of reading = A lifetime of learning.

Ebooks to Own and Borrow! This is the last week (6) of MeMeTales Readathon and the theme is WORLD CULTURES. You can borrow books and OWN over 20 wonderful free children's ebooks for  viewing on the computer or Apps. Many correlating activities are offered. For every child who joins, a hungry child is fed through FoodforEducation.org. So far, over 8,000 meals have been donated and children have read the books over  80,000 times! It is easy to join, just click here. 

The Human Garden

See more at memetales

The Human Garden introduces the concept of "unity in diversity" of the human race in a very simple and direct way.  The book begins by making the association between a flower garden and the world of humanity, and has beautiful illustrations on how the uniqueness of each individual flower adds to the beauty and richness of the garden, just as the uniqueness of each human being adds to the beauty and richness of the human race. Many other beautiful ebooks are available to own or borrow through MeMeTales including more of the popular Stickfiggy series.

My husband used to ask me why I didn't plant the same color of flowers around our house. He thought the landscaping would look good if all the flowers were red. I said, "If God didn't want us to enjoy all the colors, he wouldn't have made them." Dan stopped asking that question and I continued planting a variety of flowers in various shades and glory. With the WWW, there has never been a better opportunity for us to learn to live cooperatively together and benefit from each other's wisdom and experiences. Let us connect with respect, understanding, compassion and joy while we celebrate and learn from our differences. We may not know a person's language, but we can smile at them.

No matter what language you speak, everyone understands the
universal signs of happiness: Smiles, giggles and laughter.

For a glimpse into Kindergarten see my book. Would you like inexpensive ideas, activities, and games to teach your child through play? Mommy with Selective Memory and I can help save your sanity, one project at a time, with The Happy Mommy Handbook: The Ultimate How-to Guide on Keeping Your Toddlers and Preschoolers Busy, Out of Trouble and Motivated to Learn. Both have been No. 1 Bestsellers on Amazon.

Music in Kindergarten & Preschool with Giveaways

Daria with Shekere

The National Association for Music Education has named March as Music in our Schools Month. Parents, I hope you will support the music teachers in schools as funding is being decreased in every state. For many children, public schools offer the only musical opportunity for children to learn traditional and multicultural songs, playing instruments, and to participate in chorus, bands or orchestras. Daria is a musician, singer, songwriter, and author and I am excited to have a guest post by Daria's World Music for Kids with 20 poster giveaways as well as other free offers. Her website was given a 2009 Parent's Choice Award as a best family-friendly site on the web for children's music. I am truly amazed at her diversity and talent and know that you will be too.

HOW CHILDREN LEARN THROUGH MUSIC

Children with Musical Sharing Bowl

Some may think of March as a time to focus on formal music instruction, such as learning a new musical instrument or performing in a band or chorus, but it is also a great time to discover how music can be a powerful force in the early education classroom, or at home with young children. Not only are children having fun while learning music, but songs and simple musical instruments teach in the follow ways:

• Songs can teach numbers, letters, or build memory and vocabulary
• Learning music enhances creativity, resourcefulness, and playing with a language
• Music develops listening skills
• Children learn to cooperate while bonding with a larger group
• Children can learn about world cultures or share first songs in other languages
• Music fosters math and reading skills through repetitive patterns in songs or dance

There are a host of benefits that can come from the simple act of having fun while making music with young children. Here are a few simple ideas which are great ways to bring music into the world of young children. 


THE QUIETEST RATTLE - SHARING MUSIC AND LEARNING TO LISTEN

Recycled Rattles and Shekeres

Ask any preschool or kindergarten teacher - mixing arts and crafts with music makes a big hit in the classroom. One fun activity perfect for this age group is creating really quiet rattles. The project is very simple. Have each child bring in any recycled container, preferably a see-through one, and have a few extra so that no one is left out. They can decorate the outside with stickers or wrap it with pipe cleaners or yarn before filling them. Here is the tricky, but fun, part. Encourage the children to find lots of different things to put in the rattles that are to be quieter. The teacher can have some examples of rattles that are not so quiet for comparison and then challenge the children to fill theirs with something that will make noise, but still be very quiet (suggestions offered below). 

Each rattle will make a different quiet sound that will help teach children the art of listening. When the children are finished making their rattle, seal them with a strong tape such as electrical tape. Then the children can use their new instruments to play along to quieter music while learning to pay attention to rhythms of their rattles and how it fits into the music they are hearing.

You could even have a contest in the classroom asking the children for their suggestions about which of the teacher's rattles would win a “Quiet Contest.” Stack up a variety of rattles and the class can guess which might make the softest sound. (Isn't this every teacher or mom's dream - to have quiet, yet musical, sounds?)

 

Favorite Choices for Rattle-Making:

• Quiet Rattles: Sand, salt, sugar, confetti, cotton balls, craft puff balls, paper bits, Q-tips, tiny pasta such as pastina or acine de pepe
• Medium Rattles:  Paper clips, small pebbles, birdseed, small beads, small dried beans, rice, smaller buttons
• Loud Rattles:  Dried macaroni/pasta, large pebbles, large beads, coins, large dried beans, larger buttons

BE A GUIRO HERO

Young Child Enjoying His Washboard

Creating a simple guiro can be a fun way to share the Latin-American culture, a bit of Spanish language, and music-making skills at the same time.  A guiro is any small percussion instrument that has ridges which are scraped or rubbed, creating rhythmic patterns. See, Hear, Color or Make a Guiro from an unsharpened pencil, recycled water bottle (with ridges) and some string or other decorating material.

When you’ve completed making your instruments, the children can play along with simple songs in Spanish such as "The Spanish Counting Song:" Uno, dos, tres amigos (one, two, three good friends) or the Spanish version of the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" (La Araña Pequeñita). The children would also enjoy "La Cucaracha?" Here is a video of my version of La Cucaracha with Spanish and English Lyrics, complete with dancing cockroaches (cucarachas) that actually play their guiros! (Susan's comment: I LOVE this video. It actually took me back to my kindergarten days when we learned this same song while shaking tambourines or maracas).

A WHIMSICAL WASHBOARD - FOR CREATIVE MUSICAL FUN

What can be used to make music? Practically anything! The musical washboard is proof that people have found creative ways to make music from all kinds of interesting objects.You can See, Hear, Color or Make a Washboard from easy classroom materials. Once you’ve made the washboards, the children will enjoy playing along to any music. They sound particularly good with old-timey music and classical songs like "Grand Old Flag," "You Are My Sunshine" or "This Little Light of Mine." These songs can be heard for free on Grandchildren’s Delight.

You could make some best-loved songs new by singing “Oh Susannah” using the names of your students instead - or by singing a different version each day - or with a new student’s name, then including everyone, so no one is left out and the students can  learn each others names. 

Do you have a folksong or popular kid’s song that you want to teach your class? Playing along with an instrument is a great way for children to learn new songs, words, and rhythm. There are no limits as to how the powerfully fun tool of music can be used in the classroom at any time of year. Feel free to inspire children through music and everyone will benefit from a happy and harmonious classroom or home.

* * *

Daria's Talent Reaches Many Areas:

• Her main website is Daria’s World Music for Kids
• Listen to Daria sing from a Grammy Nominated Album of favorite songs for kids -Grandchildren’s Delight
  
• Tiny Tapping Toes blog has many wonderful posts including how to involve babies and toddlers in the wonderful world of music. She has a post about children with SPECIAL NEEDS titled Making Music with Blind and Disabled Babies and Toddlers. And she has a page for ALL ABILITIES.
• Making Multicultural Music, or Sharing Diversity through the Arts, shows how to make homemade multicultural instruments and the stories behind them.
• Many books are included in My Favorite Multicultural Books

Some people think music education is a privilege, but I think it’s essential
to being human. ~ Jewel – singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist

Would you like a glimpse into Kindergarten? See Kindergarten: Tattle-Tales, Tools, Tactics, Triumphs and Tasty Treats for Teachers and Parents. Moms of Preschoolers - let me help save your sanity, one project at a time with The Happy Mommy Handbook: The Ultimate How-to Guide on Keeping Your Toddlers and Preschoolers Busy, Out of Trouble and Motivated to Learn. Both books are bestsellers and are also available on Barnes & Noble and Kobo.

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