Montessori Baby Ed: Watch My "Vlog" To See What Your Musical Baby Might Do In The First Six Months!

STARTING AT BIRTH, YOUR MONTESSORI BABY CAN DEVELOP A LOVE FOR MUSIC AND ADVANCE IMPORTANT COGNITIVE SKILLS, AS WELL! Scroll down to watch the video. 

My good friend, Amanda has been applying Montessori principles to her baby's growth and development since he was a newborn, and look at what he loves to do nowadays! 

Amanda's little one was beginning to creep around the Montessori-style home environment that she had set up, when she caught this adorable picture of her little guy playing music for her!

This musical instrument ( I call it a "child-size hammered dulcimer") is introduced to Baby in my Montessori Baby-Ed "Nido Basket" # 3. Read more about the activities in that "basket" by clicking this link: Montessori Baby-Ed #3 "Do You Need 8 Activities With The Arts For Your 3 Month Old?"

We are all so fortunate to have Amanda keeping a photo/video journal of her little one and his musical progress and cognitive development since his introduction to Montessori Baby-Ed when he was barely one month old. So, I have the fun job of putting her footage all together to show you the first 6 months of musical development in my YouTube video below.

I hope you enjoy this adorable "Vlog" that chronicles the first 6 months of Amanda's family and Montessori Baby-Ed. Watch my YouTube video by clicking HERE:

You are welcome to enjoy my Montessori Baby-Ed Blog Posts with full Lesson Plans and links for creating your own monthly Baby-Ed "Nido Baskets" for your musical family. 

Click on these links:

~ Montessori Baby-Ed #1: "7 Activities For Exploring The Arts With Your One-Month-Old"

~ Montessori Baby-Ed #2: "10 Ways To Explore The Arts With Your Two Month Old"

~ Montessori Baby-Ed #3: "Do You Need 8 Activities With The Arts For Your Three Month Old"

~ Montessori Baby-Ed "Nido" Basket #4 Part 1: The "Vlog" 

~ Montessori Baby-Ed "Nido" Basket #4 Part 2: The Lessons

~ Montessori Baby-Ed Resources and More Articles

Over the past year, I have been working on my complete On-Line eCourse for Montessori families and caregivers who are searching for a month-to-month curriculum of activities for babies from birth to 12 months of age.

My Montessori Baby-Ed eCourse is almost ready for enrollment! I will be OFFERING A SPECIAL DISCOUNT CODE for enrollment in the course and you'll find it here at my blog in the next few weeks! 

PLEASE CLICK HERE if you would like to be on the WAIT LIST:

You can join my email list and receive regular notifications and news of my special offers and latest blog article. You'll also receive a complementary download of my eBook, "Musically Montessori: The First Lessons" (retail price $12.99!) Check it out at my  TpT Store HERE!   

I would  love for you to sign up for my email list in the side menu of this blog and receive your complimentary eBook free of charge!

SUBSRIBE TO OUR MAILING LIST

Currently,  I also offer an on-line eCourse for Montessori educational environments that you might like to explore for your Preschool aged group: Musically Montessori: First Twelve Weeks. 

HERE IS THE LINK FOR MORE INFORMATION: 

And please use this DISCOUNT CODE: SUMMIT 2016 and take 20% OFF the Regular Price! 

This Blog article is part of the Montessori Monday Link-up at Living Montessori Now where you'll find resources (some are free!) from Montessori educators all over the world.

Thanks again for visiting my blog today and I hope you have gotten some ideas for your Montessori learning environment!

Advertising Disclosure: Magical Movement Company may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. Thanks for your support!

   

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Musically Montessori: Wouldn't Your Group Enjoy Opera Singing With "The Magic Flute?"

YOU MIGHT BE DELIGHTFULLY SURPRISED TO FIND THAT YOUR YOUNG CHILDREN ENJOY OPERA WHEN IT COMES FROM MOZART'S "MAGIC FLUTE"! 

And, with my newest TpT product, you can offer a lovely group of lessons featuring the concept of pitch using a scene from "The Magic Flute." I'll be telling you more about that later in this article.

Photo from Adobe Stock

MOZART'S "BIRDCATCHER'S DUET" 

Over the years, I still feel a surprised delight when I see my music groups of little children enjoying  the opera singing in the scene from "The Magic Flute" that features the "Birdcatcher's Duet". This intriguing story (put to music by Mozart) is a fun and interesting piece to explore music concepts with little children and develop an appreciation of opera, too.

As a beginner's introduction to this fanciful opera, I have found that the "Birdcatcher's Duet" is enjoyable for young children because it is a relatively short segment in the opera, and the main words are "Pah...pah...pah...pah...pah...pah!" That makes it playful, too. 

Photo from Adobe Stock

 Statue of bird-catcher Papageno, character of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute, in front of Stadsschouwburg Theatre in Bruges, Belgium

In the story of "The Magic Flute", a young man called "Papageno" plays the role of a birdcatcher dressed in his colorful, feathery costume.  Papageno finally meets a young woman birdcatcher called "Papagena" and that's when they sing their duet. 

Photo from Adobe Stock

FOCUSED LISTENING FOR HIGH PITCH 

AND LOW PITCH

This duet is perfect for children to hear the low pitch of the man's voice and the high pitch of the woman's voice. What a fun way to explore the music concept of pitch (and "duet")! And, when you add stick puppets of "Papageno" and "Papagena" for the children to manipulate while they listen to a recording of that scene from the opera, the experience really comes to life.

Photo from Adobe Stock

Here's the activity:

• Invite every child to hold a stick puppet in each hand...one that is Papageno, for the low pitch,  and one that is Papagena, for the high pitch. (In the opera, the man sings "Pah-pah-pah-pah-pah-pah" in a low pitch and then the woman answers in her higher pitched voice.) 
• Then I say: "We're going to listen to 'The Birdcatcher's Duet' from Mozart's opera called 'The Magic Flute'. In this opera the singers tell the story by singing it. The boy birdcatcher, named Papageno sings in a low voice. One day Papageno meets the girl birdcatcher,  named Papagena. Papagena sings in a high voice. When they sing their song together it's called a duet. I'm going to move the boy puppet when I hear the man singing in a low voice and I'm going to move the girl puppet when I hear the woman singing in a high voice."
• I show how to move each puppet, as I am telling the children about the activity. Then I ask the children to move their puppets along with me as I sing "Ahhh" in a high voice or a low voice. 
• As we listen to the recording, we can move the appropriate puppet according to which birdcatcher happens to be singing.  With such simple words being sung in the opera, I find that the children (and me!) spontaneously begin singing along, changing the pitch as each birdcatcher sings.

MAKING STICK PUPPETS TO REINFORCE THE CONCEPT OF PITCH

Here are the stick puppets that my granddaughter in Japan drew for the Lesson featuring "Musical Pitch" in my Musically Montessori eCourse, "First 12 Weeks." These templates are also part of the downloads in my newest TpT product, "Pitch, Musical Scale, and Mozart".  More on this new product and my special 2 day sale later in this post!

Photo by Carolyn at Magical Movement Company

After each child has his/her own Papageno and Papagena puppets in hand, then its fun to move the puppets to "The Birdcatcher's  Duet" like a little puppet show. I like to extend the fun by singing our own versions of the birdcatcher's song with different sounds (ex: singing "Lah-lah-lah-lah" or "Mah-mah-mah-mah", etc)

PLAYING "THE CONDUCTOR GAME"

Here's another fun musical pitch extension: 

• Invite the children to play "The Conductor Game"
• Say: "The conductor is the leader of the band. I'll be the conductor and you will be the singers in the band. I'm going to hide the puppets behind my back and then show you one. If I show you the Papageno (boy) puppet you will sing in a low voice. If I show you the Papagena (girl) puppet  you will sing in a high voice." 
• Hide each puppet behind your back.
• Choose a favorite song for the group to sing.
• Show one of the puppets to guide the singers to sing in a low pitch (Papageno puppet) or in a high pitch (Papagena puppet).
• Invite each child to have a turn to choose the song to sing and then to show a puppet that indicates to the other children whether to sing high or low.

Musically Montessori "Pitch, Musical Scale, & Mozart" 

at My TpT Shop

I just added this new product to my Magical Movement Company TpT Store at the special price of $2 for the next 48 hours. 

Not only is the "Papageno & Papagena Activities" included in this Packet, but also the "Sunflower Musical Scale Activity" that are both from my on-line eCourse, Musically Montessori eCourse, "First Twelve Weeks".  

You'll have what you need to delight your children with these fun music activities while they learn about an important concept in music: PITCH!

If you have already been enrolled in my "First Twelve Weeks" eCourse, then you already have these Lesson Plans, Visuals, Templates, and even my own mp3 downloads AND MORE! If you've enrolled in my eCourse then you also have access to my more than 50 instructional videos so you can see firsthand all the techniques I use to engage children in music learning...the Montessori way.

If you haven't yet enrolled in my eCourse and you happen to purchase this new TpT product then you will receive the 30 % off coupon code for a substantial discount on my "First Twelve Weeks" eCourse. 

And, for the next 2 days only, you can purchase my newest TpT Musically Montessori Lesson Plan Packet for the special price of $2. 

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

After March 10th, this product goes back to the regular price!

I am so happy to have you visiting my Blog today, and I hope you have gotten some ideas for fun musical activities to introduce to  your group of little musicians.

If you like this article, you might also like these:

~ Musically Montessori: "Let's Play the Sunflower Musical Scale Game" 

~ Singing with the Montessori Bells: Fun Musical Pitch Games for Preschoolers

~ From the Montessori Music Room: High & Low With Funny Sounds 

~ Montessori Baby-Ed: 10 Activities to Introduce Your 2 Month Old to Music and the Arts

My article here is part of the "Montessori Monday Link-up" at Living Montessori Now where you'll find literally thousands of resources from Deb Chitwood and Montessori educators from all over the world. Click here to check out the Link-up: Montessori Monday Link-up.

Advertising Disclosure: Magical Movement Company may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. Thanks for your support!

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