As an Experience Early Learning Blog Ambassador, we receive the Experience Early Learning preschool curriculum in exchange for sharing our honest and authentic stories resulting from our personal experiences. As always, our opinions on amazing things for children are 100% our own. Keep in mind that all preschoolers do things in their own time and on their own terms. What one is ready for, another might not be. Please use your best judgement when planning activities for your children.
Orchestra has definitely been one of our favorite topics during this month's Cozy Winter Senses theme from Experience Early Learning (formerly Mother Goose Time).
Today, we learned about Strings! Our discussion question for the day was, "What kinds of instruments have strings?"
We sang If You're a Violinist and You Know It and pretended to play violins, guitars, harps, and cellos.
Then our preschool teacher got out her violin and showed the kids how she makes music with it. We also played a few songs.
We kept looking for the letter P in the room. Each day, the Teacher Guide includes literacy activities that encourage preschoolers to practice early reading and writing skills.
For centers, we made violins, did a STEAM activity from Experience Early Learning where kids pulled rubber bands on different sized blocks to make sounds, looked at a book that made different sounds in a symphony, and rolled a die to count the number of strings to strum on our box.
The violin Make & Play was an absolutely wonderful and of course creative way to round out our Stringed Instruments topic.
We discussed how to play violin while we decorated our violin crafts. We practiced fine motor skills by threading yarn to make the strings.
After that, it was time to play! The children were encouraged to hold their violins under their chins and run the bow after the strings.
Our monthly CD included a wonderful instrumental track that was perfect for pretending to play along to the music.
Don't forget to check back next week to see what we're up to as we finish our Cozy Winter Senses theme from Experience Early Learning (formerly Mother Goose Time).