Kindermusik Imagine That for Preschoolers

Kindermusik Imagine That!

designed for children from 3 to 5 years old.

Each day in Imagine That! is an imaginative journey filled with music, movement, and exploration leading to whole child development, music development, and learning through play and self-discovery. If you have a child in this age range, you KNOW that their imaginations are in overdrive. This wonderful program allows us to delve into their imagination with them, shaping and reshaping worlds where learning occurs as naturally as breathing, where singing comes as naturally as talking, and where children can explore being other people or animals, as easy as exploring being themselves. In the process, children gain valuable music skills, such as developing their singing voice, playing a steady beat, ensemble development, and much more that prepares them for success in further music opportunities, as well as for life.

Sessions are 45 min. a week for 15 weeks. Students attend independently for 30 minutes, then parents join for the last 15 min.

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Each Imagine That! class is focused on creating a stimulating musical environment that integrates music, pretend play, story telling, movement, and more. Because Kindermusik so strongly believes that all children learn the most from their home experiences and interactions with their parents and siblings, each semester comes with a full set of home materials that provide high-quality tools for continuing the learning at home. Each set contains:

• 2 CDs of high quality music featuring a variety of voices, instruments, and styles
• 2 Children’s literature books with interesting characters, story lines, and word plays
• A Home Activity Book which includes the words & melodies of the songs, as well as “homework” assignments after each class to help bring the learning home
• A Play Set based on the theme of the semester – where the imagination can more fully process the learning that takes place
• an instrument – designed for durability and a high quality sound that will encourage a love of music making, and provide opportunities to learn steady beat and ensemble development.
• During the first semester, each Imagine That! student also recieves a turquoise Kindermusik backpack to carry their instruments and projects back and forth to class.

There are four units of the Imagine That! program, each with a unique theme that interests children this age.

Fall 2009

“See What I Saw“ is a whole semester of what can happen in a park – playing on the play ground, searching for “nature” treasures, having a picnic in the park, and so much more. Josh and Katie are the featured characters in our storytelling, and in their Park Play Set, where the panoramic scenario and punch out play pieces offer hours of fun re-creating our fun adventures in the park. Our song about sliding down the slide is a wonderful way to learn and practice our glissandos, and it’s even more fun when we use our graceful slide whistles that come with the home materials.

 

Included in this semester’s materials is a high quality drum that your child will enjoy, and this drum allows us to focus on exploring the different timbres of sound one can make, as well as developing a strong steady beat, and being introduced to rhythmic patterns. The play set is a durable Toy Shop scenario, with punch out toys, as well as a paper toy bear with interchangeable clothes, to act out the songs, stories, and activities featured in class. The two children’s books are as follows:

• “Tippity Tippity Too” – a wonderful rhyming wordplay book, about a mouse that is determined to find out the name of all the stuffed animal characters in the house. You’ll find yourselves asking everything “Who are YOU?” and trying to make rhymes!
• “If I Had a Big Blue Boat” – a beautiful open ended book that launches us into our imaginations of where we might go, and what we might do, in our big blue boat. Each page plays around with sounds so marvalously, children are drawn to add these fun sound effects, thereby developing their speech and articulation skills.

Fall 2010

“Hello Weather, Let’s Play Together” introduces children to the world of weather. We begin with the sun rising, and waking up to the crowing of a Rooster (in Spanish), and make our merry way through windy weather, rainfall, scary stormy weather, and even end off the semester by playing in snow and ice skating. Honest! You can do amazing things in the world of the imagination! Our weather play is enhanced by the instruments that come with the materials. We enjoy wearing our ANKLE BELLS as we join the Native Americans in their dance to honor the sun, and call forth the rain. And the various sounds that are made with the WOODEN RAIN SHAKER accent the songs we use about rain and thunderstorms. The play set includes a Game Cube, with surfaces that allow

Spring 2011

“Cities! Busy Places, Friendly Faces” allows children to musically explore and celebrate many of the aspects of living in a city, all of the wonderful sights and sounds, including silent statues as well as the complexities of the wonderful timbres that can be heard on the busy thoroughfares. In our story telling, we follow the adventures of a little boy and his dog, as they take walks through the city, and even what happens when the dog gets lost. Many types of people are found in the city, artists, musicians, and even mime artists, and we enjoy taking “photos” of all the people we meet. The children use their beautiful sounding resonator bars to reflect the sounds they hear from Steeple Bells, and practice steady beat and ensemble development. And the very creative cards and puzzle board can be used to play an incredible amount of different games and activities.