Bubble Beats for the Whole Family | Guest Blog
Guest Blog By Victoria R. Golden of Bubbles Academy
One of the comments we hear most often at Bubbles Academy is, “We love the music!” Families hear a wide variety of live and recorded music in all of our classes: we use songs to teach baby sign, to encourage language development, and to inspire interaction and develop social connections between students and families. Our music also plays a key role in gross motor skill development in toddlers (bouncing and wiggling those hips!) and core development in babies.
How We Choose Our Music:
We begin building our playlists by brainstorming a list of genuinely enjoyable songs. We draw from our own musical tastes, popular music, and world music, but we also like to be playful! We often draw inspiration from our curriculum, which fuses developmentally-focused activities with interactive audio-visuals, to create well-rounded thematic musical selections.
Ms. Victoria’s Top 10 Spring Music Picks:
- “Wavin’ Flag” by K’Naan: we danced with flags to this great tune in our Sports-themed Creative Movement classes.
- “Baby” by Justin Bieber: this is one of our all-time favorite “baby dance” songs!
- “Folding Chair” by Regina Spektor: a great spring and summer song, this one will have your child trying to imitate the dolphin sounds she makes.
- “Waka Waka” by Shakira: this song will get your blood pumping as you dance to Shakira’s take on a traditional African song!
- “Mixing Bowl” by Kira Willey: we’ve been using this one in our Food curriculum as a parachute song- a very calming tune that babies and adults love.
- “Fitted Shirt” by Spoon: great song to inspire children to dress themselves in the morning!
- “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell: combine your child’s love of all things on wheels with Joni’s classic take on environmentalism!
- “Up Up Up” by The Givers: another song we use for parachute time, its tune is guaranteed to brighten your day.
- “Jungle Drum” by Emiliana Torrini: bring out the drums, bongos or pots and pans to jam along and practice matching rhythms!
- “Mushaboom” by Feist: a toe-tapping classic!
Tips for Finding More Music to Enjoy With Your Child:
- On our Bubbles Academy blog, The Bub Hub, we post a new video every Monday in our “Music for Talls and Tinies” column. Start your week off right with some rockin’ tunes!
- Children’s television is becoming a savvy source for music that parents and kids can both enjoy. Tune in to Yo Gabba Gabba or Sesame Street, which have recently hosted contemporary musical artists like The Shins and Feist.
- Talk to your friends! Personal recommendations are a beautiful way to find new music and make connections with your friends, and everyone loves to share their opinions on “the best music”!
Singing and dancing together builds strong connections between parents and children, and the right music can help create lifelong memories for your little music lovers. What music do you remember from your childhood? It might be different from today’s tunes, but chances are, the fond memories remain the same.
About the Author:
Victoria R. Golden is the Assistant Program Director at Bubbles Academy. She teaches Music, Art & Music, Bubble Step (Gentle Separation) and Bubble Bees (Independent Learning) classes. A self-taught guitarist, she has also studied music at American University in Washington, DC and at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. She hopes to see you soon at Bubbles!