Trains, Elephants and Monkeys

Wow, two whole weeks with no second post. Not a very good start. Oh well, never too late to reform, right?

Last week's singalong was one of my best yet. I had a great crowd. Active kids, and responsive grownups - which, I've found already, is essential to a successful family show. To get the right energy in the room, everyone has to be willing to sing. And they were! I hope it had something to do with me, but they were a great group. They even went along to try and sing "Pufferbellies" as a round. Didn't quite happen, but I was the only one leading, so I may have been overly ambitious. Maybe a few more runs through before splitting? Let the first group sing the whole song once through before sending the second in? Maybe if I have an equally cooperative group this week, I'll see what I can do.

I have to admit to being quite proud of myself for what I felt was the most fun part of the singalong. I've been wanting to introduce "One Elephant" for a while but had been shy about it. But last week I was reading posts on the Children's Music Network listserve, and someone had mentioned using stuffed animals. Eureka! I collected five stuffed elephants, brought them in, and introduced the song. I announced that the elephants were to go out and play on the spider web, and the parents and children were going to be the spider web! They loved it. I was indescribably happy...I do love sharing the old songs, and it feels quite good to have a creative idea that works. I think I may be the first one to have the families be the spiderweb rather than the elephants!

Maybe not, though. It wouldn't be the first time I've had a clever idea and found out later someone had already done it. I was convinced for years I was being original by having kids act out "5 Little Monkeys," instead of doing it as a fingerplay, only to find out it had been a game for decades before I came along. Oh well! It's still fun! That's one of the blessings of children's music...everything is new to them!

Coming this Saturday...the first "Jingle Bells" of the season!