Now that Esme is two, she has really taken off in her interest in music. For her birthday, we gave her a Makala Soprano Ukulele and her second homemade handdrum, both have really inspired her to play and practice like Daddy. The uke is a very solid instrument for a very reasonable price, nearly equivilant to some professional ukuleles.
Esme and Eva are both singers by nature. It is actually strange for there to be quiet in our house--someone is always making music, whether it is David practicing or recording, Eva and Esme singing, snapping, clapping, drumming, playing their ukes or Eva's guitar. Music is terribly important to development in children, especially in relation to spacial, mathematic, logical and kinesthetic intelligences. We encourage musical expression in our home and lives--and musical development is as important to our children's basic development as walking and talking.
Our latest find, thanks to a friend, is directed specifically at pre-school aged childre, The Cool Alphabet Song by Didi Pop. I have to share it because Esme loves it so much:
Woohoo, we are mentioned on your blog!! We're famous!! :) Ok, where did you get the Uke and how much? I am desperately trying to widen our variety of instruments. We are always singing and making up songs here, though nothing "professional". I'd LOVe to get a piano again, if only my husband would agree to it.:rolleyes.
ReplyDeleteThe uke is from the local music store. It's a Makala Soprano Ukulele. They come in a variety of colors and you can get them online for $30-35.
ReplyDeleteYou might look for a wooden tongue drum or a wooden xylaphone. There are claves, but they are noisy as hell! Then there are wooden guiro, which are also fun and come in all sorts of animal shapes! I found this website, and the guiros are adorable! http://www.naturalflowdirect.com/acatalog/Guiros.html