Little Banty Chicken is a tale about the importance of dreams and how sharing them helps them come true. Written in the style of a traditional fairy tale, it tells the story of a chicken who, on the moon’s advice, tells his dream to his friends. Each friend encourages him to move towards his dream and contributes to its realisation at the end the story.
Little Banty Chicken and the Big Dream is written by Linea Gillen, a teacher and counsellor for over 30 years and delicately illustrated by Kristina Swanson.
The story is both engaging and inspiring but I found the talking points and activities at the end really captured my children’s imaginations. The key question is “What is your dream?” a question that young children may need to think about for some time.
My-7-year-old knew immediately what her dream was but in a very deflated manner said,
” I don’t think anyone will be able to help me make my dream come true.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Well, I want to stop all the animals from becoming extinct and I don’t think anyone can make that happen”.
This particular dream began after we read an article about the danger of large carnivores becoming extinct in the next 25 years. She often asks how we will be able to stop people killing animals. This is a big dream indeed and doesn’t have a simple solution.
We talked about how this is the kind of dream that can’t be achieved on your own. Asking other people to help could be a way forward.
“But who could I ask? I don’t think anyone will know.”
“Well perhaps not now, but as you get older you will be able to find people who know how to help and work together.”
“You mean like a scientist?”
“Exactly, or groups of people who work together to help it to stop”.
Real, face-to-face communication is necessary for developing essential life skills such as empathy, conflict resolution, problem solving, and more. And when problems arise – when life hurts us – we need real world communities for support. Many adults see asking for help as a weakness and find it hard to delegate. These skills are an important part of children’s social and emotional learning. ‘Little Banty Chicken and the Big Dream’ is a perfect way to introduce these concepts to young children.
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of the book for review purposes.
Don’t turn the page yet! Let me start with the biggest number; so 7 plus 3 is 10, plus 2, plus 1 is 13, plus 4 is 17, plus 5 is……. 22. Now turn the page -Yes! I was right, 22.
This wasn’t a maths homework exercise but a bedtime story for my 5 and 7-year-old.
Regular readers will know that I am a huge Lauren Child fan. Her version of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears features in my top 5 books for the Under 5’s, my eldest daughter read and re-read the Clarice Bean series and our visit to Lauren Child’s exhibition was like a step into Wonderland.
As I was browsing books for the younger ones for Christmas, I discovered a brand new Charlie and Lola book called ‘One Thing’. With great excitement, I quickly contacted friends from the UK who were coming to visit and asked them to bring a copy. I didn’t know what it was about but as the Charlie and Lola books are amongst our favourites, I was looking forward to finding out.
As an additional surprise, a new Ruby Redfort book popped into my recommended items. It may seem a little sad, but I react in the same way to a new Lauren Child book as I would to news of a concert from my favourite artist. My eldest daughter loves Ruby Redfort and I usually pre-order them but somehow I had missed this one. Her face was a picture when she unwrapped it on Christmas day. She says this is her 2nd favourite in the series, beaten marginally by the first book. On finishing the book, she immediately wrote a letter to Lauren Child, explaining how much she enjoyed it, asking her questions and telling her about her own life. Through Lauren Child’s writing, children sense a genuine interest in what they think, feel and do which I believe, compelled my daughter to correspond.
One Thing is Lauren Child’s 5th Charlie and Lola book. Most Charlie and Lola books are adapted from the television scripts. The television series is based on Lauren Child’s characters and she collaborates closely with the script writers but there are only 5 Charlie and Lola books written by Lauren Child:-
We love the television series but the Charlie and Lola books from the series don’t have the same sparkle for me, so I am always brimming with excitement when a new one from Lauren Child is released.
‘One Thing’ did not disappoint my giant expectations. In usual Lauren Child fashion, ‘One Thing’ captures perfectly the workings of a young child’s mind. The story begins when ‘mum’ promises Charlie and Lola ‘one thing’ when they go shopping. The book takes you on a number journey, tapping into the minds of children like my own, who count everything and work out number problems in their head.
Lola talks about numbers and Charlie gets frustrated, adding up the time it takes Lola to get anywhere. All of the number references are displayed as sums, puzzles or hidden numbers in the illustrations. It is a wonderful introduction to maths for young children but ‘One Thing’ is more than an educational number book. The book recognises the natural way that children see numbers everywhere and is full of discoveries for an inquisitive mind.
One Thing is a delight for adults to read. I particularly identified with Lola’s constant distractions and Charlie and mum’s negotiations with her,
“What are you doing?” I say.
Lola says “I am just trying to count the dots on my dress but I am not sure what comes after twelve.”
I say “Missing going to the shops comes after twelve.”
It is a perfect example of a picture book where text and illustrations are dependent on one another, each enriching the other. I asked the girls what they liked about the book,
“I like finding all the numbers” said my 5-year-old “and I like Charlie and Lola”.
Each time we read it we find something new, from the title page with handwritten numbers,
Why did someone write on it?… Oh, I think it’s meant to be like that. I think it is meant to be Lola’s writing.
…to discovering the number of minutes it takes Charlie to get ready hidden in the pictures,
“Oh look the toothpaste is a number 3”.
This was their favourite page.
They returned to it multiple times, trying to find the numbers hidden on the birds. We couldn’t find a number 3, perhaps you will have better luck.
Thank you Lauren Child for another book to treasure.
One Thing is available in hardback in the UK and for pre-order in the US.
Disclaimer: This is a personal recommendation. I completely, absolutely did not get paid or get free stuff for writing this post.
When I ask the girls where they would like to go, a popular response is the zoo. In the UK we were members of Bristol Zoo and visited there regularly. Having membership made our visits more relaxed, we didn’t have to run around trying to see every animal and if the children wanted to play in the playground all day that was fine too.
Woodland Park Zoo is more spacious than the zoo back home so we are able to see larger animals. Recently, we were invited to Woodland Park to see some of the activities available in the Zoomazium – a nature inspired play space for the under 8’s. To be honest we have always avoided Zoomazium during previous visits, expecting it to be a large, noisy soft play. I was pleasantly surprised however, to see a mix of play spaces and activities. There is a designated space for toddlers, fully enclosed and safe, with a library area to the side. The children can also explore the cricket exhibit.
toddler play spacelibrary areacricket exhibit
The play area for older children has rope bridges, places to climb and lots of little caves that are perfect for hide and seek. There are also tables with toys for building, a stage area and a sensory area to explore.
Zoomazium is the perfect place to explore if you want to escape the heat (or cold) for a while but it is also a good starting point for your visit to the zoo. Creature Feature occurs every morning at 10.30 and encourages children to get close to some of the smaller animals at the zoo and learn about them from zoo staff. Our visitor was an armadillo.
My favourite Zoomazium offering was activity backpacks that the little ones can take with them around the zoo. Each one has a different theme and they are packed with activities, toys, books, magnifiers and things to look out for during your visit. After a lot of deliberation,the girls chose one each; the back yard and big cats.
I love the design of the backpacks, they look so cool and we had lots of comments as we wandered around. The backyard backpack had a number of activities to complete in the backyard of the Zoomazium or when exploring the rest of the zoo.
Can you find these things?“This feels smooth”
The big cats backpack was a good starting point for exploring the new Banyan Wilds exhibit.
I found a tiger.
Having the backpacks, encouraged us to take it slowly as the girls wanted to stop and take in the contents of their packs.
The squirrel puppet from the Backyard pack was a definite favourite and was a constant companion.
Completed activities can be traded for Nature points at Zoomazium’s Nature Exchange. The points can be exchanged for interesting, rocks, fossils and natural materials on display. Nature loving children can also create projects at home to earn additional points. Older children are not left out, there are activity sheets to suit all ages. My eldest chose a worksheet relating to the otter exhibit.
Our favourite part of the day was having the opportunity to feed animals. Bird seed on sticks can be purchased for $1 and the birds fly down to feed from your hand.
The best experience of all though was getting close to the giraffes and hand feeding them. The keeper was great at encouraging the children to ask questions and it was a truly memorable experience for all that I will definitely do again. Giraffe feeding is $5 per person and under 5’s go free with a paying adult.
A day at the zoo was perfect for my nature explorers.
Membership Offer
Zoo membership is perfect for families with young children. There are a number of membership options to suit different needs and admission is free for children under 3.
Right from the Start readers can benefit from a special offer.
Quote MOM15 at checkout to receive a 10% discount plus entry into a draw to win 2 giraffe feeding tickets and 2 tickets for a carousel ride.
Disclaimer: Complimentary tickets for 4 people were received. All opinions are my own and we were under no obligation to write about our visit.
My 4-year-old has just learned her first Welsh word ,’canu’ meaning to sing.
How does a child living in the US with non- Welsh speaking parents learn such a word? From the wonderful, bilingual album, the girls received as a gift. The album was created by a friend of mine who runs ‘Babi Bach’ a bilingual music group in South Wales. The girls are fascinated by this unfamiliar language and love it when I tell them the meaning of a Welsh word.
The songs are familiar favourites, including, row, row ,row your boat, incey wincey spider and one finger, one thumb and are sung by male and female voices, in both English and Welsh. The Welsh versions brought back distant memories of my days as a student teacher in Wales. As an added surprise, when browsing the cover, I recognised one of the singers as a child who attended my after-school club in the 90’s. My friend confirmed that it was him, all grown up and singing professionally. More happy memories of home.
Living in the US, my children are unlikely to hear the Welsh Language. I’m not a Welsh speaker but the Welsh language was at the forefront of my early school years. We had Welsh assembly once a week, played games in Welsh and learned the Welsh language. The girls are fascinated that there is this strange language that is only spoken in Wales.
The girls sing along in English and try their best to join in with the Welsh. Initially, they spouted gibberish, laughing hysterically at the complicated words in ‘head, shoulders,knees and toes. My Welsh isn’t really strong enough to help them but I point out the words I recognise. My next step is to print off the Welsh lyrics , so I can sing along. The songs are separated by enthusiastic conversations between a group of friends in both languages, so it is easy for them to follow.
After hearing the songs a few times, they are already beginning to sing along in Welsh even without my help.
I can highly recommend this for Welsh parents who have moved away from Wales. It is the perfect introduction to the Welsh language. Equally, it is a simple and fun way to learn Welsh for children living in Wales.
Digital copies of Babi Bach yr Albwm are available from Amazon Music and other digital music platforms.
Disclaimer :This is not a sponsored post no payment was received.
I had an interesting conversation with a grandmother at one of my recent classes. In the class we decorated pebbles. The children were aged 2-4 and she had joined with a 2- year-old who was fascinated by stones. He drew on the pebbles and then she helped him to add eyes.
When she took her grandson home, her daughter looked at the stones and remarked that it was not his own work. She felt that during her own childhood, her mother had never been satisfied with her art projects. She would always offers suggestions for improvement, rather than accepting it the way that she wanted it and felt strongly that she would encourage her son to express things in his own way.
At the next art session, the grandmother was clearly reflecting on this with interest. She stood completely back from the child as he was scribbling and snipping, without any interference and discussed her daughter’s comment with me.
I found her reaction interesting; she clearly wasn’t comfortable with the distance but wanted to respect her daughter’s wishes. We discussed the balance between taking over and being on hand to help or extend learning. I explained my response to children when they are learning to draw, discussed in ‘I Don’t Know How to Draw Ducks’ Feet’ – How to Support Young Childrens’ Drawing,” Sometimes it is hard not to take over when a child says they can’t do something but a little support can encourage a child to trust in their own ability. Thankfully, I had recently finished reading Ursula Kolbe’s latest book Children’s Imagination: Creativity Under Our Noses
The role of parents in nurturing creative children is the main theme of the book. It encourages parents to see that creative play can arise from the simplest things and that letting go will foster children’s imagination.
If we want to nourish children’s creativity what exactly is the adult’s role?
“All too often we adults feel the need to label, to continually teach, wheras close attention and companiable silence are often more valuable. Valuable because then anything can happen” Kolbe says.
The role of the adult is to:
Provide Resources
The adult’s role is to provide interesting materials. A constant stream of new materials, however, leaves little room for development of expression. If, on the other hand, a variety of materials are easily accessible, children can choose those that interest them.
The greatest possibilities occur, as children ask “what can I do with this?” Perhaps,this is why children love the outdoors, where loose parts are plentiful. At home, I keep paper, pencils, scissors, watercolour paint, brushes tape and glue next to our kitchen table. Most mornings the girls will go to the shelves, take a piece of paper and scissors and create something. My kitchen table is rarely clear but I love to listen to their stories as they draw their latest picture or make a sign for imaginative play.
Observe and Listen
One of the simplest pleasures is to sit and observe a child or group of children at play. The little pearls of wisdom that children offer could otherwise be missed. Observing encourages teachers and parents to question why things happen or how play can be extended . Loris Malaguzzi describes it as
“Catching the ball that children throw us.”
It is easy for parents and teachers to find a wealth of activities for their children to do but most of the time it isn’t necessary. If we follow the children’s lead we can become their supporter, encourager and co-explorer explains Kolbe.
“A steady diet of adult-chosen, one-off activities denies children opportunities to find the extraordinary in the ordinary for themselves”
Time and Space
The most important things we can give children are time and space. Our role, is to provide inviting materials and allow children unhurried time to explore them, revisiting as many times as they would like. Unhurried time is almost impossible at school, where a strict timetable needs to be followed. I think it is vital therefore, to provide this at home. My children were upset recently at a local playcentre, because their things were tidied away before they had finished playing. Leaving things out for a while shows that their creations are valued and allows them to modify and expand their ideas. Ask children if they have finished before tidying or encourage them to clear their own materials, so that you can be certain they are finished.
Show Interest Without Intrusion
If we sit near children as they draw, build, paint and play imaginatively, they will begin to tell us the story behind it. We will learn far more about their inner thoughts and motivations than we would by questioning children about what things are and offering endless suggestions. Let them lead play and show interest in what they do. My children don’t mind when I observe their play, taking photographs and writing notes. They ask me what I am writing or if they can see the photographs. It shows them that I am interested in what they do and value it enough to record their thoughts. I explain that I am telling the story of their play, so that we can remember and share with other people far away. Sometimes I stay indoors and watch from a window or listen from afar. It is important that they have times without any adult nearby, to develop their own ideas and find their own solutions to challenges.
Kolbe’s book is a wonderful insight into the things that ignite children’s imaginations and how parent’s can nourish and support this. The examples in the book are simple but inspiring and don’t require expensive resources or time consuming planning. The close of each chapter includes a written conversation between Kolbe and Susan Whelan, a parent. They talk through their observations of the anecdotes in the book. I particularly liked this aspect, as it gives it a personal element and shows the importance of reflecting with others to obtain a deeper understanding.
I read this book at a time when my youngest daughter is eager to share her stories through drawing and painting, imaginative and sensory play. It reminded me that these moments are precious and to take time to listen and record them.
At the age of 2 my daughter would insist I play ‘Evita’ every time we got in the car. Her favourite DVD was Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat and she is often heard singing ‘Close Every Door to Me’ in a fake vibrato. A recent favourite is ‘Pirates of Penzance’. At the weekend she waltzed downstairs in a party dress,singing in a falsetto voice and declared ‘I’m Mabel’.
The girls love of musicals is such that I knew they would enjoy ‘Shrek the Musical’. I’m a fan of musical theatre too but I wasn’t sure I would enjoy it. As a classic animation I wondered if it would really translate to the stage, why turn it into a musical? Isn’t everything being made into a musical these days? I was however, pleasantly surprised.
It took a while to get into the songs, at first I felt it was a nice alternative to watching a pantomime, but as it went on I became more and more absorbed. Just as in the animation there are some great characters and the original Broadway cast are spectacular. I particularly loved Pinocchio, the cross dressing Wolf and Donkey who was even more camp, flamboyant and hilarious on stage than in the animation.
The girls were fascinated by Lord Farquaad’s costume. They spotted immediately that the legs weren’t real (they thought his tiny feet in the bath were hilarious) but couldn’t work out how they made him so small. The show received a Tony Award in 2009 for best costume design of a musical and I can clearly see why.
I loved the tap dancing rats at the start of Act 2 and the girls were up and dancing along.
It is so expensive to take a family of 5 to a live show these days, so it is refreshing to be able to watch one from the comfort of our sofa. I thought it was a great family show, I’m not singing any of the songs after the first viewing but I’m sure it won’t be long. There is a sing-along section on the DVD once we become really familiar with the music.
Musicals aren’t everyone’s cup of tea but this one was funny, visually stunning and highly entertaining. There is something for everyone (with a large dose of cleavage for the dad’s). I’ll definitely see it live if it ever comes to town. The UK tour begins in 2014. At about 2 hours long it is a little long for very young children (my 3-year-old struggled to sit through it) but my 5-year-old was mesmerised. The DVD is a sensible alternative to taking very young children to an expensive live show.
Shrek the Musical is available In the UK from 2nd December 2013 in DVD, Blu-ray and Digital HD.
Disclosure: No payment was received for writing this post. A copy of the DVD was received for review purposes.
In a bid to meet new people the girls and I sometimes join groups of other mums and their kids through meet up groups. Our latest venture was to Dr Maze’s Farm.
Dr Maze’s Farm is a family run working farm that grows seasonal crops. What I loved about it was that it was a no frills day of outdoor fun. It was lovely to visit a farm that didn’t have rides, softplay or large playgrounds, no café or extras to pay for; a place that encouraged exploration and being at one with nature.
Dr Maze’s farm is open during the Summer months on a Friday and Saturday from 10am till 2pm. Opening hours are extended during their special events such as Lavender Festival in July and Pumpkin Patch during October.
On a Friday morning Tots Friday is included in the admission price ($6 increasing to $9 from 12th July) and runs from 10.30 to 11.30. Tots Friday is aimed at the under 5’s but my 9-year-old was welcomed and enjoyed herself too. Each week they have a different theme with activities set up under cover. The theme when we attended was goats, which included goats for the children to pet. There was also a large mud pit for the children to dig and find worms, various sensory bins containing grain and a cut and stick caterpillar activity.
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Towards the end of the session they took the children out to pick crops from the field. They picked kale, sugar snap peas and chard and were encouraged to fill a bag to take home with them. This was a great opportunity for the children to see how crops grow, how to harvest them and experience some new plants.
sugar snap peas
Kale
Once we had filled our bags the girls enjoyed petting and feeding the animals before going on a tractor ride around the farm.
Feeding the goat
A bumpy tractor ride
We explored the grounds further. There was plenty for them to do from giant Jenga, mazes, a chicken show, a giant spider web and various things to ride on. My personal favourite was the music garden. They had perfectly utilised household objects to make a great little sound garden that would be an inspiration to any pre-school or someone like me who now wants to build one in the garden.
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Next came the girls favourite part of the day ‘Bubble Friday’. A station was arranged with all kinds of bubble wands and trays of bubble mixture. The girls started with familiar ones and then learned how to use more elaborate methods to make giant bubbles. They had an amazing time experimenting with the different types, supported by 2 very friendly ladies. They were so proud of their huge bubbles.
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When it was time to go, they didn’t want to leave but I promised we would go back. We are going to sample the Lavender Festival tomorrow armed with a picnic and with extended opening hours I’m sure we will have a very busy day.
It feels like you are visiting the farmer’s family, who give the impression that they are people who love children, being outdoors and sharing their farm with the public. They even gave us a freshly laid egg to take home with us.
There is a small shop in the entrance selling plants, lavender products, honey and drinks but I would recommend taking a picnic or at least snacks if you intend to stay until closing time.
This is a personal recommendation, no payment of any kind was received for writing this post.
I have an exciting giveaway for my readers today from a new children’s clothing company Spitter Spatter.
What is Spitter Spatter?
Spitter-Spatter is a new children’s clothing range for 0-5 year olds with anti-bacterial properties woven into the fabric and also claims to be stain and odour resistant.
Spitter Spatter builds revolutionary antibacterial performance into the fibres of every fabric, without altering the natural breathability or feel of the fabric. Using a proprietary process to modify fabric at the molecular level by creating an invisible barrier on the exterior of the fabric to defend against over 100 different types of germs.
As you can see from many of my posts I love to get my kids outdoors in the dirt. Getting dirty and picking up germs are a natural and necessary part of childhood fostering independence and building up their immune system.
So what on earth am I doing reviewing anti-bacterial clothing?
I love my kids to get messy, but that doesn’t mean I want them to ruin their clothes. Through the weaning stage I lost count of the number of t-shirts that had to be thrown away because the stains wouldn’t come out.
Stain Free, Odour free clothing; that interests me
I have twin nephews who were born prematurely. Their immune systems are weak and since attending nursery they seem to pick up every bug going and of course pass it to each other. I can see that for children like this Spitter Spatter clothing could be a worthy investment.
Many moons ago I worked as a nursery teacher. As any teacher will tell you in the first few months of working in a new school you pick up all of the children’s germs. Working with young children involves lots of sitting on the floor, playing with messy materials, wiping noses and cleaning up spills. I would always go home feeling grubby, needing a shower and a change of clothes. If Spitter Spatter had made our uniforms it may have made a difference.
Our Spitter Spatter parcel arrived beautifully presented in a cake box, wrapped in tissue and a note attached.
It contained a dress for my 4-year-old and a t-shirt for my 2-year-old. The clothes are pretty yet practical. The dress can be worn on its own or with leggings and the t-shirt with pretty ruffled sleeves is great for wearing under sundresses or with trousers.
The t-shirt looks great under a sundress.
The girls like their new clothes
On the first day the dress was worn my neighbour invited the girls to play. She gave them a home-made slime mixture to play with coloured with blue colouring. A few spots got on the dress but after washing I was impressed to see that they were gone. I gave the girls permission to eat chocolate ice-cream and get it on their clothes to test it further. Again the dress came out clean.
I only have one small suggestion for improvement. My 4 -year-old chooses her own clothes. She doesn’t often choose the Spitter Spatter dress because she only chooses her ‘prettiest dresses’. I think if it had a patterned fabric she would put it in this category.
Giveaway
The competition is open to readers in the UK and the US.
One reader will be chosen at random to receive a piece of Spitter Spatter clothing in the form of a voucher code that can be redeemed on the Spitter Spatter website.
When I was a kid we waited all year for snow, sometimes we were lucky but often we would have a year of disappointment. When the snow came we would head to the local park with our sledges spending hours speeding downhill until we could bear the cold no longer. How amazing it is for our kids to be able to travel to snow within 40 minutes of home. We headed for Hyak Sno Park for a great family day in the snow. They wore snow boots, salopettes and warm jackets so they avoided the freezing feet in wellies and soggy trousers that I remember as a kid.
Getting ready to go down the small slope designed for under 5’sSometimes with dad……..sometimes on their own.Then we all went down the big slope.The little ones loved it , even when they jumped the ramp at the end and almost ended up in the fence. A face full of snow didn’t put them off.There they goAt the bottom they could wade through snowdrifts.
Then we climbed back to the topto stop for a restA snack to fuel more fun. NB. There isn’t anywhere to get food or drink at the snow park so a flask of hot soup and some snacks are a good idea.Before heading home we build a little snowman. Goodbye – see you again soon.
Hyak Sno Park can be found in Easton off exit 54 of I90.
Open 8 am to 4:30pm
The parking lot has 150 spaces. Parking permits are
required, Daily Sno-Park Permit and Daily or Annual
Discover Pass or a Seasonal Sno Park Permit plus Special Groomed Trails Permit
sticker without Discover Pass. These can be purchased at the park.
My idea of the perfect family Christmas is a little clichéd but involves mince pies, mulled wine, a roaring fire and singing around the piano. This is becoming a reality in our house. With an array of instruments including piano, guitar, clarinet and saxophone and a whole family who enjoy singing and music, we are loving making and recording music together. When I was asked if I would like to review Jingle Bells, from music-for-kids, I thought it would be a good chance to add Christmas songs to our repertoire.
The Jingle Bells book and CD features 18 well-known Christmas carols and songs. The book is nicely presented with each song displaying the notes of the melody plus chords written along the top. There is also a handy chord chart at the back of the book for both guitar and ukulele. Being a beginner, I photocopied the chord sheet to make it easier to reference while I was playing guitar. With my basic guitar skill, I found that there were a few too many chord changes to play many of the tunes with confidence but with most songs you could leave some of the chords out.
The piano music is basic (right hand melody and chords) and was great for my 8-year-old to practice sight-reading and play a simple tune . The chords could be added by a more experienced pianist to play accompaniment, I even managed to sing along to my own rudimentary playing during silent night.
The CD contains all the songs in the song book and is a nicely sung collection of Christmas carols. Younger children may find the keys too high.
My little ones enjoyed filling out the sticker pages and singing along to Jingle Bells while their sister played the recorder. I was disappointed that there weren’t more songs for the little ones like ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’, ‘When Santa got Stuck up the Chimney’ or ‘Away in a Manger’. They joined in with Jingle bells and We Wish you a Merry Christmas and there are a few other simple melodies that they could learn but I would have liked to have seen more simple songs that weren’t carols.
If you are looking for a simple book and CD of traditional Christmas Carols, at £7.95 this is excellent value.
No payment was a received for this review, a copy of the material was received for review purposes.
Completed activities can be traded for Nature points at
The adult’s role is to provide interesting materials. A constant stream of new materials, however, leaves little room for development of expression. If, on the other hand, a variety of materials are easily accessible, children can choose those that interest them.
Right from the Start 