Have you ever got a song stuck in your head and you just can’t get rid of it? The ability to do this when no music is actually present is called audiation. Audiation is an acquired skill and introducing it to children at a young age is quite beneficial.  Audiation increases memory development and assists children in finding pitch. It may also help children learn to read in their head when the time comes!
 
When you notice your child begin to independently create music (either with their voice or with instruments) they are starting to audiate, but there are some steps that you will need to take to get your child to this point. These activities include:
 

• Listening to a variety of musical genres.  Choose music that uses different instruments and comes from different parts of the world.
• Interact with the music through movement, dancing, clapping and playing along with instruments you have at home.
• Repetition! Sing songs multiple times throughout the day. Kids NEED repetition to learn!
• Eliminate words in your child’s favorite songs and replace them with gestures just like in this video. When we take words away but continue to sing the song in our head, we are using audation. Adding actions to the song, helps us to keep a steady beat with our body as we turn off our outer voice and turn on our inner voice.

 
Get curious! Think about new ways to interact with music and your child will be audiating in no time!

​Sometimes the idea of being a novice gets in the way of us trying something new!  For new adult participants in our studio classes, it can feel daunting to dance alongside their child in front of a group of adults.  Though it may feel a bit awkward and strange, dancing with your baby has so many benefits and the best way to start is somewhere where you’re comfortable – at home!
 
Benefits of dancing with baby:

• Dancing with your baby strengthens your bond! Not only are you physically close, when you are dancing, you are focused on each other.  It is a great time to practice eye contact and different facial expressions.
• Music is critical to development. Music wakes up the senses, exposes baby to language and helps with emotional regulation.
• Moving is beneficial for you!  Even 5 minutes of bouncing to your favorite tune can make a difference for your overall mood and energy level.

 
How to get started:

• Turn on your favorite songs and just groove! Though we love children’s music, babies should be exposed to all genres.  Hopefully your child will start to like some of your favorites so you can avoid listening to “Wheels on the Bus” on repeat every time you get in the car. (No promises on that one!)
• You don’t have to become a choreographer to get your kiddo moving…use guided movement songs! As you can see in this video, Holly is using a guided song that tells her exactly what to do. This is also beneficial to little ones because they can pair language with movement. Read on for some of our favorites guided movement songs.

 
Guided Movement Favorites:

• “Walk and You Walk” by Rainbow Songs (featured in this video)
• “Shake My Sillies Out” by Raffi
• “Mr. Eric’s Jumping Song” by Mr. Eric
• “Shake Your Hands” by Jen Gould

 

Teaching Body positivity may seem like a large concept for your child to grasp, but using a song like "Elephant Have Wrinkles" can help children to develop body awareness and understanding. Understanding your body in relation to others and the world is important to positive self-concept and starting this process at a young age can assist with building confidence as kids grow older.  

Using positive words about your child can establish a positive self-concept. The song "Elephants Have Wrinkles" by Mike Whitla can help to start the conversation. Before starting the song have your child guess what animal you are thinking of, as shown in the video, and then go on with the activity. After the song is concludes, ask your child "Elephants have wrinkles...What's something that people have?" Their response can be as simple as "a nose" or as complex as "feelings." It is really dependent on what your child is thinking about in the moment.

From there you can foster a conversation about how everyone might have a nose, but they are all beautifully different. You can ask them to describe their nose or whatever body part chosen on them or you and you can compliment them and give them some positive feedback.

If their thought more abstract, like the feelings example, that conversation can be led in a similar way. Remind your child that everyone experiences feelings and check-in with how they are feeling that day.  Give examples of how certain things make you feel and ask them to do the same. All of these conversations can help build a positive self-concept!

Songs that focus on positive self-concept:

• Just Be - Kira Willey (body awareness and calming your body)
• My Energy - The Laurie Berkner Band (encourages self-confidence)

Raising a reader starts much earlier than you may think!  The earlier you bring the wonder of books into your child’s life, the sooner you will be working on their early literacy skills. Over time, you will notice that your child begins to interact more with text through eye tracking, pointing and making sounds, comments or questions (depending on age).  By the age of 3 or 4 your child will begin to understand that print carries a message.  
 
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, is a great story to encourage your child to get involved while you read aloud.  Children LOVE the repetition of re-reading this story and there is even a fun song to go along too (see video above)! Start by pointing to each letter as you read. After doing so in a few different reading sessions, ask your child to point with you.  Soon, your child will be leading the charge and identifying new letters each time you read! 

I always thought to donate breastmilk you have to have a super over-supply or be pumping around the clock. I thought "Wow, god bless the women who put in the extra energy to do that in their most exhausting time of life but nope, that is not for me." My thinking was WRONG. Here's what I've learned with baby #2 and The Mother's Milk Bank.

How it went down:
I had a totally normal supply of breastmilk for baby #2. My milk came in faster and stronger for sure (as is typical with the second babe) but it wasn't anything crazy. I started pumping at day 5 just to alleviate myself. The 2 weeks following, I pumped 2-3 times a day and sometimes only one boob or only to half empty because I didn't like the feeling of being engorged. BUT I also didn't want to pump TOO much because I didn't want my body to produce more milk (the more you pump/breastfeed, the more your body makes especially in those early weeks until your boobs regulate to your baby's needs and chill out.) My body regulated at around week 3 and my milk supply started to line up more with the routine of my baby plus a little extra because of the pumping.

What I did:
I liked that little extra because it allowed me to start storing a rainy day supply in my freezer. By rainy day, I mean if I got sick and my milk supply dropped, we'd have a stash to tap into. OR if I want to leave the baby for a day (or even a night?! Yolo?), I would have plenty of milk to leave with grandma. Mark my word, mamas, stored freezer milk IS FREEDOM!

​Here's the thing, my baby doesn't eat half of the milk I produce so I really do have a lot of extra building up. Some of the milk just stays in my boobs until the next feeding (telling my body to not make more), and some of the milk gets pumped and goes into the freezer. The main idea is that I took the supply that came in those early weeks and relatively maintained it. Expended no effort to increase it and actually decreased it to the amount my baby takes + about 4 ounces extra for storage. 

The result:
So now I'm 9 weeks in and I put away one extra bag of milk a day, I all of a sudden have 75 pouches of stored milk in my freezer! That's roughly 300 ounces of liquid gold!!!! I feel proud, I feel grateful, and I feel surprised at how that happened with little-to-no thought or effort. Just one pump a day when I wake up after feeding. One package a day. Literally, not a big ordeal for me AT ALL.

How I became a milk donor: 
I have more milk than we will ever use so I contacted Mother's Milk Bank and got screened to see if I qualify to donate. It was a 15 minute interview, a survey, and a quick blood test at my doc's office. The requirement is to donate a minimum of 150 ounces which is pretty much exactly what I'm willing to give up while reserving that "rainy day stash" that I want to have. 

What I've learned: 
If you have a typical supply of milk in those first few weeks, you can pretty easily put away an extra pouch or two a day. Keep doing that and voila, you will have enough to donate in a couple months. Your milk will be used to help save babies who are fighting for their lives in the NICU and the mommies who are struggling along with them. 

I feel SO SO SO happy that my baby and I can contribute to helping less fortunate babies thrive and I really am shocked at how easy this was. SO I'm sharing it with you to demystify the process and break the perception that donating breastmilk is burdensome and requires a mega oversupply of milk because it doesn't.  IF you feel inspired, are pregnant and interested, or have an overflowing freezer stash, I highly recommend contacting the Mother's Milk Bank to learn more. 

With love from my heart and boobs,
Emily Jabbawy, founder of Little Beats
@emjabb on insta

P.S. Please comment and share this blog post on social media so more mommies can learn!

School’s out for summer but continuing a circle time routine at home is beneficial to your child’s learning and development!  In a toddler or preschool classroom, circle time is a way for the teacher to unite students through song and rhyme and is typically the time of day where letters, colors, numbers and more are introduced. Implementing a circle time routine at home is a great way to reinforce concepts that were learned in school this past year.
 
Structuring your Circle Time:

• Start with some type of greeting or hello song.  This helps kids to “get in the zone” and sets the tone for your time together.
• Talk about the weather.  Ask your child to look outside and report back to you!  This may naturally lead into a discussion of what you will wear to go outside or what activities you can do today depending on the weather.
• Sing songs that review letters, numbers, days of the week or colors. In this video you will see both a days of the week song and a song about colors.  Youtube is your friend here!!! There are so many teachers sharing their magic!
• Read a story!
• Finish with a goodbye song or simply a big hug.

 
Tips for Success:

• Keep it short and sweet!  Follow your child’s lead and know when it’s time to move on; you can always do more tomorrow.
• Use stuffed animals as “classmates”. Facetime a family member and invite them into your circle time sessions. Including others will keep circle time fresh and new.
• Play with timing! You will need to find the best time of day for your child. While some kids do well with this type of structure in the morning, others may do better after nap time.
• This is not American Idol!  Your child doesn’t care what you sound like; sing it loud and sing it PROUD!
• Use visual aids. Letters for the ABC song, numbers for counting, household objects for identifying colors.  Usually kids need to see and touch things to truly understand.
• Don't expect your child to sit still the whole time. It's ok for them to move!  Moving supports learning!

 
Need a little more support? Use our Little Beats Clubhouse videos as a launching point and your will be leading an educational and fun at home circle time in no time!

Life with young children can become, dare we say it…repetitive. You repeat yourself over and over, feeling like your instructions are going in one ear and out the other. Your toddler also likely asks you to read the same stories and sing the same songs again and again. Maybe your child repeats the same action daily, like throwing food off their highchair to see what happens.  Though this can frustrate adults, it is critical for children as they learn best through repetition.  
 
Repetition is familiar and comforting to little ones.  When children feel comfortable with a song or rhyme, they will recite it more often eventually leading to mastery. Every time a book is reread to a child, they pick up on something different.  New words assimilate into their vocabulary and their confidence in using them grows.  All of us like to feel successful and kids are no different, thus performing tasks over and over to show they can do them independently!
 
There are many ways you can support your child’s learning through repetition:

• Say “yes” when they ask for “more” or “again”!
• Have a daily routine that your child is familiar with.
• Provide and environment that allows them to do tasks on their own.
• Talk throughout your day – explain what you are doing and why you are doing it.
• Repeat activities (art, science, physical) often to support development and building connections.

 
In an effort to support learning in youngsters, our Little Beats clubhouse meetings and our in-studio classes always start and end in a familiar way.  Check out our Youtube channel for activities you can do at home to support your child’s  learning and development.

Navigating your child’s feelings and emotions can certainly feel like an uphill battle sometimes. One great way to help them understand their feelings and open up the dialogue is through reading a story that deal with the emotion at hand.  Validating their emotions in a non-judgmental way is critical to building trust and open communication.  A child that feels comfortable sharing how upset they are about having to take a bath or clean up their toys, will (hopefully) grow into an adolescent that opens up to you about the tricky, messy and confusing parts of being a teen.
 
You may be asking yourself – “Where do I even start?” Well, it’s more simple than you may think.  
Here are a few tips:

• Don’t match their emotion.  Remain calm and let them calm down before trying to talk it out. Check out Emily’s blog on Emotional Intelligence for more info on this.
• Practice active listening!  Active listening is a form of communication where the listener let’s the other person know that they are on their side and accepting of what they are saying.  Here is a great resource for active listening.  Active listening is a skill that takes a lot of practice but will benefit ALL of your relationships in the long run.
• Work together to find a solution or use a calming technique such as deep breathing.
• Don’t push! Know when it is time to walk away from the topic; you can always revisit when your child is feeling more read to talk.

 
In this video, Dani reads Emily’s Tiger by Miriam Latimer, a story about a child who is dealing with some serious anger. Emily’s parents are struggling to understand her and are frustrated with her outbursts.  Luckily, Grandma saves the day by sharing that she has also felt these feelings and offers solutions to help Emily cope.  
 
Use this video as a conversation starter when your child is feeling calm and revisit it after your child experiences anger.  Remember to use active listening so your child feels accepted and loved!

Being home in quarantine has certainly been isolating and lonely at times. But in some ways, it's brought us closer to the people we love! Whether having Zoom time with relatives and friends or more time with siblings, our time together seems less a bit less rushed and a little more focused these days. Perhaps we've even come to appreciate many of our relationships more than ever before! I know I have. 

The Invisible String is a great tool for helping our little ones know that even when we are physically separated, we are ALWAYS connected to the people we love. Sometimes as a parent, it can be heard to teach the less tangible lessons of life which is why I am SO grateful to amazing stories like this one (and shows like Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood) for assisting me in the job.

This book may also be useful when it comes time to transition back into school, leaving behind our parents for the first time in months! I know that will be hard for both me and my 4 year old daughter. Enjoy this one with me today, and any time you need a little reminder that you are never truly alone.

Love,
Emily

In our favorite book about brain and body development, A Moving Child is a Learning Child,  Cheryl McCarthy and Gill Connell write, “The body is the brain's first teacher.” That’s why building body awareness is such huge part of what we do in our baby classes, tyke classes, toddler classes, and preschool classes. When we are born, we don’t quite know what we have to work with and it's through sensory experiences (touch, smell, taste, sight, hearing, MOVEMENT) that we discover the world. 

In the aboveLittle Beats From Home dance class, we explore body awareness through an isolation activity. Using a great action dance song that challenges the kids to dance with one body part at a time, we use our brains to identify that body part and self-control to keep the rest of our body still as we move that one part to the rhythm of the music.

Body awareness develops in many different stages over the course of early childhood. Here is a high level snapshot of how we incorporate it in our classes:

1. Intellidance Babies (ages 4-12 months): Raising awareness
Grown ups play a very active role in helping the babies learn about their bodies. Introducing the language of body parts through nursery rhymes and songs, engaging in sensory, tactile activities to bring awareness to the feelings of our different body parts, and using guided stretching and exercises to facilitate key developmental movement patterns in the body.

2. Intellidance Tykes (ages 1-2 years old): Building control
Building on what we learn about our bodies in the babies level, we start to introduce new challenges as the enter year 1-2. The little ones take on a little bit more of an active role in the moving and exploring the bodies with the loving support of a caregiver.  As they develop motor skills, they start to be able to label and move isolated body parts themselves building on their rapidly developing balance, coordination, language, and self-regulation skills. 

3. Intellidants Tots and Tutu Tots (ages 2-4 years old): Creative Movement
Once a young child is familiar with their body parts and how to move them in isolation, we start to introduce more imaginative play and skill building into the mix. These children LOVE transforming their bodies into different animals, characters, shapes, and sizes. They also are working on some critical movement skills that will benefit them far beyond dance class. We hone in on skills such as marching, galloping, running, jumping, leaping, moving in all directions, levels, speeds, and balancing. 

It is truly astounding to watch a child progress from babyhood to preschooler in our dance program! Knowing where they've been and where they're going helps us provide a more impactful learning experience which is why Little Beats music and movement classes are truly unique. We LOVE what we do and our heart explodes every time we see one of our little ones discover new things about their body and what it can do. While growth happens so fast from ages 0-4, it is a slow and gradual, nonlinear process that has a huge impact on your child's future. We hope to help you help your child reach their potential no matter where they are at in their journey!