^wince^
Oh…you rock. Thank you!
Ooops, should have read farther down-the stained glass pattern books are also an EXCELLENT source of patterns for hand embroidery. I took out a bunch from the library, got some tracing paper, and now I’m making up all sorts of cool designs!
I remember, I think it’s great that you are getting her started on music so early. We started all our kids on hand drums and other basic percussion like castanets and tambourines. Our major worry with drumsticks wasn’t damage to the kid through falling on them as much as puncturing the drum head or beating their siblings. Still they are something that takes time and effort to master so when they play drums that really should be played with sticks we make sure they have them.
Enjoy,
Steven
I’m very excited about all the postings about musical instruments. I’d like to put some kind of maracas and hand drum on ValleyGirl’s Christmas/birthday list. I need “under 3” safe.
Any recommendations?
My daughter’s first toy was a dog that made noise when you moved it. It was loud, but we loved it. She loved that she could make it make noise before she was old enough to do anything but swat at it. BUT that was when she was a month old. I did get her a sit and spin that plays different tunes when you hit the spindle, and she loves that, treats it like a juke boxes and finds the beat and dances to each new song. She has a squid that grandma gave her that plays a tune when you beep the nose. she is more interested in the velcro on it. I do think those three toys are all the press here to make a noise toys that she needs. Why are there shelves full of nothing but this crap? I got her an old fashioned xylophone from fisher-price. She likes that. I had to get it on ebay because now they have been enhanced in the same dreary way everything else has.
She has wooden blocks and duplo but doesn’t seem interested much. She does like to scribble on paper. We got a roll of that from IKEA. She sometimes like the Tupperware shape sorter.
Her favorite toy at the moment is underwear. She will go into her mommies’ underwear drawers and come out wearing them like scarves. Sometimes a few pairs of each of ours. I am going to get her scarves for christmas in hope she will give up the underwear. Sometimes she puts on my hematite beads and struts around like she is hot stuff. At least there are dress up kits out there, and they are easy enough to make.
Unfortunately, the only maracas that are likely to be under 3 safe are shitty plastic ones. The natural ones (which sound so much nicer, not at all irritating) have always fallen apart on me eventually, which spills out bunches of seeds or beads which are definitely choke-worthy. They seem to have an inherent weakness where the handle is joined to the ball. That being the case, go to the music store and start shaking. Find the best plastic one that doesn’t sound like it will drive you bonkers at two am, 'cause that’s when she’ll want to shake it.
Alternatively, you can get real shakers that sound better (made of wood, nuts or gourds) and supervise her closely. I would recommend an egg shaker (or there are cute ones shaped like fruit) over a maraca, as it doesn’t have a handle to poke eyes out with, and less chance of it breaking.
There are also these neat shakers (I don’t know the name, maybe GrizzRich can help) which are a wooden bowl shape with a broad handle, often hollow, which has a woven netting of nuts or beads wrapped around the outside. You can shake, roll or simply move the net with your hands for some really cool sounds. I’ve never seen these beads come off, but of course supervision is always good.
Hand drum, I recommend a djembe. It’s the most fun for littles, because the center gives a good, deep satisfying BOOM, while the edge makes a neat BAT. They’re probably the most common hand drum at drum circles I’ve been to, and if your girlie can learns now, she’ll be able to hold her own through some great testosterone jams.
When she’s ready for a stick, talking drums are always neat. They’re played by holding them under the arm, like this, and tapping with a special curved stick. The arm presses in and out on all those strings, changing the pitch of the drumhead. A skilled player can literally make the drum “talk” with intonation and pitch. Very cool.
You are so lucky! Too bad it was raining cats & dogs that whole week. We went to Ribe instead. Still had a nice time getting poured on.
www.musikgarten.org
www.littlehandsmusic.com
I have mine enrolled in a music class and each ‘semester’ she gets a music instrument. Last time she got maracas. They are plastic, but surprisingly well built. Unfortunately, the only marking on them is “made in Isreal”.
In regards to paper dolls, I saw the neatest ‘paper doll’ the other day. It was a wooden 2-d doll with a cover. You put fabric on the doll (arranging it like clothes) and then close the lid. With the lid closed, it looks like the doll is wearing a dress (or skirt or whatever) made of the fabric. I don’t recall which catalog I saw that in. If I come across it again, I will link to it.
Don’t get the fruit ones unless she is not putting things in her mouth!
I saw them at Guitar center and they are plugged with something that could easily be chewed off. I also don’t know if the paint on them is baby safe.
Guitar center does have some simple plastic ones, though, that will work swell.
I had one of those! Except it was plastic, more of a “Barbie” type doll, and it was given to me by a neighbor, who had outgrown it.
I’ve been pretty impressed with the quality of the beginner’s instruments from First Act. They have an online store with maracas, and some nice tambourines(we personally have two of these) as well as a wide variety of other instruments, mostly percussion and guitar. Maybe the easiest to start off with would be the customizable egg shakers. Three plain wood egg shakers and six “certified safe” colors of paint to make your own designs(like dying easter eggs). The egg shakers hold up fairly well, we’ve got four of them at home. Our four year old cracked one like an egg on the hard countertop, but that’s because he was intentionally trying to break it open. Haven’t had any issues with breakage or paint chipping from just normal use. Still, like maracas,they have small beads inside which could be a choking hazard for small children if they are broken open.
My eldest has a First Act guitar she’s had since last christmas and it holds up really well even when her two year-old sister gets her hands(or feet) on it. The sound isn’t bad either for instruments in this price range.
Enjoy,
Steven
My Hubby bought the kids a couple of maracas about a year ago, probably at Babies R Us. I couldn’t find them online, but they’re completely covered with baby-safe fabric & are soft. One is red/orange striped, the other blue/green.
On the subject of music, if you don’t mind another hijack - what kinds of music did you let your little ones listen to, and how did that influence their preferences? Did you restrict them to children’s albums? Do they like your stuff?
We have one of those CD jukeboxes and I just put it on random shuffle & let it rip (watching the thing spin is my kids’ greatest joy in life, they drop everything when they hear a pause). Like most people, my taste is pretty eclectic so it’s full of everything imaginable. Is there any compelling reason why my kids shouldn’t hear a little Soul Coughing along with the Mozart? When I was a child I absolutely despised kidmusic, but I liked the Mamas and the Papas and Herb Alpert my parents played (which tells you how old I am).
Pah. Don’t waste your money on kits–all you need is an hour in your choice of resale outlets. Salvation Army, Goodwill, like that.
A ladies’ fancy silk/rayon/nylon blouse makes the perfect size little dressup dress for a pre-schooler, and they come in gorgeous colors, too. And they’re usually a dollar or two each, depending.
And some men’s shirts are pretty spiffy, too. Hawaiian prints, etc. I once found a frighteningly ugly rainbow-striped men’s shirt for a dollar that did hard duty as a boy’s dress-up in a preschool for years. As far as I know it’s still there.
And many small or petite sized ladies dressy dresses and fancy lingerie can be quickly “smallified” with safety pins and tie-belts to make a wonderful princess gown. You haven’t really lived as a Mom until you’ve rendered your daughter speechless with delight by transforming a sleazy red sequin-encrusted cocktail dress into a queen’s outfit. And the fact that you only spent $4.00 on the dress doesn’t hurt, either.
Resale shoppes also have tie-belts, hats, shoes, all kinds of stuff you can use.
And if you want animal costumes, it’s good to know that actually kids don’t need to go the whole nine yards and actually clothe themselves in a Tiger Costume–as long as their face is painted to look like “Tiger”, they’re happy. There are a number of face painting books out there; the Klutz book is noteworthy. WaldenBooks sells it usually.
We go all over the place as far as music tastes go. About the only music I DON’T listen to is country and rap. My wife loves country, especially OLD country, so the kids get that while I’m not at home. I have a preference for pop/light rock, but hard rock and heavy metal are fun too. When I’m sitting at the piano I’ll usually play show tunes or classical with a bit of jazz thrown in. Since we got the kids some instruments to play with we’ve been mostly jazz because it is easy to put together a rhythm they can add on to without sounding discordant.
I’d breakdown the music airtime in our home about like this.
25% pop/light rock (John Mayer, Envanessence, Bob Seger, etc.)
10% alternative/new age (They Might Be Giants, Bowling for Soup, etc.)
20% country (no idea, wife picks these)
10% classical (Puccini, Bizet, Mozart, Wagner, etc.)
10% jazz (Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, etc.)
15% showtunes/soundtracks (Andrew Llyod Weber, Rogers & Hammerstein, Lerner & Lowe, etc.)
10% heavy metal/hard rock(Metallica, U2, Soundgarden, etc.)
Rarely we’ll have some folk songs, gospel, or bluegrass. Not really frequently enough to assign it a percentage.
In general if we sing or get together to play some tunes as a mini-orchestra we’ll choose classical/opera, showtunes, or jazz to play/sing.
There are some great classical compilations out there and the one I introduced my wife(who was about 1000% country when we met) to classical music with is called “Opera for People Who Hate Opera.” It has a great selection of tunes that have such huge penetration into the American culture that people don’t even know their origins anymore. The number of times one of them has queued up on the CD shuffler and someone said “This is the song from that Bugs Bunny cartoon!” or “I know this song! This is opera?” would be hard to count. The background music for commercials or cartoons is often opera music or musical theatre tunes. The “Lone Ranger Theme” which is really “The William Tell Overture” is an American icon, even if most people don’t know its origins.
Jazz albums are harder to quantify and qualify though. Virtually every performance of a Jazz piece is unique even with the same artists and piece names there can be great variations. That’s what makes it jazz. I’d recommend listening to a couple tracks from any CDs before you buy them.
Enjoy,
Steven
Forgot to answer the second part of the question. The kids aren’t really old enough to get a good evaluation of how the eclectic mix of musical influences will shape them, but as of right now we’re pretty happy with it. They have an interest and appreciation for a large variety of musical styles and genres. I sing the kids to sleep at night fairly frequently and they each get to pick a song for me to sing. I get requests for everything from old Irish folk songs(Danny Boy, Loch Lomond), to nursery rhyme tunes(Farmer in the Dell), showtunes(Castle on a Cloud(Les Miserables), Edelweiss(Sound of Music)), pop/rock(Another Postcard(Barenaked Ladies), All Star(Smash Mouth)), or dozens of other songs depending on the kids mood. Sometimes they want country songs for bedtime, then I call mommy and head to bed early. 
So far we’re very pleased with the level of interest they show in music and are doing what we can to encourage it.
Enjoy,
Steven
Good advice. I do have to be extra careful, she can open safety pins, and is going through a phase where she sticks things in her ears. Well, I am up for as much realism in costume she will want, but right now I’d be a lot happier not seeing her wearing five pairs of undies around her neck.
I am very please that she likes to dress up. I have yards upon yards of cloth that can be used for that.
What are other good non-electronic toys that they still make?
For the doper that was looking for musical stuff for her baby,
MFLP Music for the little people. Carries a range of baby to older kids. Also, they have expanded nicely into the incidental stocking stuffer gifts like audio cds, books, CD and toys.
They have brought to my attention that Little House On The Prarie books are now on audio ( cd and cassette). Oh Rapturous Joy! which you can find on ebay for cheaper. But you didn’t hear that from me.
Music: I would like to get more, but I like to try things out first, so I rarely just buy things that look good. We like musicals (DangerGirl currently listens to Camelot a lot, Raffi, Arlo Guthrie, They Might be Giants, a CD of Danish kid tunes, and Enya at bedtime. I try to play real classical music, too, which has gone over well (not the “Baby Mozart/Bach” stuff, which is dumbed down and schmaltzy). We have a couple of kid CDs too, which are popular. And they like whatever I belt out in the car, too.
lee I think my daughter is about the same age as yours, 18 months. She likes, aside from what’s up above, a baby doll, our dollhouse, the Tupperware shape sorter, the kind of toy where you hit the balls and they go down some chutes, and the xylophone.