Remember the old “mix tape”? You know, the one a best friend would make with all “your songs” on it; or the one you made for that high school boyfriend? Those were the days.
Well, it’s time to make your child the modern version of a mix tape, i.e., playlists. Playlists will help you transform all the CDs in your fabulous Kindermusik collection and make the music truly useful to you throughout your day.
Why not just play the CDs?
Well, of course, you can play the CDs in their entirety. This will remind you and your child of the class activities and warm feelings you share together. But, in order to get your best value from those CDs, you also want to utilize music to accompany your child’s day. The more music you can insert in your child’s day, the more secure the routines will be and that will strengthen your child’s emotional security and connection with you. Further, if you use familiar music when you do new or different things, you can count on smoother transitions because you’ll have the element of familiarity with the music!
If you want more music than what’s on your class CDs, go to play.kindermusik.com. It’s the children’s version of the apple music store. You can browse by album, title, or theme (such as numbers, tools, weather).
Or, my personal favorite: enter a keyword in the search area for your child’s current obsession. For example, if you’re child is really into dogs, type in dog and you’ll get 3 full pages of dog songs. Or maybe your child is working on jumping. Type in jump and you’ll get 3 pages of songs helping him learn to jump! Here’s a “Kindermusik’s Favorite Road Trip Playlist” that’s sure to buy you a stretch of road-warrior peace.
And creating playlists is really so much easier than using a tape recorder! Here’s all you need to do:
- Get all your Kindermusik CDs and load them into itunes (or similar).
- Click “new playlist” for every theme to accompany your day (see below).
- Drag and drop each song onto each list.
- Update your ipod or iphone or whatever you’re using on the go.
- Bonus: You can also create a “smart playlist” by grouping everything from the same album together. Then you’ll have all the tracks from a class theme on one list, too. Voila!
Suggested playlist themes:
- Quiet play
- Busy play
- Clean up time
- Work, Work
- Wishy Washy Wee (bath time)
- Let’s Eat!
- Around Town
- Splash (for the beach or pool)
- Travel Time (airplanes, trains, buses)
- Grandma’s house
- Dancin’ In the Kitchen
- Nap Time
- Nighty-Night
What are your favorite playlists?
This post brought to you by Miss Lisa who you know is rockin’ it out in the ol’ mini van!