Thursday, April 23, 2009

"Mood Music"

Andrea at Munchkins and Music will be so proud of me. She has been blogging about ways to integrate music into our lives, and always gives wonderful tips on how to implement anything musical into our everyday routine. For someone that's pretty musically unintelligent, her tips have been a life saver. As a Fishful Thinking Ambassador, I have the opportunity to recieve tips each week on ways to raise optimistic children.

This week, it's........you guessed it, "Mood Music".

I loved this exercise, and as you can see, my boys did too.

Here's a little background via the Fishful Thinking campaign:
"Not only is music a great outlet to express emotion, but listening to music with your kids can be an exercise that helps them learn how to identify certain moods, which leads o increased emotional awareness. Emotional Awareness is a key element amongst the Fishful Thinking Ingredients, because the ability to identify emotions (in yourself and others) as well as the ability to express emotions will facilitate healthy relationships and contributes to resilience. "

So, I choose music that represents different moods: heavy classical music for sadness, pop music for happiness, heavy drumming music for anger, put the music on and asked my boys what feelings the music reminded them of. Then came the fun part.........we danced to the music together........in a way that represented the mood of the music. So fun. Afterwards, we made music.

I don't know why I've never done this before. It won't be the last time though! :)


Photobucket

26 comments:

Kathy B! said...

This is fabulous! This is such a great program.

Ronda's Rants said...

What a great picture! They look like they are having s much fun!

Carissa(GoodnCrazy) said...

Okay testing now? GRRRR. I checked my profile and nothing has changed.

Little bit ironic to have my email screwed up eh??

Can you reply now?

Cristin said...

My kids LOVE music... even the Deaf one... he likes a STRONG BEAT and make sure you play it LOUD!!!!

Unknown said...

I did this with my kids this week, and loved it! Granted, we dance together a lot....but it's fun to look at the activity with a different perspective. :)

T Rex Mom said...

Great idea. I will try this as my little one gets bigger. Right now he just likes to dance and hum along. Oh, and he LOVES to "play" the piano.

girlytwins said...

Fantabulous!! My girls would love this :)

Melissa said...

Good idea Angie.

Amy said...

That is so much fun. It looks like they all have a great time.

Shannon said...

Love it! We are music nuts around here so I will definitely be using this fun exercise to delve further into music. THanks!

brunger bunch said...

I love music, and my kids do to. I think it is a great idea to recognize how the music makes you feel. Thanks for the insight!

Bar-b said...

great great great idea! Thanks! Your boys look so cute in that picture too!

Stephanie said...

Music is a big deal around our house. Whether it's guitar, piano, stereo, or making up silly songs. This exercise is awesome! I think it is perfect for helping to teach our kids about emotions. Thanks ;)

Tony@ That One Paticular Harbor said...

I love it. My kids love to take their guitar hero guitars and listen to the radio with me doing air band. Hilarious. Thanks for sharing.

Mark and Kiss said...

Very fun! Last night Stephan took two pan lids and banged them together like symbols, then said, "I'm making music!". I think this would be a lot easier on my ears and satisfy his musical musings.

I remember doing this with Anson and Levi when they were little, my family are the ONLY people to see this girl dance! I think Stephan will love it. Thanks.

Liz {Learning To Juggle} said...

How incredibly fun!!

Laura said...

We play dance party all the time. I would hate for anyone to see us while we are going nuts to our music. It's my kids favorite family game though.

kisatrtle said...

Love this idea...I'll have to try it soon

CC said...

What a fun idea! We don't listen to much music. It tends to drive me nuts in the house. I like quiet.

Laurie said...

I love to dance with my kids as well. We always have on music, you should see Andrea's moves:)
You are a braver Mom than I though, I just can't bring myself to allow maraca's(well I might go for those) but a tambourine, etc.. into the house.. Maybe it is because of nursery at church they have a set of music toys like that. Not the greatest intro. :):) you Just go and go.. good for you.

Are You Serious! said...

♥ They're so cute!!! :)

Drama Queen Jenner said...

That looks like so much fun!

Unknown said...

Looks like they had alot of fun! I listen to music with Mekhi in the car usually. His dad will play DVDs filled with music for him in his office. And of course I play music for him at night -classical to help him get to sleep.

Anonymous said...

I read this and thought it was a great idea - I used to be a music teacher, my oldest is currently a dance/music/theatre specialist in an elementary school.

Back in the day, before there were DVD players in cars, if we had to take a trip of an hour or more, I would put on a tape (oh, yeah, I'm that old) of my favorite classical music, and tell a story, making up exciting, dramatic adventures that fit the sounds. I never told the same tale twice, although they often begged me. To be honest I could never remember exactly the same story.

To this day, that's what they remember about our trips to camp or the beach or going shopping at the outlet malls - stories told to Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and Gershwin.

ClaireElaine said...

What a cool idea!!

My 15mo boy LOVES to dance -- I've got some great videos of him dancing to "I Will Follow Where You Lead" -- the Gilmore Girls theme song.

LOL...

latree said...

my kids love music as well...