Summer fun with Bangers & Smash!

We’ve had a chilled July at Bangers & Smash with a series of online music sessions on the theme of Summer!

Kitty has continued to host weekly Zoom sessions for:

• nurseries providing support for families unable to attend

• groups of families and friends

Sessions have had anything from one to 15 families logging in with prize for the furthest afield going to Jen, Steve and Elizabeth in Ramsgate!

In addition, Kitty has continued to provide online music sessions for two regular Bangers & Smash nurseries. Staff and children have adapted well to the new situation and it’s been great to bring music back onto the curriculum.

Summer fun!

Children, staff and families have enjoyed:

• warming up with a finger rhyme, Open, Shut Them

• finding yellow things (star, rubber duck, bee etc) and showing them to the sun to help it shine

• making their own suns from paper plates and playing peekaboo

• singing:

  • Come On, Sun!

  • The Sun Has Got His Hat On

  • Mister Golden Sun

  • Oh, I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside!

  • Little Crab

  • You Shall Have A Fishy On A Little Dishy

• learning a chant about a train made of candy floss, hot dogs, ice cream and chips and playing along on sticks or wooden spoons

• listening to a train whistle and mimicking the sound by calling ‘whoo, whoo’ into an empty kitchen roll

• listening and joining in with actions to Up Like A Rocket by Steve Grocott

• looking at a toy carousel and pretending to ride fairground horses to Galop Infernal (The Can Can) by Jacques Offenbach

• dancing to Walking On Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves

Under the Willow

It’s been lovely to see music resume at Under the Willow with Kitty hosting weekly Zoom sessions for:

• Under-2s

• 2-3-year-olds / Preschoolers

This term’s Project is Professions with five sessions in July on:

• Sports

• Art & Music

• Science

• Theatre & Entertainment

Children and staff have enjoyed:

• singing:

  • Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes

  • Row Your Boat

  • Legs!

  • My Mum Drives A Racing Car

  • I Like To Ride My Bicycle

  • Sing A Rainbow

  • Let’s Paint A Picture

  • Playing On The Old Banjo

  • Molly Has A Test Tube

  • Can We Learn Something New About The World?

  • Will It Sink Or Will It Float?

  • The Arms On The Robot Go Up & Down

  • If I Were Not What I Am Now

• looking at pictures of:

  • children playing instruments

  • children doing scientific experiments

• making the sound of a train – chiffa chuffa, chiffa chuffa

• listening to a train whistle and mimicking the sound by calling ‘whoo, whoo’ into an empty kitchen roll

• listening and joining in with actions to Up Like A Rocket by Steve Grocott

• looking at a robot and moving to Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger by Daft Punk

• dancing to:

  • Keep On Running by the Spencer Davis Group

  • Galop Infernal (The Can Can) by Jacques Offenbach

Online music sessions with Bangers & Smash

Bangers & Smash are taking a break in August so online music sessions will resume in September. If you’d like to take part, please visit the Bangers & Smash shop to book your place.

If you’re a parent, carer, childcare provider or arts setting and would like to discuss setting up one or more bespoke online music sessions, please get in touch here.

Fruit, Nuts & Seeds with Bangers & Smash!

This June, we’ve had an utterly fruiticious time singing about Fruit, Nuts & Seeds at Bangers & Smash!

Photo by Nick Sarro on Unsplash

Kitty has continued to host weekly Zoom sessions for:

• nurseries providing support for families unable to attend

• groups of families and friends

Sessions have had anything from one to 20 families logging in. Prize for the furthest afield goes to Luke and Arthur in Lancashire!

In addition, two regular Bangers & Smash nurseries have asked Kitty to restart music sessions – online for the time being – and it’s been great seeing everyone again after such a long break.

Fruit, Nuts & Seeds

Children, staff and families have enjoyed:

• identifying dried fruit, nuts and seeds in bowls

• looking at a giant nut from Africa

• singing:

  • I Had A Little Nut Tree

  • Feed The Birds

  • Oranges & Lemons

  • Apples & Bananas

• playing claves, shakers, xylophones and bells

• choosing different fruits from a bowl and putting their names together to create and clap word rhythms

• showing Kitty fruit, nuts and seeds from their own homes and nurseries

• thinking about birds and animals that like to eat fruit, nuts and seeds

• pretending to mix and bake a cake while listening to Kitty singing Everyone’s A Fruit & Nut Cake to the tune of Tchaikovsky’s Danse Des Mirlitons

• dancing to:

  • Banana Phone by Raffi

  • Peanut Vendor and Banana, Banana, Banana by the Kew Park Mento Band

Kitty has made a video of some of this month’s songs and activities so that parents and staff can enjoy them again with the children. There’s also information on next month’s sessions so check it out below!

Under the Willow

It’s been lovely to see music resume at Under the Willow – with Kitty hosting weekly Zoom sessions for:

• Under-2s

• 2-3-year-olds

• Preschoolers

This term’s Project is Professions with three sessions in June on:

• Health

• Transport

Children and staff have enjoyed:

• singing:

  • Miss Polly Had A Dolly

  • Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes

  • Three Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed

  • Going To The Doctor’s

  • Twinkle, Twinkle, Chocolate Bar (about a Mum who drives a racing car!)

  • The Wheels On The Bus

  • Puffer Train

  • Bangers & Smash original, If You Could Be The Driver

• looking at pictures of:

  • a doctor with a stethoscope

  • a doctor taking someone’s pulse

• finding their pulses and tapping their hearts at different speeds to Bangers & Smash original, Here’s my Heart

• looking at a toy aeroplane, helicopter and speed boat

• listening to a train whistle

• playing claves to Little Red Wagon by Raffi

In addition, Kitty has introduced Preschoolers to If I Were Not What I Am Now (based on the vaudeville song, If I Were Not Upon The Stage) in which children sing about doing different jobs – so far, a doctor and an ambulance driver.

Online music sessions with Bangers & Smash

If you’d like to join one of our online music sessions, please visit the Bangers & Smash shop to book your place.

If you’re a parent, carer, childcare provider or arts setting and would like to discuss setting up one or more bespoke online music sessions, please get in touch here.

Zooming along with Bangers & Smash!

We’ve been zooming along this May at Bangers & Smash with a series of online music sessions on the theme of Gardens & Growing!

Children have enjoyed talking about the plants they’d like to grow – from tomatoes and rose bushes to dandelions and bamboo!

Bangers & Smash co-founder, Kitty Pidduck, has continued to host weekly Zoom sessions for:

• children of key workers still attending nursery

• childcare settings providing support for families unable to attend

• groups of families and friends

Sessions have had anything from one to 32 families logging in and Kitty has had a fab time meeting mums, dads and carers, grannies and grandpas, brothers and sisters and even family pets :)

Gardens & Growing

With day after day of sunshine and blue skies, it’s been a great month for getting out in the garden!

Children, nursery staff and families have enjoyed:

• meeting Gardening Bunny and looking at his bucket, trowel and tiny flowerpot

• singing and moving to:

  • Push Little Seed

  • The Parts Of Trees

• joining in with actions to Raffi’s Everything Grows

• looking at:

  • a bean growing in a jam jar

  • a beanstalk growing in a flowerpot

• watering the beanstalk and making a growing sound (rising ooh)

• shaking packets of mustard seeds and pea seeds and comparing the sounds

• planting the mustard seeds in a ramekin with some damp kitchen roll

• looking at and listening to:

  • small, medium and large rainsticks

  • shakers made out of recycled bottle tops

• singing and playing shakers and bells to:

  • Rain, Rain, Go Away

  • It’s Raining, It’s Pouring

  • Incey, Wincey Spider

  • I Hear Thunder

  • You Are My Sunshine

  • Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

• picking a rose out of a basket with a daisy on it and dancing to Ring A Ring O’ Roses

• showing Kitty flowers and plants from their own homes and nurseries

In one lovely interaction, a little boy put a leaf on his head and Kitty used the opportunity to create a new song, I’m The King of The Garden, in which children take turns to (i) choose something to plant and (ii) tap its name on sticks from the garden.

Kitty has made a video of some of this month’s songs and activities so that parents and staff can enjoy them again with the children. There’s also information on next month’s sessions so check it out below!

Under the Willow

Under the Willow’s Africa Project Celebration took place on 6 May.

Parents, carers and children sang, played and listened to songs from across Africa as they took part in a virtual journey with the San bush people.

Families then joined in with Bangers & Smash’s Gardens & Growing theme for the rest of May.

The San people’s territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and South Africa. Image courtesy of Carolyn’s Travel Stories

Online music sessions with Bangers & Smash

If you’d like to join one of our online music sessions, please visit the Bangers & Smash shop to book your place.

If you’re a parent, carer, childcare provider or arts setting and would like to discuss setting up one or more bespoke online music sessions, please get in touch here.

Bangers & Smash online music sessions a hit!

After the upheaval of lockdown in March and subsequent cancellation of all face-to-face music teaching, April saw Bangers & Smash moving online with a series of sessions for children of key workers still attending nursery, childcare settings providing support for families unable to attend and groups of families and friends.

Huge thanks to F’s Mum for sending this photo of one of Kitty’s first online music sessions!

Free taster sessions

Kitty set the ball rolling with four free taster sessions for families from regular Bangers & Smash nurseries, Goslings, Smart Kids and Young & Smart aka Crystal Nurseries.

Sessions were well attended although it took Kitty a couple of goes to figure out that video conferencing platform, Zoom, works best when other participants are muted!

Bangers & Smash shop

From this, a core group of 10-15 Crystal Nurseries’ families is now meeting every Wednesday from 11.30am-12 midday on Zoom with sessions available at £3.00 per family per session in the Bangers & Smash shop (click Private – single sessions or Private – bundles in the shop menu [+ on mobiles] and choose sessions marked Crystal Nurseries).

Kitty is also running:

• an Open session every Thursday from 11.30am-12 midday on Zoom with sessions available at £3.00 per family per session in the Bangers & Smash shop (click Open – single sessions or Open – bundles in the shop menu [+ on mobiles] and choose sessions marked Open)

• a bespoke Private session for a group of friends every Monday from 10.30-11am on Zoom with sessions available at £3.00 per family per session in the Bangers & Smash shop (click Private – single sessions or Private – bundles in the shop menu [+ on mobiles] and choose sessions marked The Elephants)

In addition, Kitty has been asked to provide weekly online music sessions for regular Bangers & Smash nurseries, Under the Willow and Mother Goose, as follows:

• Under the Willow – Wednesdays, 10-11am

• Mother Goose – Thursdays, 10-11am

These sessions are split in two (under-twos followed by preschoolers) and have been very well attended with anything from 12 to 32 families in each half!

Easter, Spring & Baby Animals

All of April’s sessions except Under the Willow’s followed the theme of Easter, Spring & Baby Animals.

Children, nursery staff and families enjoyed:

• singing:

  • The Easter Bunny and The Easter Parade

  • My Little Kitten

  • Five Little Ducks Went Swimming One Day and Six Little Ducks That I Once Knew

  • Bangers & Smash original, Tadpole

  • Five Little Speckled Frogs

• making the sounds of farm animals

• looking at/listening to a pecking chickens toy

• playing shakers to Chick, Chick, Chicken and Hey Little Hen

• tapping claves to Horsey, Horsey and Old Macdonald Had A Farm

• looking at a picture book and singing Cows In The Kitchen

• listening to the story of Farmer Brown and dancing to There Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens

Kitty has made a video of some of the songs so that parents and staff can enjoy them again with the children. There’s also information on this month’s sessions so check it out below!

Africa Project at Under the Willow

Meanwhile, at Under the Willow, families were able to practise the songs from the nursery’s Africa Project Celebration, which was due to take place on 25 March but was sadly cancelled due to Covid-19.

Kitty recapped songs and activities from the project throughout April, including:

• singing:

  • Seven Continents

  • Haya Ma, a South African hello song

  • Nzama, Nzama, a Malawian song about cooking beans in a pot

  • three songs about animals, Monkey, Monkey, Up The Tree, Here’s A Great Big Lion and Alice The Camel

  • Bangers & Smash original, Funky Pharoah

• listening, playing and dancing to:

  • Pata Pata by Miriam Makeba (South Africa)

  • Walking With The San by Charlie Simpson & San Bushmen (Namibia)

  • a traditional Kalahari nomad chant (Botswana)

  • Ssematimba Ne Kikwabanga by Albert Ssempeke (Uganda)

  • traditional Sufi music (Egypt)

  • Fanga Alafia by Iya and the Kuumba Kids (Nigeria)

• acting out the story of Handa’s Surprise (Kenya)

Image © Eileen Brown / Walker Books

Under the Willow’s Africa Project Celebration will now take place on 6 May after which families will join in with Kitty’s regular monthly themes.

Online music sessions with Bangers & Smash

If you’d like to join one of our online music sessions, please visit the Bangers & Smash shop to book your place.

If you’re a parent, carer, childcare provider or arts setting and would like to discuss setting up one or more bespoke online music sessions, please get in touch here.

And finally, big thanks to Watermans Arts Centre for making last week’s Open online music session one of their April Family Picks!

Online music sessions available in new Bangers & Smash shop

Like many music providers, Bangers & Smash have been looking for ways to offer online sessions as a way to provide continuity and support to families during the Covid-19 lockdown.

This is new territory for us but we’re excited to announce that we’ve set up an ongoing series of Zoom sessions led by Bangers & Smash Co-Founder, Kitty Pidduck!

New Bangers & Smash shop

Sessions are available in the new Bangers & Smash shop as follows:

• Private weekly sessions for children from regular Bangers & Smash nurseries (click Private in the shop menu)

• Open weekly sessions for anyone who’d like to join (click Open in the shop menu)

Sessions cost £3.00 per family per session and can be booked as single sessions or as a bundle.

Parents and children will be able to:

• sing and dance together

• make and play junk instruments

• listen to traditional and original songs

• follow weekly or monthly themes

Bespoke online sessions

In addition, Kitty has been asked to provide bespoke online sessions for:

• Children of key workers who are still attending nursery

• Nurseries wishing to provide support for families who are unable to attend during lockdown

• Groups of families and friends

For more information about online sessions, please click here.

If you’re a parent, carer, childcare provider or arts setting and would like to discuss setting up one or more bespoke online sessions, please get in touch with us here.