Mellow Yellow, Africa and more with Bangers & Smash!

To counteract the cold, dreary weather, we’ve been learning about all things yellow this February at Bangers & Smash!

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

Children at regular Bangers & Smash nurseries have spent the month singing and dancing to:

• Yellow Bird – a traditional Haitian song

• Banana Banana Banana by the Kew Park Mento Band

• Songs about ducks, including:

  • Six Little Ducks That I Once Knew

  • Five Little Ducks Went Swimming One Day

  • Ducks Like Rain by Raffi

• Here’s A Great Big Lion – an original song by Helen McCookerybook

Children have enjoyed thinking about things that are yellow, both generally and in their immediate environments, including:

• the sun, moon and stars

• lemons, pineapples and bananas

• daffodils, buttercups and sunflowers

• bees, beehives and honey

• clothes, shoes and wellies

• shelves, cushions and curtains

• blonde hair

• sand

As well as using yellow scarves to create wings and fly up into a banana tree during Yellow Bird, children have enjoyed counting plastic ducks in Six Little Ducks That I Once Knew, waddling round in a circle in Ducks Like Rain and taking it in turns to hold a soft toy lion in Here’s A Great Big Lion.

Africa Project at Under the Willow

Meanwhile, at Under the Willow, we’ve continued our 11-week Africa Project with sessions on:

• African music

• Egypt and the pyramids

• The plains of Africa

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

Children have enjoyed:

• Listening and moving to Ssematimba Ne Kikwabanga by Ugandan musician, Albert Ssempeke

• Singing a Ghanaian chant, Obwisana, while playing instruments made from natural materials from Drums for Schools’ Nursery Rhythm Kit

• Playing (i) a steady pulse and (ii) a simple ostinato (repeating rhythm) on claves while singing Bangers & Smash original, Funky Pharoah

• Dancing to traditional Egyptian music

• Taking it in turns to hold a soft toy lion while singing Helen McCookerybook’s Here’s A Great Big Lion

• Shaking African tree cones (which have a nut inside) and trotting like zebras during Bangers & Smash original, Big, Strong, Stripy Zebras

Short Breaks at Waterman’s Arts Centre

And finally, Kitty’s new multi-arts project for children in the early years with additional needs has continued at Waterman’s Arts Centre with more original songs and stories inspired by nature and wildlife.

Children have enjoyed singing, playing and dancing to live music as well as:

• making and playing junk drums

• colouring in pictures

• decorating gardening aprons with Art Jar

Early years music specialist, storyteller and mandolin player extraordinaire, Steve Grocott!

Kitty is joined by fellow early years music specialist, musician and storyteller, Steve Grocott, and arts psychotherapy student and creative support leader, Aislinn Jeffers, both of whom are helping to create this exciting new education pilot as well as playing in the Short Breaks band!

The Land of Ice & Snow, Chinese New Year, Africa and more with Bangers & Smash!

January 2020 has brought a host of exciting new themes and projects for Bangers & Smash!

Regular Bangers & Smash nurseries have spent the month learning about:

• The Land of Ice & Snow

• Chinese New Year

The Land of Ice & Snow

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

Children have enjoyed:

• rubbing their hands together and singing finger rhymes before dressing up in coats, hats, scarves, gloves and boots for a journey to the Land of Ice & Snow

• bouncing a silver snowflake on a cloth and listening to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake

• singing Bangers & Smash original, It’s Snowing Outside

• listening to Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite while Kitty strokes their faces with a feather boa

• meeting some animals that live in snowy places and singing their names – Reindeer, Arctic Fox, Snowy Owl, Penguin and Polar Bear

• taking it in turns to dress up and hide in an igloo while singing Bangers & Smash original, Jack Frost

Chinese New Year

Photo by Valentin Petkov on Unsplash

Children have enjoyed:

• singing a Chinese hello song, Ni Hao Ma, to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle

• passing a Chinese rattle drum around the circle

• singing Chinese New Year Is Here Again while playing bells and chime bars

• waving red and yellow scarves and parading round with a paper dragon while listening to Training The Horses by the Peking Brothers

Africa Project at Under the Willow

Meanwhile, at Under the Willow, we’ve begun our 11-week Africa Project with sessions on:

• Introduction to Africa

• Desert landscapes

• Animals of Africa

Photo by Cole Keister on Unsplash

Children have enjoyed:

• finding Africa on a map and singing the Seven Continents song

• learning a new hello song from South Africa, Haya Ma

• looking at The Skin You Live In, a beautifully illustrated book celebrating skin colour

• dancing to Funga Alafia, a welcome song from Nigeria recorded by Iya and the Kuumba Kids

• looking at pictures of camel traders and listening to African Sanctus by David Fanshawe

• playing claves and chanting to a recording of tribespeople in the Kalahari desert

• singing traditional children’s song, Alice The Camel, and Helen McCookerybook’s Here’s A Great Big Lion

Short Breaks at Waterman’s Arts Centre

And finally, Kitty’s new multi-arts project for children in the early years with additional needs kicked off at Waterman’s Arts Centre on 10 January 2020.

Kitty with fellow presenter, Steve Grocott

In the first four sessions, Short Breaks children and their families have sung and danced to original Bangers & Smash songs and listened to stories about nature and wildlife especially written by Kitty.

They have also:

• made junk shakers

• played with a sensory garden

• made worms in slime

• created a bee in honeycomb collage

Playing with Aislinn’s sensory garden

Kitty is joined by fellow early years music specialist, musician and storyteller, Steve Grocott, and arts psychotherapy student and creative support leader, Aislinn Jeffers, both of whom are helping to create this exciting new education pilot as well as playing in the Short Breaks band!