The Singing Nurse

Mother Noah according to Madeleine L’Engle

admin — Tue, 14 May 2013 00:01:48 +0000

Mother Noah must have been amazing! Author Madeleine L’Engle thinks so. Yes, the same Madeleine L’Engle who wrote “A Wrinkle in Time”, a must read for kids and adults.

Mother Noah must have been a busy woman which I am sure all women can relate to. Whether you are at the beginning, middle or end of mothering, I think you will enjoy Ms. L’Engle’s take on Mother Noah. She uses her awesome creativity to help us imaging what might have taken place on the ark, make sure and read to the end for the “grand motherhood” punch line.

Mrs. Noah Speaking

I suppose under the circumstances

There’s really no point in complaining

but really! Noah and I had just got accustomed

to living alone and having some peace and quiet

and fixing up the house the way we wanted it at last.

I brought up tree boys, wiped their runny noses, changed their messy diapers,

washed, sewed, cooked, saw to it that they had the proper advantages,

We got them safely married

(thought if I didn’t know it before I know it now:

their wives leave a great deal to be desired).

We liked having them come to visit us on the proper holidays,

bring the babies, taking enough food home to feed them for a week,

and Noah and I could go to bed in peace.

And now look what has happened!

Sometimes I think it would have been simpler to have drowned

with everybody else—

at least their troubles are over.

And here we are jammed in this Ark—

why didn’t the Lord give Noah enough time to build a big enough ark

If he wanted him to build one at all?

The animals take up almost all the room

and Noah and I are crowded together with Shem, Ham, and Japheth,

their slovenly wives and noisy children,

and nowhere to go for a moment’s peace.

Noah, of course had hidden several elephant’s skins of wine somewhere,

and when the rain and noise and confusion get too bad

he goes down to the dirty hold with the beast and gets drunk,

sleeps it off on the dirty straw,

and then comes up to bed smelling of armadillo dung and platypus piss.

Not that I blame him.

It’s my daughters-in-law who get me.

They insist on changing the beds every time I turn around.

They won’t use a towel more than once, and they’re always getting dressed up

and throwing their dirty linen at me to wash.

The washing is easy enough—we’ve plenty of water—

But how do they expect me to get anything dry in all this rain?

I don’t mind doing the cooking, but they’re always coming out to the

kitchen to fix little snacks with the excuse that it will help me:

“You’re so good to us, Mother Noah, we’ll just do this for you,”

and they never put anything away where it belongs. They’ve lost

one of my measuring cups and they never clean the stove and they’ve

broken half of the best china that came down to us from Grandfather Seth.

When the babies squall in the night, who gets up with them?

Not my daughters-in-law.

“Oh, Mother Noah’ll do it. She loves the babies so.”

Ham’s wife is always stirring up quarrels, playing people off against

each other. Shem’s wife, who never does anything for anybody, manages

to make me feel lazy and mean if I ask her to dry one dish. Japheth’s

wife is eyeing Shem and Ham; she’ll cause trouble; mark my words.

Today that silly dove Noah is so fond of came back with an olive twig

on his beak. Maybe there’s hope that we’ll get out of this Ark after all.

We’ve landed! At last! Now we can get back to normal and have some

peace and quiet and If I put something where it belongs it will stay there

and I can clean up this mess and get some sleep at night and—

Noah! Noah! I miss the children.

Funny, huh? This was a quote from Madeleine L’Engle’s book “The Irrational Season”, which I was reading this morning as I took a hot bath which I do sometimes to ease my achy bones or just taking a little “me” time.

I am sure you all can use a little of that right? Hey dads, watch the kids for an hour, run the tub, light some candles and let mom do a little soak and read time, a great mom gift, good all year round. (mom’s you might just have to ask and don’t tell anyone where you will be, try it.)

Madeleine L’Engle Book-about life, family and Christian community, great read!

Noah’s Ark flip page book- there are so many great Noah’s Ark books available

Kids 1st book about Noah-check your local thrift store/yard sales for lots of affordable books

The 1st picture is from KidKraft Noah’s Ark shape sorter- looks fun, I have never seen this one before.

Other posts you may like: My Mother’s Creative Legacy with more motherly post links @ the bottom

Which part of motherhood gets you plainly pooped out? Which part of motherhood unexpectantly lifts you up? Leave a comment…

We only recommend products from Amazon that we have tried and used or would purchase ourselves.

We love sharing great resources for you and your children to make life a little more happy and healthy.

Happy Belated Mother’s Day

Ms. Dawn

Earth Day Eve Easy Activities

admin — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 03:41:52 +0000

Easy Earth Day Activities

Today our Sunday school director and helpers created a fun filled Earth Day with fun and easy activities. These are activities you can quickly pull together even tonight. Pick a couple Earth Day activities or do all of them. Hands on activities are a fun way to engage kids and educate them at the same time. The kids had a blast and learned how to care for the earth God created.

Mystery Bags

The morning started off with mystery bags. Each bag was marked with a question mark. Each bag contained some item that was a clue to what God created.

Dirt for the earth

Shells for the ocean

Pine cones for trees

Fur for animals

Feather for birds

Fake flowers for plants etc.

You may have some of your own ideas to convey what God created.

Explain how God created the heavens and the earth, light, sky, sun, moon and stars, earth and the waters, plants and trees, birds, fish and creatures and Adam and Eve. Genesis. 1:1-2:25

Skit: Take care of the earth and keep her clean

Child 1: Holds the earth and wraps blue sheet or plastic to represent the oceans.

Child 2: Throws paper cup at earth and sticks gum on her shoulder.

Child 3: Pours a bag of crumpled news papers over her.

Child 4: Comes with a sponge to wipe the earth, picks the gum off the earth’s shoulder and picks up the crumpled papers.

Bird Feeder Craft

Needed: Fluff, birdseed, ¼ inch round dowels 6 inches long(they come in 12 inch lengths so just cut it in half) toilet paper rolls, string, plastic knife, hole punch

Prep:

Punch two holes across from each other at the top (1/2 inch down) of each toilet paper roll and attach a string to hang later.

Punch two holes across from each other about 1 inch in at the bottom of your toilet paper rolls, punch two more holes about 1/2 inch in across from each other which are opposite the other holes. Later the children will slide the short dowels into the bottom holes creating a crisscross effect allowing pegs for the birds to sit on. You will do this after you stick the birdseed on.

Place bird seed in pie tins and fluff in little cups.

Let the kids spread the fluff on the toilet paper rolls with a plastic knife, then roll them in the birdseed.

Push the dowels through the holes at the bottom of your toilet paper roll.

Place creation on a paper plate to take home late.

Outside Activity

Place 4 containers marked Glass, Tin, Plastic and Paper.

Leader pours out a bag of the above recyclables. Theresa and her team did a great job.

Children relay race to pick up the recyclables and places them in the correct bins.

Older kids can help the younger ones.

Snack

Make vanilla and chocolate pudding, children choose if they want crumbled cookies(dirt) or gummy worms on top. Yum!

Murals

Place an assortment of paint colors and let the kids paint what they learned about.

Have a Wonderful Earth Day Celebration!

Ms. Dawn

For more see our Previous Earth Day Post with songs and craft ideas.

What is your biggest challenge to teach your children to take good care of our awesome world? Please comment below.

Earth Day & More, Who started this?

admin — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 01:35:15 +0000

I have been searching the Internet today for post and videos that are great resources for you on Earth Day. We have been given such a glorious place to live. The earth is so diverse. We have deserts, mountains, oceans, lakes, plush places and dry places. We have such an array of animals and creatures I am sure we have not discovered them all. The plants that cover our earth generously shade us and feed us. We have so much to thank God for. We also have a great responsibility to be good care takers of all He’s given us.

This little song is great for your littlest ones, I love the little picture book this mother created. It looks pretty easy too.

Days of Creation Song

Days of Creation Collage-really cute idea, good for all kids

God of Wonders Song-great Chris Tomlin song with words sung by kids

Indescribable song by Chris Tomlin-some awesome pictures of creation as He proclaims God is indescribable

In the Beginning is the song I want you to check out. It is the first one in unit 1. It is lively and teaches the days of creation, all kids will love it. The Donut Man has been around for awhile but I love his songs. He has loads of DVD’s too so you can see all the hand motions. The link I have included below is a curriculum with 52 songs and lessons. It is very reasonably priced at 39.95.

The Donut Man Website

The Miracle in Seeds-arts and crafts using seeds, looks fun.

Some Earthy Post you may like:

♥ Take care of the Beach

♥ Painting with Plants

♥ Creating book cover with plants

♥ Shells and Rocks craft

♥ Picture poem about a Spring walk

Have a Wonderful Spring Celebration on Earth Day, Remember who made it all…

For Life and Healthy Living,

Ms.Dawn

Plant Painting, creating cards

admin — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:36:48 +0000

First gather your plants. Gathering and handling plants is a great sensory activity for kids. It will give them tactile intake, sunshine, fresh air and a time to move about. Not only will your kids get a chance to explore the outdoors, they will be choosing what tools they will use in their plant painting project. Giving choices fosters independence in young children. Give them little hints as you go, to get those little imaginations working and curiosity stirred.

Say things like:

I wonder what it would look like if we painted these plants and printed them on paper?

I wonder what shape this plant will make?

What would it look like to print different textures and size plants?

We painted different leaves in different colors and pressed them in different directions.

We also painted and pressed flower type plants.

I worked hand over hand while my young patient’s arm was in a sling.

We finished our picture, cut around the edges and tried an assortment of background colors.

You can paste your painting to the paper or you can take different pictures like I have done here and use those pictures for creating different cards etc.

This one has the corners ripped from one of the background colors. You can add your greeting over top of picture.

Print, cut and paste process below that comes out really cool. I used this process with my grandchildren to create an anniversary card for mom and dad. Each one printed different flowers and objects on his own paper. I painted the “Happy Anniversary” words and cut them out. After the pictures dried I cut around the shapes of the prints. We arranged and glued it all together(don’t press it too flat) which gave it a sort of 3D look. I trimmed it a bit, made a page with some crisscross edges and glued the trimmed picture to the crisscrossed edged picture which made it appear framed .

I love encouraging creativity and the kids are always so proud of their final creations.

I am so thankful for the warmer weather that allows everyone to enjoy the awesome outdoors. I love seeing all the little emerging critters and plants. All of nature is blooming, makes you feel so alive. Make the most of every teachable moment.

For Happy Healthy Kids,

Ms. Dawn

Subscribe to our posts for more Music, Art, Inspirational and Healthy living posts.

Other posts you may like:

♥ Brag book cover

♥ Post sampling

Healthy living posts you may like:

♥ Hand washing game

♥ Lyme disease prevention for kids

All blog categories: here

How to Make Music Fun 4 Kids-Part 2

admin — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:41:30 +0000

Who wants to make music time a blast for kids?

Keep it simple…

Keep it joyful…

Keep it fun…

Keep it stress free…

Creating music and keeping it simple makes for a stress free and fun music time. Who can agree making a joyful noise and being a little silly is a great way of expressing yourself and having a blast while you do it?

I hope you will stick with me as we continue through this series. You may not feel musically inclined and can appreciate some encouragement. I would love to help with that. Many of the songs I have written came about while playing on a simple keyboard like the Casio SA-76.

I know you can do it, every way is the right way, and sure to bring some joy and pleasure to your kids.

The Proverb still rings true : “A merry heart does good like a medicine”.

Today’s post will cover:

*Easy ways to pep up an old familiar song

*Using simple keyboards: beats, patterns and chord progressions

In the video below is the song “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. I used the “pattern” # 45 that the Casio SA-76 describes as a “Free Session”. This means it is a pre-recorded chord progression. It is a little song with no words. How cool is that, all you have to do is press “pattern” and the number 4 then 5 and press the Start/Stop button. Put the tempo @ 5 and the song is ready just as I did in the video.

I looked up the words to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and did not realize that it has such cool words. All to do with stars of course. I made up a simple melody(the kids can even help with that-a future post), I added a simple chorus with hand motions for the kids to sing.

So glad you stopped by. Music keeps flowing here from The Singing Nurse and friends. Can you share how you are having a musical blast with kids? Or do you have a questions?

To hear and purchase TSN music that teaches good health habits and more click here.

Click here to review other posts you may enjoy.

♥ Click here to read Part 1 of “How to Make Music Fun 4 Kids”.

For Healthy Happy Kids,

Ms. Dawn

Amazon Link for Casio SA-76 below

“The Singing Nurse website is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, amazonsupply.com, or myhabit.com.”

TSN website will strive to make available only products that we have tried and love and feel you would love too.

Lyme Disease Prevention, School Visit

admin — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:00:07 +0000

Ticks on a Stick!

A Re-post: Spring is here yippee! Please read our Lyme Disease prevention posts to help you get ready for the tick season. I really dislike ticks.

I prepared ticks on a stick for my visit to my grandson’s early learning center, Natural Wonders in Poughquag, NY. He really enjoys his class and my daughter in-law who is a Spec Ed teacher is very satisfied with the program.

I decided to make the ticks on a stick because I felt the children might be too young to participate in the full Tick Disease Prevention activities.

The adults raised the Ehrlichiosis, Babesiosis and Lyme signs as the children raised their little ticks on a stick when we came to the words in the song, ”Stay away from that Tick, He’ll make you feel sick…”. It worked great and the children were able to take the ticks, color them and share the information when they got home.

I also recommended that the teacher place a magnet on the back so the child could place it on their refrigerator and use it to fan themselves during the hot summer.

Lyme Disease Prevention Poster

This is a picture of my grandson and I at the end of our visit. We are posing in front of the poster I have been adding to as I educate children about Lyme Disease.

Before our session the children each made a thumb print on a small sticky note pad with their names and I added the legs and called them up one by one to place their little tick on the Lyme Disease Prevention Poster.

We had fun!

I also visited Acorn to Oaks, a quality early childhood program in Hopewell Juction NY on the same morning. It was good to see old friends and share with the children about Lyme Disease and how to protect ourselves from those pesky little eight legged ticks.

“Stay away from that tick, he’ll make you feel sick.”

Be Healthy, Ms. Dawn

Update: Awwww, A Thank-You Poster from Natural Wonders-It is beautiful! Thanks…..I especially love the socks tucked in the pants pic.

Thank-you poster from Natural Wonders

Lyme Disease Prevention is lesson # 5 in “The Singing Nurse-Health Lessons for Kids”

See other posts about Lyme Disease Prevention:

♥ Beware Lyme is Here!

♥ Lyme Disease Prevention for Kids

♥ Hear “The Tick Song”

Don’t forget to sign-up to receive all our healthy kid posts , info on free stuff and other creative ways to teach kids about healthy living. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Please comment below, what is your Lyme and Tick experiences….Send us your child’s drawing about Lyme Disease Prevention.

Singing Nurse, Singing Nurse, Where Did You Go?

admin — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:00:02 +0000

Happy Spring to you all!

Singing Nurse, Singing Nurse, Where did you go?

Dawn Ginese, May 29, 2011

Singing nurse, singing nurse, where did you go?

I went for a walk, on a country road

So I threw on my sneakers, I had to get it moving

Gail said you go, I’ll go too, so I grabbed my camera, and off I flew

Singing nurse, singing nurse, what did you see?

I saw an old brown bull, looking at me

His hair was really shaggy, he was quite cute

He really didn’t mind, my photo shoot

Singing nurse, singing nurse, what did you hear?

The birds were a chirping, the lambs were a baaing

The frogs were a croaking, the bees were a buzzing

The cows were a mooing, need I say more

I’d highly recommend it, going outdoors

Singing nurse, singing nurse, what did you feel?

The warmth on my face, blood moving through my veins

I was a bit distracted, by all created things

Cuz winged bugs in flowers, were looking up at me

On my way back, a little turtle seemed stuck

I gave a little nudge, so he wouldn’t be mush

Yes, all in all, my walk was a treat

With all the signs of spring, blooming at my feet

Gotcha!

Have a great Spring and Summer, remember to drink fluids, wear sunscreen(not too much sun) and check for ticks!

Ms. Dawn, The Singing Nurse

A few more signs of spring….

…………………………..My church in spring… Awesome flowers enjoying the bloom…

A view from my deck….zoomed of course…

To hear some songs about critters and being healthy click here.

How to Make Hand Washing Fun!

admin — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 23:27:40 +0000

We all like to learn new ways and interesting activities for hand washing. Simple projects for young children and preschoolers can make washing hands fun. I hope you enjoy these sites that promote go hand hygiene and offer lots of free stuff too.

How cool is this organization, they contract hotels to donate soaps that the hotel usually throws out. They recycle, test and repackage it and give it to Non Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) that are teaching good hand hygiene around the world which saves lives. Sweet! http://www.globalsoap.org/

The CDC has a Global Handwashing Day in Oct. Check out their site for the details.

Quote from CDC website:

“About 2.2 million children⁵ under the age of 5 die each year from diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, the top two killers of young children around the world.² Handwashing is not only simple and inexpensive, but remarkably, handwashing with soap can dramatically cut the number of young children who get sick. Handwashing with soap could protect about 1 out of every 3 young children who get sick with diarrhea³ and almost 1 out of 6 young children with respiratory infections like pneumonia⁴. Although people around the world clean their hands with water, very few use soap to wash their hands. Washing hands with soap removes germs much more effectively⁵.”

When the CDC says you should wash your hands, click here.

KidsHealth is a great site with more info about germs and handwashing. It also has an audio feature so you can let the kids listen. This site is a great resource for parents and teachers as well.

I really like this poster from a Massachusetts governmental website. Handwashing poster

♥ You may like this post that shares my favorite handwashing videos.

Have a great week educating your kids in healthy hand washing!

For Life and Healthy Living,

Ms. Dawn

What are some of your favorite, fun and engaging hand washing activities for kids?

How to Make Music Fun 4 Kids-Part 1

admin — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 23:53:31 +0000

Creating music and keeping it simple is fun and stress free. Making a joyful noise and being a little silly is a great way of expressing ourselves. We hope you join us as we are starting a new series I know you will enjoy called, “How to Make Music Fun 4 Kids”. This is for those of you who may feel you are not necessarily musically inclined and would appreciate a little encouragement. We know you can do it, there is no wrong way as long as it brings some joy and pleasure to the participants. The proverbs say, “A merry heart does good like a medicine”.

We will explore:

*Simple ways to create songs for kids

*Writing songs with kids-lyrics and melody

*How to save and remember song ideas

*Easy ways to pep up your old familiar songs

*Using simple keyboards: beats, patterns and chord progressions

*Creating simple percussion instruments

*Review of the Casio SA 76 keyboard

*Review of fun music apps for smart phones

*Review of good children’s music CDs/Sing-a-long books/DVDs

*Review websites that promote music expression

*How to perk the interest of music in kids

Hang on to your hats, let’s get started.

Below is a song I shared for Valentine’s Day but of course it can be used all throughout the year as it talks of love.

I used my Casio SA 76 to perk up an old familiar song. I share it first with a simple beat and then bump it up a notch with a peppier beat still. This is an example of pepping up a song at circle time using just voices and rhythm instead of just singing. I will review some of the buttons and how to use them on the Casio SA 76.

Press the pattern button then press #0 & 9= 9 then press the start button. This is a simple beat.

Press the tempo button and move it to #4

Press the start/stop button to change to pattern #27-press #2 & 7=27

Press the start button=peppier beat

Next time we will take familiar nursery rhyme, add a pre-programmed chord progression and add a simple chorus so the kids will be able to sing and do motions. Lots of fun, see you then. Subscribe so you won’t miss a post.

Make a joyful noise,

Ms. Dawn

Click here to check out other blog post. Glad you stopped by

What are some creative ways you keep your music time fun and engaging? Share with us.

New: Amazon link for the Casio SA-76

TSN website will strive to make available only products that we have tried and love and feel you would love too.

What do you collect at the Beach?

admin — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 18:38:39 +0000

I was away this winter catching some sunshine, strolling the beach and collecting my shells and rocks and I met Leah. She was doing her own collecting and I was curious. She had a huge bucket, and my pockets were getting so full I had to keep pulling up my sagging pants. I was thinking I might need a huge bucket like hers next time I walked the Florida coast.

Finally, our paths crossed and I inquisitively asked what she was collecting. With her contagious smile she stated she was collecting garbage. Wow, impressed, I quizzed her further. She was visiting her family in Florida and practicing what she preached (my words). She was on break from West Virginia University majoring in Environment Studies.

Leah was collecting our careless littering. So I said let me take a picture so you can add it to your portfolio and she agreed. I was getting a little annoyed with the sun because it was difficult to maneuver my iphone because of the brightness. How trite of me, we both shared a laughing aha moment, after all, the beautiful beach and wonderful warm sun were the major reasons we were both there.

Leah inspired me, so on my next walk I carried a bucket to collect some garbage too. It is amazing when you change your mind set to be aware of your environment. So now I will look with different eyes to collect shells, rocks and garbage.

This is one of the creatures giving us the reason to remove the harmful effects of plastic bags, fork, spoons, soda bottle lids and cigarette butts etc.

Remember of course to wash your hands after picking up garbage.

Be Helpful, Be Healthy, Be a Good Steward,

Ms. Dawn

Other post you may enjoy:

♥ Oceans ♥ Shell & Rock Art ♥ Washing Hands