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The Singing Nurse on Curiosity, Creativity, and Expression

September 9, 2012 in Children's Health Education, Nurturing the Child

Curiosity, Creativity and Expression

Mike and Micael kiss

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Young children love to move about their world to learn, explore, create, make believe and trust, and that is what The Singing Nurse loves about babies, preschooler and older kids too.

Children are special creations, unique in all aspects and have been gifted in their own peculiar and extraordinary way.

 

Healthy Living

Christmas 2008 003Children will take our lead when it comes to life and healthy living. Give a child a choice between apple and orange slice and they will pick a healthy snack each time.

It is an awesome privilege to guide these little ones through the maze of  the “good and bad” things for us.  Kids are so very impressionable and eager to copy our actions.

Guiding children through good health habits like; hand washing, coughing or sneezing in our shoulder, not spreading our germs around, brushing our teeth, going to the dentist regularly, resting our bodies and the overall monitoring and care of our amazing bodies is a distinctive task of parenting. It is draining and demanding as well as an unexpected joy to be part of.

Music/Movement

Christmas 2008 004Young children blossom and thrive in the presence of melody, rhythms,  instruments and voice. Kids are just free to express what ever is in their being.

Who among us has not observed a small child bee bopping to the beat, and you yourself being ignited by this show of innocence and freedom. Here we can follow the children’s lead.

It plainly puts a smile on your face. “A merry heart does good like a medicine”.

Provide a child with simple percussion instruments, simple wind instruments and they will derive great pleasure in the music they make. Encourage this!

Art

ToothbrushGive a child paper and writing utensils from a colorful palette and they will express themselves with utter abandon.

Give them watercolors and they will paint to your amazement for long periods of time.

Give them clay and they will relish the opportunity to manipulate it by smooshing it, squeezing it and pounding it with delight to their own identifiable creation. You’ll say,”Tell me about what you have made”, and they will know and tell you exactly what it is.

We as the adults in our children’s world must provide the basic raw materials and tools to foster creativity, curiosity and expression. They will take our lead, what a privilege.

Posts you may like:   Sample of Posts  Germ posts  Hand washing lessons

 

 

The Singing Nurse Lesson Plan Book

October 15, 2010 in Children's Health Education, News - Updates, The Singing Nurse Music

Smiling Apple

Just a quick up-date on The Singing Nurse Lesson Plan Book that is coming soon…A great resource to teach healthy habits by learning how to prevent the spread of disease and more. This resource will educate your children beyond their years.

I’m excited that the lesson plan book is being proof read and almost ready for printing and a PDF form will also be available. It contains fun engaging activities for young children preschool to early elementary. The lessons incorporate The Singing Nurse health songs, craft ideas, educational games, parent notes, links, awesome multimedia ideas and great resources.

Example of skills that will be learned:

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“Rubba Dub Dub”-Dawn Ginese

Skill

* recognize germs can be many places, hands, cough, sneeze, things we touch

* learn echo singing

* learn to follow simple directions

* use large and fine motor movements

* learn that the one most effective way to get rid of germs is friction soap, and H20

* pretend to be an opera singer

* learn a step by step procedure for hand washing

* recognize the color green (green germ)

* recognize letters, G for Germs, W for Wash and Water, H for Hands, S for Soap, F for Friction….and More….

“I’m Gonna Brush My Teeth”The Singing Nurse Shadow -Dawn Ginese

Skill

* recognize that germs can be on our teeth

* recognize that we need to brush our teeth and tongue to get rid of the germs.

* recognize what is good and what is bad for our teeth

* categorizing, sorting

* use of large and fine motor skills

* learn echo singing

* letter recognition, T for Teeth etc.

* critical thinking skills….and More…

“The Dentist Is A Good Guy”-Dawn Ginese

 

Skill

* learn that the dentist is a person, who helps keep our teeth healthy, he’s a good guy or gal; he helps us to have a great big beautiful smile

* learn what a dentist does at a first visit:

* we open our mouth and say ah, so the dentist can look at our teeth

* he counts our teeth

* he cleans our teeth

* he paints our teeth with fluoride

* he teaches us to brush our teeth and stay away from decay

* learn what decay is

* learn what is good and bad for our teeth…..and More…

scan0004“Don’t Spread Your Germs Around”

Dawn Ginese

 

Skill

* use large motor movements

* learn that germs can be spread around when we cough or sneeze into the air or into our hands

* we can stop spreading germs by coughing or sneezing into our shoulder

* if we forget, and cough or sneeze into our hands we are to “wash your hands”

* learn how to dance in a conga line…and More…

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“The Tick Song”, “The Audiologist”, “Just Like the Ocean Sands” ( House of Worship), “Babies Are Beautiful”

Lots of great ideas for healthy living for you and your children.

See the ingredients of the hand washing lesson.

To be the FIRST to know when The Singing Nurse Health Lessons is complete, please go to the contact page and put TSN Health Lessons in the subject.

Have a Happy Healthy Year…

Ms. Dawn, The Singing Nurse

 

Now available, click here for more info.

 

Rubba Dub Dub: Preschool Hand Washing Song, Lesson Plan and Animation

January 10, 2010 in Children's Health Education, News - Updates, The Singing Nurse Music, Uncategorized

Hand washing for good health, how many interesting and enticing ways can we share, show and encourage each other to “just do it”, and teach our highly observant and ever emerging preschoolers to follow in our footsteps.

Doing what is takes to teach the point!

Doing what is takes to teach the point!

This handwashing post is dedicated to those feisty energetic preschool teachers, who I happen to believe are some of the most creative bunch of gals on the planet. Most of us are women who work in early childhood because, who else has the patience, and delights in hanging out with a gang of wiggly equally energetic three and four year olds.

My experience working with preschoolers developed while being a mother of three, teaching Sunday school, being a teacher assistant for emotionally disturbed children, and then later, as a nurse and then “the singing nurse”.

The task of hand washing became necessary not only as a mother washing off mud pie and finger paints, but also as a Head Start Nurse. You might be familiar with this program that helps low income families learn all they can about parenting, raising healthy children, leadership and setting goals for themselves. The staff’s job was to discover anything that may hinder the child’s growth in all aspects, be it emotional or health issues, hearing or vision difficulties or the spotting of a potential learning disability.

We worked as a team and were privileged to be part of their developing lives, to give them a “Head Start” before Kindergarten. We worked not only with the children, but with the whole family unit. We take for granted the skills we’ve learned from our parents like, being encouraging, sitting and reading a book with our child, cooking a meal together and gathering as a family to eat it. It was part of the Head Start program to teach and model these family values.

Hand washing song by The Singing Nurse, Dawn Ginese

The Rubba Dub Dub Baby

Oh yes, hand washing, just a slight sidetrack and bit of knowledge about the path I’ve been on. So, how does this all tie together? I am a musician as well as a nurse, so I decided to write some health songs while I was working in early childhood development. Who can vouch for the fact that we all write and sing little songs for every purpose while working with preschool children? The common adventures and sometimes scary situations preschoolers encounter in school and with medical professionals gave me the spark to write songs like; I’m Gonna Brush My Teeth, The Dentist is a Good Guy, Don’t Spread Your Germs Around, The Audiologist, The Tick Song, and Babies Are Beautiful.

One health song in particular is a hand washing song for preschoolers called “Rubba Dub Dub”. The tune is an echo song, it is easy to sing, the hand motions are simple, it’s tested and true and the kids love the lively beat. I was blessed by my daughter Hannah who created an animation of my song as a Christmas gift.

We have our favorite fun filled hand washing animation and lesson plan with activities and discussion points that integrates my hand washing song. The simple to use health lesson is complete with a germ game and several project options, lyrics with hand motions and more.

“Rubba Dub, Dub”, as well as other health tunes can be downloaded at the Music for Children page. Check it all out, sign up via my contact page to receive news when my animated dental song is complete.

Thanks to a new friend Deborah Stewart who encouraged me to reach out to her circle of early childhood educators with my educational health songs. I found her and her website, Teach Preschool via twitter.

Cheers to competent, innovative preschool teachers. Lead by example and they will follow!

For Healthy Kids, Dawn Ginese, The Singing Nurse

Choose to educate your little ones it’s fun, easy and saves you time. Less than a coffee and bagel from your favorite coffee shop.

**To order just the “Rubba Dub Dub” song with Hand washing lesson and animation click Here, or to order the 1 & 4 combo of “Rubba Dub Dub” and “Don’t Spread Your Germs Around” songs and lessons click Here.

 

 

www.TheSingingNurse.com  

The Singing Nurse, Dawn Ginese, RN © 2010