You are browsing the archive for 2013 March.

How to Make Hand Washing Fun!

March 19, 2013 in Children's Health Education

 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?

 

 

 

Tags: , ,
2 Comments »

How to Make Music Fun 4 Kids-Part 1

March 6, 2013 in Creative Adventures, Music with Kids

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

“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. 

Tags: , , ,
No Comments »

What do you collect at the Beach?

March 5, 2013 in Children's Health Education, Creative Adventures

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

Tags: , , , ,
No Comments »