Carol Hartery, Author at Bear Paw Creek

Chiffon Scarves for Early Childhood Learning and Play

Carol Hartery — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 11:05:19 +0000

Chiffon Scarves for Early Childhood Learning and Play

Lately, Maddie has been obsessed with her Bear Paw Creek chiffon scarves. She truly plays with them every day. I keep them in the bag Janet sent them in and I hang that bag on a peg that Maddie can reach. I thought I would share what she does with them and some of her favorite music.

Peek a Boo

My granddaughter, Maddie, will celebrate her second birthday on February 25. I was looking at some old photos and videos of her and found a video of her playing Peek-A-Boo with one of her Bear Paw Creek scarves. We took that video when she was 10 months old. She held a scarf in front of her face. Someone would say, “Where’s Maddie?” and she would lower the scarf and we would say, “There she is! Peek-a-boo.” We would play that game over and over again.

Chiffon Scarves for Early Childhood Learning and Play Share on X

Now Maddie plays with her scarves every day. She tries to drape them around her shoulders. As she adds an additional scarf the others slip off of her shoulders. Yet, she sits there trying to get them all on. After many attempts she finally gives up and walks around wearing one or two scarves. She also likes to wear a scarf over her face like a veil.

Music Suggestions

Maddie loves using the scarves as a movement prop. Her favorite song is “Rainbow ‘Round Me” from Miss Carole’s Polk-a-Dots album. As Miss Carole sings about a new color, Maddie quickly drops the scarf she is holding and grabs the one that is the color Miss Carole just mentioned. I am amazed at how well Maddie can follow the song and she sings some of the lines along with Miss Carole.

Maddie mimics my movements when Hap Palmer’s “Toss It High Let It Fly” from his Can Cockatoos Count by Twos album is playing. In the song as you toss your scarf you have it land on different parts of your body. Maddie can’t really toss the scarf, but she does place it on the correct body parts as Hap sings.

There are other songs on my Scarfs Playlist that Maddie and I don’t use yet, but they were a hit when I used them with my preschoolers when I was a classroom teacher. Those songs are:

“Castle Flags” from Ronno’s Castles, Knights & Unicorns album

“Dancing Scarf Blues’ from Miss Carole’s Dancing Feet album

“Magic Scarf” from Hap Palmer’s Can Cockatoos Count by Twos album

Check out this Spotify playlist to hear these songs!

The chiffon scarves are airy, colorful, and a lot of fun to use. Give them a try!

Carol Hartery

I retired 3 years ago after teaching in the early childhood world for 42 years. Now I spend my time doing music and movement activities with my 10 month old granddaughter. When we play music she responds by "babbling along" and shaking her body to the beat. I know from my experience as an early childhood educator that music and movement activities benefit a child's fine and gross motor skills, listening skills, and language development as they burn off some energy and have fun!

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Winter Sensory Integration Activities for Toddlers

Carol Hartery — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 19:43:15 +0000

Winter Sensory Integration Activities for Toddlers

Although we have only seen a dusting of snow, winter has arrived in Massachusetts. My granddaughter, Maddie, is now 22 months old. Maddie was just a tiny baby last winter, so she doesn’t remember snow, as far as we can tell.

In this blog post, I am going to share winter sensory integration activities for toddlers that I have been enjoying with her. I hope this post will inspire you to have fun with the little ones in your life.

Snow What Fun!

Just after Thanksgiving I started to read Maddie some winter theme board books. Her favorite is Frosty the Snowman by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins. She can sing the words to that song and clutches a large plush snowman as she sings.

Snowballs by Lois Ehlert is another favorite of Maddie’s. I don’t actually read the words in the book to her. We talk about the detailed and beautiful illustrations Lois Ehlert created for this book. Maddie especially likes the red bird (she knows him from Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By Bill Martin, Jr.) She loves seeing the bag of peanuts and the squirrels. Maddie and my adult son, Robbie, throw peanuts to the blue jays and squirrels each day that she is at my house.

Winter Sensory Integration Activities for Toddlers with books, music, and sensory table. Get inspired! Share on X

Maddie always clutches her plush Peter doll as we read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. We cannot wait for it to snow so that we can retell the story with Maddie by giving her a stick to drag through the snow, showing her how to make footprints in the snow, and making a snowman with her.

Like all of the other That’s Not My….books by Fiona Watt, That’s Not My Snowman was an instant hit with Maddie. She has learned to say the adjectives that describe the textures in the book.

We’ve been using our snowballs from Bear Paw Creek to have safe indoor snowball fights. Although Maddie still hasn’t made a hand preference she tends to throw the snowballs with her left hand. She loves to throw the snowballs as hard as she can and belly laughs when she hits one of us with a snowball. She also LOVES when we bounce the snowballs up and down on our parachute from Bear Paw Creek.

Winter Music and Sensory Table for Toddlers

I have a Winter playlist that I use with Maddie each time she is at my house. She has mimicked my actions so many times when we hear “Hat and Jacket, Pants and Boots” from Miss Carole’s Season Sings! album that now she can do the song on her own.

I used one of my die cut machines to cut felt mittens for Maddie. I spread the mittens out and place one mitten on the felt board as we sing “Each Mitten Has a Mate” from Miss Carole’s Season Sings! album.

Maddie knows her colors and finds the matching mitten and places it on the felt board. Then she says, “More. More.” which is what she says when she is enjoying something.

I also used one of my die cut machines to cut felt snowmen for Maddie. We use those snowmen with “I Can Make a Snowman” from Miss Carole’s HUM album. I sing the song to Maddie and when I say what color my snowman will be she places that snowman on the felt board.

I purposely made the snowmen only be about 3” tall and there are no details on them so that Maddie focuses on the color of the felt.

We are busy learning other songs from my Winter playlist and I’ll write about them another time. Meanwhile, let me tell you about the Winter Sensory Table I created for Maddie.

The bottom of the table is lined with a sheet of quilt batting. I added small plastic ornaments that are a variety of colors and textures. I drew snowman faces on ping pong balls and put them in the table.

I went through my Christmas decorations and pulled out all of the snowmen that are child safe and added them to the table. I adhered felt details to some Zero Water bottles and put them in the table along with a stash of white pompoms.

Maddie can push the pompoms into the bottles and also add in some of the ornaments to create snowmen. There are also some small pails in the table for Maddie to fill with snowballs and a few of my Bear Paw Creek snowballs to add another texture to the table.

Carol Hartery

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Wrist Bells Are A Fun Christmas Music Therapy Prop

Carol Hartery — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 22:07:25 +0000

Wrist Bells Are A Fun Christmas Music Therapy Prop

Now that Maddie is 21 months old, she is playing with her bean bags, egg shakers, and bells from Bear Paw Creek more and more often. Winter and Christmas make me think of bells so today I will share my bells playlist with you.

“Jingle Bells and Stop” from Miss Carole’s Season Sings! album is one of my favorite year round bells songs. As the children listen to the song and shake their bells they are developing listening skills, learning to follow directions, and learning the opposites- high, low, fast and slow. I taught my preschool students the ASL sign for “Stop” and when Carole sang “Stop” they quietly held their bells as they signed “stop.”

Just as I always did with my preschool students as the song plays I sing along with Carole and model the actions for Maddie. We have done the song so many times Maddie now knows exactly what we are going to do next. Music truly does help develop listening skills.

Jingle Bells Favorites

We also love Miss Carole’s “Ring Those Bells” from her HUM album. Maddie doesn’t know how to jump yet, but she can follow my lead as I ring my bells, turn around, stamp my feet and touch my toes when directed in the song.

“Shake!” by We Kids Rock on their Everybody Clap Your Hands album is meant to be a song to use with shaker eggs, but I have also always used it with bells. The pace of this song is faster than the pace of Miss Carole’s songs, but my preschoolers loved it. Like my preschoolers always did, Maddie gets a little “excited” when I play this song.

It’s a great song for learning body parts and I think it helped Maddie learn where her shoulders are.

The traditional versions of “Jingle Bells” that I use include “Jingle Bells” from Tom Paxton’s A Child’s Christmas with Tom Paxton album, “Jingle Bells” from Kids Songs’ We Wish You a Merry Christmas album, and “Jingle Bells” from Kimbo’s Where is Thumbkin? album. Dogs bark to the tune of “Jingle Bells” on the Singing Dogs Ultimate Christmas Album, Volume 3. My preschoolers loved barking along with the dogs.

The Jingle Bells on Wrist Scrunchie from Bear Paw Creek makes the perfect Christmas music therapy prop for fun wrist bells.

When Maddie and I are playing with her bells she loves to wear them on her arms and legs. She also puts them around the necks of some of her stuffed animals. Sometimes I lay the bells out on the table to use as sorting rings. I place a small bowl of jumbo farm counters on the table and Maddie matches them to the color of the bands on the wrist bells.

Some Jingle Bells books you may want to add to your library include:

Jingle Bells by Nicola Slater (a board book for young children)
Jingle Bells by Iza Trapani

If you are having family over for the holidays and are planning to sing carols you may want to get some Wrist bells from Bear Paw Creek for them to jingle as they sing. They’d also make a great favor for the kids to take home with them.

Carol Hartery

The post Wrist Bells Are A Fun Christmas Music Therapy Prop appeared first on Bear Paw Creek.

Fall Themed Sensory Table With Preschool Song Activities and Books

Carol Hartery — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 20:34:49 +0000

Fall Themed Sensory Table With Preschool Song Activities and Books

It’s officially Fall again! I’ve decorated my house and turned Maddie’s sensory table into a Fall themed table. I will start out with a confession. Each time I put together a theme or a sensory table for Maddie I need to remind myself that I am doing this for just one child. Her sensory tables are often filled with more materials than there really should be, but maybe because they’ve mostly been that way, she never seems overwhelmed.

Maddie is 19 months old now. I taught in the early childhood field for more than 40 years so I know that her language skills are advanced. I attribute that to the music and books that have been a part of her daily routine since she was born.

Fall Themed Sensory Table

Her favorite book right now is Boo! by Jonathan Litton and Fhiona Galloway. I used the characters in that book as inspiration for her sensory table. She also loves She also loves You’re My Little Pumpkin Pie illustrated by Natalie Marshall.

The bottom of the sensory table has artificial fall leaves, sticks, and pine cones. If you want to use pine cones in your table be sure to dry them out first to kill off anything that could be living inside of them. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees and place your pine cones on a foil lined baking sheet. Bake the pine cones for about 30 minutes. Once the pine cones have opened up and the sap has had a chance to seep out and dry up, the pine cones are done.

Fall Themed Sensory Table with Preschool Song Activities and Books Share on X

Bats Maddie has 2 Folkmanis bat finger puppets. I use them with Miss Carole’s “Two Little Black Birds” from her Sticky Bubble Gum album, but I substitute the word ‘bats” for the words “black birds.” The bat book she enjoys right now is That’s Not My Bat by Fionna Watt.

Owls Maddie has a Folkmanis owl finger puppet, a Safari toys owl and a squeezable owl. Owl books that she enjoys include That’s Not My Owl by Fionna Watt, Where’s the Owl? by Nosy Crow, and Hoot! by Jonathan Litton and Fhiona Galloway.

Squirrels Maddie LOVES squirrels. She feeds squirrels, chipmunks, and blue jays peanuts each night with my adult son, Robbie. Her favorite squirrel song is “Grey Squirrel” by The Learning Station from their Autumn Songs album download. She has enjoyed The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri for a long time and also loves That’s Not My Squirrel by Fiona Watt. She has a Folkmanis squirrel finger puppet in her sensory table.

Pumpkins I used a mini photo album and some clip art from DJ Inkers to create a book with illustrations and the lyrics from Miss Carole’s “Pumpkin, Pumpkin” song. That song can be found on her Season Sings! album. I also play “Pumpkin Pumpkin Round and Fat” from Miss Carole’s Welcome album.

If you have one of Bear Paw Creek's Pumpkin Balloon Balls...that is a great song to use it with!

There are real pumpkins, a small wooden pumpkin, a small tin pumpkin bucket, and stuffed pumpkins in the sensory table. There are also some little stuffed ghosts. I bought some adorable garland and cut it up to get the stuffed ghosts and pumpkins.

Yesterday I placed some small pumpkins and a vegetable brush in a tub of soapy water. Maddie didn’t really scrub the pumpkins, but she had fun pouring “bubbles” on them and picking them up and dropping them back into the water.

I put 4 colors of washable Crayola paint in a silicone muffin pan and gave Maddie a foam brush. She had a total blast spreading paint all over the pumpkin. When she went home, I washed the pumpkin and now she’ll be able to paint it all over again.

I have a pumpkin ice cube tray from Dollar Tree. Maddie uses a plastic measuring spoon to put orange pompoms in each section of the ice cube tray. She also loves putting pompoms through the top of a clear water bottle.

Apples Apples are one of Maddie’s favorite snacks. I cut the apple up into small pieces and hand her a bowl of them which she quickly devours. This was the second year that she went apple picking. This year she was very excited and a little overwhelmed by all of the apples that were all around her. She said the words, “Apple, apple, apple.” over and over again. Check out Bear Paw Creek's Apple Balloon Ball for more fun!

Maddie has quite a collection of plastic and Styrofoam apples. She puts them in and out of a basket and pretends to eat them. We use them as props when we sing “The Apple Tree” from Miss Carole’s H.U.M. album. Maddie has a Folkmanis apple finger puppet. She belly laughs when I pop the worm out of that puppet.

She has an apple ice cube tray from Dollar Tree. She uses a plastic measuring spoon to put red, green, and yellow pompoms in the tray. If I give her a divided tray she is able to sort the pompoms by color, but she doesn’t know colors yet. She’s just able to distinguish that the pompoms don’t all look alike. Maddie loves pointing to and naming pictures in the book Pat the Bunny at the Apple Orchard by Golden books.

Scarecrows A scarecrow stands next to my fireplace. Maddie loves pointing out that he has a hat and shoes. She has a scarecrow hand puppet that makes her giggle when I move him around as I play “Scarecrow” from The Learning Station’s Autumn Songs album download. I often read her I’m a Dingle-Dangle Scarecrow illustrated by Annie Kubler.

Spiders Maddie tried to mimic our gestures as we sing her “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.” She attempts to sing along with us and is able to fill in many missing words. Her favorite book version of that rhyme is The Itsy Bitsy Spider designed by Chris Stanley. She names all of the animals and makes their sounds when we read her The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle. She has a Folkmanis spider finger puppet.

While we are playing together, I play my Autumn songs playlist. I took out my Bear Paw Creek egg shakers and wrist bells and put the red, orange, yellow and green ones (fall colors) in a basket. I added some of our Bear Paw Creek textured bean bags to the basket. I chose to add the red, orange, green and white ones. We grab a music and movement prop when a song inspires us to use them.

Carol Hartery

The post Fall Themed Sensory Table With Preschool Song Activities and Books appeared first on Bear Paw Creek.

Celebrate Summer With the Watermelon Balloon Ball

Carol Hartery — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 17:43:31 +0000

Celebrate Summer With the Watermelon Balloon Ball

Did you know that August 3 is National Watermelon Day? Here are some of my tips for celebrating this day (or any summer day) with music, movement, and a fun watermelon ball from Bear Paw Creek.

So grab a child or two, a watermelon, and get ready to have fun with these literacy and music activities.

Literacy Fun

I recommend starting out by reading an adorable book called The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli. During one of my last years of teaching preschool, my students asked me to read this book so many times that I could recite it on my own. It’s a memorable story that’s sure to bring lots of laughs and surprises. Here is the book trailer if you aren't familiar with this children's book.

Celebrate Summer with National Watermelon Day with Literacy and Music Share on X

Music and Listening Activities

It’s time to play some melon-tastic games with your Watermelon Balloon Ball from Bear Paw Creek. Begin by having the children pass the ball in a circle while playing Miss Carole’s “Great Big Ball” from her award-winning Season Sings! album.

Each time the chorus ends, whoever is holding the ball lays on the ground. Soft fabric covers up the lightweight balloon, which makes the Watermelon Balloon Ball perfect for rolling up and down each child’s body. Your children will want to hear the song over and over again so that they all have a chance to “get that great big ball!”

Great Big Ball (found here)

Chorus:

Who’s gonna get that great big ball as it rolls around the room?
Who’s gonna get that great big ball as it rolls around the room?
Who’s gonna get that great big ball as it rolls around the room?
Who’s gonna get that great big ball, we’re gonna find out soon!

Verse:

Look who’s got that great big ball,
Rollin’ from their head to their toes,
Rollin’ from their head to their toes,
Rollin’ from their head to their toes,
Look who’s got that great big ball,
Rollin’ from their head to their toes,
But look out, kiddo! (Pause) Here it goes!

You can insert the child’s name during each verse as well, such as “Janie’s got that great big ball...”.

You and your children will also love using the music therapy watermelon balloon ball with the song “Hot Potato” from Kimbo’s Ball Activity Fun album. The only twist is that instead of stopping the music, the children have to be ready for when it says to pass the ball in the opposite direction. This song is great for developing listening skills, which helps strengthen the brain and calm the mind. Just don’t let the ball touch the ground!

Finish your day of summer fun by treating everyone to a juicy slice of watermelon. Be sure to remind them to spit out the seeds while they’re digging in!

Leave a comment below with how this blog post inspired you, or add your own suggestions! Janet will choose one person to receive one of her custom Bear Paw Creek Watermelon Balloon Balls for free!

Carol Hartery

The post Celebrate Summer With the Watermelon Balloon Ball appeared first on Bear Paw Creek.

Patriotic Sensory Table for Home or Classroom

Carol Hartery — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 12:11:19 +0000

Patriotic Sensory Table for Home or Classroom

Children learn through their senses and a sensory table is filled with materials that help stimulate a child’s senses It’s easy to create a sensory table for your home or classroom. When I was a teacher I always created a red, white, and blue sensory table when a patriotic holiday was approaching. Now I am creating them for my granddaughter at home and wanted to share with you!

My granddaughter, Maddie, will be 16 months old when we celebrate the 4^th of July. I am including Maddie in the festivities by making her a Fourth of July sensory table. Maddie will further develop her fine motor skills as she plays with the pompoms, feathers, craft sticks, balls, ice cream scoop, grouping circles, tiny silicone bowls, and bean bags that are in the sensory table. She will experience a variety of textures when she uses the scarves, bean bags, and snowballs I purchased from Bear Paw Creek. Therefore, this blog post will share how you can do this at home.

Sensory Table and Brain Development

This article on Sensory Play For Toddlers Using Regular Household Items shares the "Benefits of Sensory Play for Brain Development", as follows"

By engaging in sensory play with your young children, you can better prepare them for the world. During their initial years of life, children’s brains grow quite rapidly. Parents can support this healthy development by helping children safely explore their world through each of their senses. Some of the key benefits your child is likely to experience through sensory play include:

Development of Fine and Gross Motor Skills
Problem Solving Skills
Social Interaction
Language Development

Here is a picture of Maddie's sensory table.

I also created a decorative tube with a hard plastic water bottle. I cut the bottom off of the bottle and used red, white and blue washi tape to decorate it. She will like dropping pompoms and craft sticks through the top of the bottle and watching as they fall out of the bottom. I think it’s important to note that pom poms can be a choking hazard for young children and I will be supervising Maddie closely while she is using these materials.

I added another element to my sensory table by threading feathers and pipe cleaners through the holes in a red plastic colander. I anticipate that Maddie will enjoy pulling the feathers and pipe cleaners out, but at this stage she may not have the hand-eye coordination to put them back in.

Check out this patriotic sensory table that includes books and music. Share on X

If you are lucky enough to own a patriotic balloon ball from Bear Paw Creek, you’ll want to include it in your patriotic activities. A couple of songs that would be perfect to use include "Great Big Ball" from Miss Carole’s Season Sings! cd and "Hot Potato" from Kimbo's Ball Activity Fun cd.

Maddie’s auditory sense will be nurtured as she plays with the music and movement props I have from Bear Paw Creek. She’ll have fun shaking the bean bags, bells, and egg shakers. In the classroom children can use Bear Paw Creek’s scarves, bean bags, bells, and egg shakers for a patriotic parade. Some of the marching songs I have in my playlist include:

“The Marching Song” from The Learning Station’s All Time Children’s Favorites cd

“Morning Time March” from Hap Palmer’s Patriotic and Morning Time Songs cd

“You and Me Parade” from the Parachute Express Sunny Side Up cd

“Friendship March” from Greg and Steve’s We All Live Together Volume 1 cd

“Bean Bag Parade” from Kimbo’s Bean Bag Activities cd

Let's Get Crafty and Book Suggestions

You may want to create newspaper hats for the children to wear as they march around the room. The hats are easy to fold so you can make a lot of them in just a short time. Then the children can decorate the hats with red, white and blue pompoms, feathers, ribbons, stickers, etc. You can learn how to fold the hats at this YouTube link.

You may also want to create paper bag vests for the children. The children can decorate their vests too.

I have two Fourth of July board books for Maddie: Don Freeman’s Corduroy’s 4^th of July and Martha Day Zschock’s Hello, Fourth of July! She will have fun looking at the illustrations in both books as I talk about them.

Giveaway and New Products

Bear Paw Creek has pulled together a Deluxe Sensory Table Kit and Patriotic Movement Props with Books, available for purchase on the store. She has also added a new patriotic balloon ball!

Option one includes a starter sensory table set. Option two includes movement props and two books. You can also just purchases the balloon ball or the two books.

Be sure to head over and enter to win our Deluxe set with Sensory Table Starter Kit. Winner will be drawn June 28, 2021!

Carol Hartery

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