Children's Music Archives - Bear Paw Creek

Music and Movement Week 2026 — Celebrating with a Giveaway!

Madison Stephens — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:27:45 +0000

Music and Movement Week 2026 — Celebrating with a Giveaway!

For the last several years, we have joined Sandra Hendrickson from Sing Play Create as she celebrates Music and Movement Week in April. Music and movement have a multitude of benefits, such as cognitive development, physical development, social & emotional growth, language acquisition, and so much more. Read more about the benefits of music and movement activities here.

One way we are celebrating this year's music and movement week is with a giveaway! We are excited to partner with four other music and movement enthusiasts to give away a prize package worth over $300.

This giveaway is being hosted on Instagram. Head over there to enter for your chance to win!

Click here to be taken to Instagram to enter for your chance to win.

You can keep reading details on what is being included in the giveaway, along with information about the music teachers and educators we're collaborating with!

Organized Chaos: Purposeful Creativity at Home & in the Music Room

Elizabeth Caldwell is an elementary music teacher. The goal of Organized Chaos is to help music teachers embrace the chaos of creativity through purposeful organization and simple ideas. On her blog, she shares lesson ideas, behavior management strategies, lesson planning and curriculum design ideas, home organization ideas, and even parenting tips.

Elizabeth has also developed downloadable resources focused on general music curriculum, teacher planners, world music, and more. Her hope is that everything she creates helps other music teachers find their own purposeful balance.

She has generously donated her Modern Movement Cards for Big Kids. These movement cards will appeal to all ages! The set comes with 30 different cards with movement prompts to get kids moving, including current popular dances, simple body percussion, animals, sports, and everyday objects. All of them are designed to be performed as a motion with a steady beat. The graphics will appeal to all ages. The possibilities are endless for using these cards during music and movement activities. You can find a description of the "Disco Duel" I use them for in this blog post.

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Music with Miss Caitlin - Quality Music Education for All Ages!

Caitlin Gomez has always had a passion for music. She has a degree in Music Education and Vocal Performance from Carthage College and spent 12 years teaching general music and choir to students in grades PreK-8 before switching to Early Childhood Music.

When I had my first child I was excited to have a little musician of my own, but even with all of my prior experience, I would FORGET to make music with my son! Becoming a parent is a huge transformation! We are often overwhelmed with all the million little things that are now on our plate. My hope is to provide you with simple and engaging music activities that you and your child can enjoy together. I hand select the music activities in my classes based on years of experience as a teacher and mom! I always use music that your children will LOVE!

Caitlin is donating a 6" Remo Lollipop Drum, red plastic Rhythm Sticks, and two Egg Shakers. Everything you need to start doing music and movement activities at home or in class with Miss Caitlin!

Mrs. Stouffer's Music Room

Music Education is Melissa Stouffer's passion. Over the last several years, she has traveled, been on a cart, shared space, and taught kids from 6 weeks to 8th grade. She even started three middle school ensembles - two bands and a choir. Carrying all of those manipulatives and books from building to building and constantly scrambling to write things on little whiteboards as she went from place to place got old quickly, and it was always a struggle to remember everything.

This inspired her to start making materials she could have at her disposal anywhere she went. Now, in her online store, she has hundreds of highly engaging materials to help music educators. And, she has generously included a couple of those resources in this year's Music and Movement Week giveaway!

Printed Folk Dance Formation Posters: This game-changing set contains 17 posters with standard folk dance formations. Each poster features kids from a top-down view so students can see which way they are supposed to face!
Music of the Philippines: With more than enough info for several classes, this large set includes information about the islands, listening links to both traditional Filipino genres and for 9 famous Filipino composers and musicians, folk dance video links, a tinikling tutorial, video links for 4 more dances, and sheet music for 6 Filipino folk songs.

Sing Play Create: Interactive Education Through Music and Movement Activities

Sandra Hendrickson is a teacher, songwriter, and the creator behind Sing Play Create. She helps busy music teachers, preschool teachers, and parents make learning musical, active, and fun with ready-to-use songs, lessons, and movement activities. She is also the one that came up with the idea to start Music and Movement Week!

For over 25 years, she taught music and movement to children in preschool through upper elementary, led school programs and concerts, and created classroom resources to support teachers. Sing Play Create grew out of her own classroom needs — simple, engaging lessons that get kids moving, singing, and really learning. You can learn more about Sandra and her teaching philosophy here. The wonderful music and movement activities resources that Sandra is giving away are:

Stretchy Band Bundle
Buggy Movement Bundle including: buggy bean bag, buggy freeze, buggy scarf, buggy stretchy band, and buggy parachute.
Scarf Activities Bundle
Zoom Rhythm Sticks: K-2 Steady Beat, Rhythm & Movement Activity
Rhythm Sticks Music Lesson and Activity "Do the Bunny Dance" Grades Pre-K, K-2
Bean Bag Bundle

Be sure to check out her recent blog post as well, Hop into Spring with a Stretchy Band Activity!

Bear Paw Creek: Enriching Lives Through Music and Movement

Bear Paw Creek equips teachers, therapists, and parents as they seek to enrich the lives of others through creative movement products and music. We understand the importance of music and movement for developing healthy minds and bodies of all ages. We also know that music stimulates both sides of the brain, lifts our spirits, and makes tedious activities seem fun. Incorporating motion with music brings along all of the excellent physical and emotional benefits of exercise, strengthening our muscles and improving coordination.

We are excited to add some of our creative movement props to the Music and Movement Week giveaway!

Stretchy Band (Size large)
Set of 6 Rainbow Ribbon Wrist Streamers
9' Canopy Scarf
Rainbow Balloon Ball

For more ideas on how to incorporate props into your music and movement time, check out this blog post. We also shared a 2023 Music and Movement Week Recap a couple of years ago that has more music and movement activities from Sandra Hendrickson; check that out here. We hope that the lucky winner will benefit from the music and movement prize package. However, we also hope that you'll visit each of the collaborators' websites and look into the incredible tools and resources they have available!

Madison Stephens

Madison has been a part of BPC her whole life. As a young child, she and her siblings helped stuff stretchy bands and flip bean bags. Over the last six years she has become even more involved and is now an official BPC employee with the role of seamstress and social media manager. When she’s not working, you’ll find her spending time with family and friends, going on walks with her dog, working with horses, or cooking and baking. Madison feels honored to have the opportunity to work alongside her mom, Janet Stephens, and be involved with the family business.

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5 Ways to Use Bear Paw Creek’s Canopy Scarf in Storytime

Madison Stephens — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 18:33:23 +0000

5 Ways to Use Bear Paw Creek's Canopy Scarf in Storytime

Hey folks! La La Librarian here, I am excited to share some fun ideas for using Bear Paw Creek's canopy scarf in early childhood storytime.

I was introduced to this awesome prop by Bear Paw Creek, and it’s quickly become one of my favorites—it has so many wonderful uses! This giant, 9-foot chiffon scarf is a fantastic option for storytime professionals thanks to its versatility and simplicity.

Think of it as the parachute’s gentler, less-stimulating sibling. The canopy scarf works beautifully as a storytelling prop, a regulation tool, and a tactile activity that helps bring early literacy concepts to life.

Here are 5 fun ways to use it in your next storytime!

1. Babytime With the Canopy Scarf

The gentle, transparent canopy scarf is ideal for babytime. With a padded blanket or mat underneath, lay babies on the floor, looking up. Have caregivers sit or stand in a circle and hold the scarf above them like a canopy, and move it while singing or chanting songs. (TIP: Displaying the lyrics for everyone to see will increase caregiver participation.)

Calming songs work beautifully, such as: I See the Moon and The More We Sing/Read Together.

Energizing songs can also be adapted for the canopy scarf, especially classic babytime songs that involve lifting, such as: Up to the Heavens, Down to the Sea, The Elevator Song, Let’s Go Riding on an Elevator, and Zoom, Zoom, Zoom.

2. Songs and Rhymes About Rain, Ocean, Sky and Wind

If the parachute is your frenemy, the canopy scarf may be the right fit for you! Canopy scarves lend themselves to songs and rhymes about calming natural elements, making them a less stimulating alternative to a parachute. (TIP: You can always scaffold this group skill by having children remain in their parents' laps for the first few sessions.)

In addition to the babytime songs I mentioned, some other favorites include: Who Taught The Fish To Swim, Hear the Raindrops Fall, Wind Oh Wind, and Five Little Clouds.

3. Storytelling Prop

Use the canopy scarf to represent water, clouds, and more when telling stories with props or puppets.

My favorites for the blue scarf are: Ducks Away! by Mem Fox & Judy Horacek, Get Out Of My Bath! by Britta Teckentrup, and the story songs Five Little Ducks and Five Speckled Frogs.

If you're interested in adding some stuffed animals, as shown in the picture, here is a set of 6 plush ducks, one mama or daddy duck, and five ducklings.

4. Bring a Book to Life Using the Canopy Scarf

Read a book while your group holds the scarf and have them move it on repeated phrases to practice parallel play as a group.

Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea and I Am the Wind work beautifully using this technique.

5 Ways to Use Bear Paw Creek's Canopy Scarf for Storytime by La La Librarian Share on X

5. Cozy Canopy

With small groups of children, drape the scarf to create a cozy reading nook for sharing books together about underwater (blue), underground, outer space (black), or being among the clouds (white or blue)!

Some of my favorites include: Breathe by Scott Magoon, Beneath by Cori Doerrfeld, Hush Little Rocket by Mo O'Hara & Alexandra Cook, and Partly Cloudy by Deborah Freedman.

You can find even more books to pair with the canopy scarf at my Bookshop, and use the code LALA10 to get a discounted canopy scarf from Bear Paw Creek.

Alyssa Jewell

Alyssa Jewell is a musician, Children’s Librarian, and mom who loves storytime! Her website features storytime resources for early childhood educators and children’s librarians, including songs, videos, tutorials, themed book lists, and more. You can trust that every La La Librarian resource is carefully crafted for optimal learning and fun! In addition to a Masters Degree in Library Science, Alyssa has a degree in Theatre Education, and is certified to teach grades K–12. She has fifteen years' experience bringing stories and concepts to life through storytime, theater, and music in a variety of educational settings. The best part of storytime is when little ones and their grown-ups make precious memories and embrace the joy of reading together! We hope these resources help all of your storytimes sing!

The post 5 Ways to Use Bear Paw Creek’s Canopy Scarf in Storytime appeared first on Bear Paw Creek.

4 Stretchy Band Activity Ideas from Elementary Music Teacher Lena Leon

Madison Stephens — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 16:18:53 +0000

4 Stretchy Band Activity Ideas from Elementary Music Teacher Lena Leon

We're back with four more Stretchy Band activity ideas from elementary music teacher, Lena Leon!

From opposites, slow and fast, flowers blooming, and roly poly, Lena shares some of the best song and activity ideas on her Instagram page, @the_crafter_teacher. We love her creativity when it comes to incorporating our movement props in her classroom. It is also clear in the videos she shares that her students love the activities as well.

Keep reading to learn all about the 4 Stretchy Band activity ideas!

4 Stretchy Band Activity Ideas from Elementary Music Teacher Lena Leon Share on X

4 Stretchy Band Activity Ideas

Activity #1: "Slow and Fast" by Hap Palmer

With this Stretchy Band activity, Lena and her students sat in a circle on the floor while playing the song "Slow and Fast" by Hap Palmer. The music starts very calm and quiet as the students lift the band up and down in time with the music. Then, the song switches from slow to fast! Students rotate the band around and around as fast as they can in time with the music. This activity encourages listening skills, teamwork, and gross motor skills. Not to mention, the quick change in tempo always excites students as they race to get the band around as fast as their hands can go.

Activity #2: "Cross Dance" by Shenanigans

To create a fun and expressive music and movement activity, Lena used two Stretchy Bands (size Large and Extra Large) at the same time. Two groups sat in circles on the floor, the group with the XL Stretchy Band sat on the outside while the group with the Large Stretchy Band sat within the bigger circle. This activity is perfect for practicing active listening skills. While the song "Cross Dance" played, students had to listen to each section to do the following actions. A section: represented flowers blooming/move front, move back. B section: represented the wind blowing the pollen away/pass around to the right, then to the left.

Activity #3: Roly Poly, Roly Poly

Everyone stands in a circle holding on to the Stretchy Band for this activity. Lena stood in the middle while everyone chanted this fun Roly Poly song: "Roly poly, roly poly, up, up, up! Roly poly, roly poly down, down, down. Roly poly, roly poly, wait, wait, wait. Roly poly, roly poly, POP!" On each roly poly section, the students walked around in a circle. As the song continued, they had to listen carefully for the action, on up, up, up, the students lifted the Stretchy band up in the air. On down, they went down low to the floor. With wait, they had to freeze. When the POP came, everyone let go of the band!

Activity #4: Opposites Chant

"This is high, high, high! This is low, low, low. This is fast, fast, fast! This slow, slow, slow. This is soft, soft, soft. This is strong, strong, strong! This is wait, wait, wait. This is...let go!" This song and activity encourages active listening skills, teamwork and group participation, and also helps teach opposites. The opposites chant could be done with different group sizes, but would also work well in a one-on-one setting using a small Stretchy Band or Connect-a-Stretchy Band.

Videos of the Stretchy Band Activities in Action

Linked below are videos of all 4 Stretchy Band Activity Ideas in action! Just in case you missed the other blog post with more ideas, The Crafter Teacher, you can check out 6 Stretchy Band Songs and Activity Ideas from Music Teacher, Lena Leon.

If you don't have your own Stretchy Band and are interested in getting one, you can check them out here.

Let us know what your favorite activity is if you end up trying them out! And, if you have more ideas you would like to share, tag us in your photos and videos on our Instagram and Facebook @bearpawcreek. We love to see our props in action and are so inspired by the creativity you all have when it comes to music and movement activities!

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Madison Stephens

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Six Fun Ways to Use Bear Paw Creek Movement Props with Songs from Out There In The Wild by Jes Cleland

Madison Stephens — Sun, 04 May 2025 15:23:58 +0000

Six Fun Ways to Use Bear Paw Creek Movement Props with Songs from Out There In The Wild by Jes Cleland

At Music U, we believe music comes alive when we add movement, imagination, and a little bit of magic — and Bear Paw Creek's movement props make it even easier!

I'm thrilled to share a few favorite ways to pair their creative music and movement products with songs from my new children's album, Out There In The Wild, coming May 9th, 2025.

Keep reading for some ideas on how to turn a simple sing-along into a full-body, full-heart experience!

Motion of the Ocean — with Bear Paw Creek's Stretchy Band or Canopy Scarf

"Motion of the Ocean" invites kids to ride the waves, and Bear Paw Creek's Stretchy Band, is the perfect tool for the journey:

"Waves go up and crash down" — lift the band high, then swoop it down low.
"The tide comes in and goes out" — move it forward and back with flowing, gentle movements.
"Currents rip from side to side" — sway the band left and right with fun bursts of energy.

Or, try using the Blue Canopy Scarf for a fun variation. The canopy scarf is a favorite in my classroom and can give the same song and movements a brand-new experience. You might even invite a few at a time to stand under the scarf and imagine being deep in the ocean watching motion above!

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A post shared by Bear Paw Creek | Music and Movement Props (@bearpawcreek)

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A post shared by Music U Nashville (@musicunashville)

Raindrops Falling on Me — Two props, one joyful song!

Spring showers feel extra magical with another one of Bear Paw Creek's movement props, Wrist Streamers, in hand. As you sing "Raindrops Falling on Me," invite children to gently place their streamers on the body parts mentioned in the song—head, shoulders, knees, toes, eyelashes, and nose—just like raindrops falling from the sky.

It's a delightful way to support body awareness while reinforcing the rhythm and flow of the music.

As a variation, try Individual Creative Movement Chiffon Scarves! Kiddos love transforming them into imaginary puddles—spreading them across the floor and leaping in with squeals of joy. It's pure rainy-day magic, no umbrellas required.

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Five Roly-Polies — with Bear Paw Creek's Balloon Ball

"Five Roly-Polies" is all about rolling, and Bear Paw Creek's Balloon Ball makes it extra interactive!

Roll the ball across the group circle during every "roll, roly-poly" refrain — giving kids a chance to work on gentle pushes, teamwork, and timing.
Watch the smiles grow as they anticipate the ball coming to them!

Six Fun Ways to Use Bear Paw Creek Movement Props with Songs from Out There In The Wild by Jes Cleland Share on X

Get Out Beetle — with Bear Paw Creek's Balloon Ball

You can keep the fun going with "Get Out Beetle!".

Pass the Balloon Ball around the circle during the verses, and toss it in the air when you get to the big "Get Out Be-Be-Be-Beetle!" shout! Children can do this with partners, small groups, or even a big circle. It's a simple but exciting way to encourage listening skills, quick reactions, and group connection.

To extend the experience, "Get Out Beetle!" also comes with a picture book, interactive digital book, and a teaching guide full of extension activities to bring the story and song to life in even more ways.

Inspiring Kids to Explore and Fall in Love with Music

At Music U, we love seeing how Bear Paw Creek's beautifully made props can turn a musical moment into an unforgettable memory. Whether you're singing songs from Out There In The Wild at home, in a classroom, or outside under the sky, these props help kids move, explore, and fall in love with music again and again.

Out There In The Wild by Jes Cleland is available on May 9th, wherever you stream music — we can't wait for you to sing, dance, and explore along with us! To check out the different resources Music U has available along with ways to follow along to stay up to date, click here. To check out all of Bear Paw Creek's movement props, click here.

Stay tuned for more exciting things this week as we celebrate the release of Out There in The Wild, including a fun giveaway!

Ready to sing, dance, and play?

Jes Cleland

For over a decade, I've helped young musicians find their voice through Music U, the teaching studio I founded in 2013. What began as a small preschool music class — filled with singing, movement, and playful discovery — has grown into a thriving community of learners, families, and educators across Nashville.

At Music U, my teaching style is rooted in creativity, connection, and joy. I believe that music is a natural language for young children, and my classes focus on nurturing that through hands-on activities, imaginative play, and lots of opportunities for self-expression. I respect children's ability to engage deeply with music and believe they deserve quality songs and meaningful experiences. In my classes, we move with scarves, explore rhythms, make up silly songs, and dive into a wide range of musical genres — from jazz to rockabilly to Celtic and Latin music — helping students build musical skills and a lifelong appreciation for learning.

As a songwriter and recording artist, I create music that invites children into a world of wonder and storytelling. My upcoming album, Out There In The Wild (releasing this May), celebrates playful melodies, big feelings, and the magic of everyday adventures. I'm also the author of Get Out, Beetle!, a whimsical children's book that blends music and hilarious characters to inspire curiosity and laughter.

Whether through a song, a story, or a lesson, the goal is always to spark confidence, creativity, and a genuine love for music.

Follow along on Instagram, Facebook and my Website for updates on new music, books, and more!

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