Connecting Grandparents & Grandchildren
If youI have young grandchildren or young neices or nephews, here are some favorites:
* Peter and the Wolf - no book on the market appropriate for two-year olds yet, but here are a couple great free videos:
Pre-schoolers can recognize the instruments, the sequence, and the characters, of course. Make magnets by taking a screen shot from the videos, laminating them and gluing them to magnetic sheets, cut to size.
Another favorite of both elders and youngsters is Wild Symphony, the book and symphony, by Dan Brown. A pre-schooler can press the forward arrow on the Wild Symphony app on a handheld tech device, such as cell phone or iPad, which, when placed over the book page, plays the movement related to that page. I also put together a yoga video routine for elders to the movements of Wild Symphony.
A third favorite is Tubby the Tuba, the book and video.
These classical stories teach the child many things. I don’t read each page, line for line, but rather ask the child questions about the pictures on each page. The version is important.
The grandparent/elder has to like them as much as the grandchild/youngster, because the little ones will want to read/view/listen to them over and over, every day.
Our upcoming hero is Pinocchio. There are many good books and other media about him. I am making puppets and shadow puppets and marionettes and a stage to share his story.
These stories can be shared by elders with children on-site or virtually. We also dance and make hand/arm movements to the music. Music is the best sense to develop children’s brain, and to keep elders brain expanding. I like to integrate multi-senses with children, with elders, and of course, with Activity Professionals.
Oh, and Maestro David Dworkin, leading his Conductorcise Program. 60 free 40-minute exercises on his Conductorcise Facebook page. I featured him for a presentation to MAP, CASF, SCAAP, and created a slide show based on one of Maestro’s Conductorcise routines, highlighting The Donut Song (sung by Burl Ives) that I posted on the MAP website. Both children and elders of all ages love moving to that song. It expanded into a monthly activity theme for assisted living communities, “Building Community.”
It’s so exciting for me to share the grandparent/grandchild/elder/youngster connections with you!
