Kindermusik program in Moreland engages children at early age

By STEPHANIE SCHELL
sschell@amnews.com

From left, Amy Hoskins swings her niece, Karmen Cundiff, Sara Smith swings daughter Carerra and Carren Schofield swings daughter Caroline during story time. Lane Hoskins and Serena Smith hang out on the floor. (Stephanie Schell photo)
Amy Hoskins watches as niece Karmen and son Lane play Peek-A-Boo with sheer scarves at Kindermusik class. (Stephanie Schell photo)
Sara Smith and daughter Carerra roll Gertie balls back and forth during a Kindermusik session. This exercise helps build eye-hand coordination and social skills. (Stephanie Schell photo)
Samantha Tomlin

MORELAND - Rolling a ball, Peek-A-Boo, "Ring Around the Rosie." Many of us recognize these activities as childhood pastimes. However, they taught us hand-eye coordination and how to interact with one another. But by putting these activities to song and adding movement, it becomes a new level of learning, said Samantha Tomlin.

"You learn things better when you learn it with music," Tomlin said, instructor of Kindermusik by Samantha.

Kindermusik is an international music and movement program for children that believes active participation in music programs stimulates a child's total development.

As a mother and a musician, becoming a licensed Kindermusik educator was a natural progressive step for Tomlin. She has taught guitar and piano lessons for three years, and has worked with local artists on mastering and recording music projects at her home studio, New Gospel Music Studio, for about seven years. Influencing young minds with music and movement through Kindermusik by Samantha is a special opportunity to reach both the child and the parent.

"Kindermusik is the best choice any parent can make for their young child," Tomlin said. "The songs and activities are designed to not only give children a good start musically, but also to strengthen their physical, emotional, social and cognitive skills at a very early age. ... Kindermusik believes a child's most important teacher is his or her parent. ... Children learn best when they are with those they love, and I make sure every child in my classes has a set of materials to take home ... so they can continue the fun and learning with their family."

Tomlin recently held free demo classes at her studio and has another coming up June 6. Simple tasks such as rolling a ball become more interactive as Tomlin sings to match the activity and encourages others in the class to do the same. With certain words she speaks, Tomlin performs American Sign Language for that word and encourages the children and parents to sign also.

Tomlin uses two basic categories of signs - see a lot, do a lot signs such as "more," "eat," "drink" - and motivating signs, which are things children may want to talk about such as a ball. This, Tomlin said, helps with frustrations children may feel when they can't say what they want to communicate.

"Even though he can't say it, he can communicate," Tomlin said. "The earlier you start with them the longer it lasts and the longer they keep the benefits."

During story time, children attending the class don't just sit and listen. They are encouraged to move and act out certain scenes of the story as Tomlin reads aloud.

"Reading is good for early literacy," Tomlin told parents at a recent Kindermusik session.

Activity equals engagement

The extra movement gets the child engaged. Tomlin said Kindermusik pushes the idea that when children are happy, they are engaged.

"It may look like chaos," Tomlin added, but actually it's working the child's hand-eye coordination, social capabilities and jump-starting the nerves in the brain.

A simple game of Peek-A-Boo is made even more stimulating when scarves are added. Tomlin adds song to the act of using scarves to cover the child's face, as well as relay instructions. This goes for playtime, quite and clean-up time.

Tomlin makes sure to incorporate quiet time during class, too.

"Kids are just like us," Tomlin said. "They get stressed sometimes and need to relax."

Tomlin turns on soft music and the parent/caregiver rocks the child softly.

"Rocking back and forth stimulates, moves the fluids in their ears and helps develop balance and coordination," Tomlin said. "Mothers have been doing it for centuries but there's a reason for it."

There's also a reason for the repetition seen many times during instructional scenarios involving children.

"Children learn best when you do something over and over," Tomlin said as they played "Ring Around the Rosie" multiple times during class. She added that "more" is the most common sign used by children.

Each of Tomlin's classes starts with a "hello" song and ends with a "good-bye" song, which is a type of ritual that Tomlin said is important to children in these age groups.

Amy Hoskins of Liberty brought her 19-month-old son Lane and her 2-year-old neice Karmen Cundiff to a free demonstration by Tomlin. She said it had been a great experience for them.

"Music is good for them," Hoskins added.

Sara Smith of Stanford brought her daughters 8-month-old Serena and 3-year-old Carrera to the free demo. She said she was surprised how her youngest daughter enjoyed the class as much as the oldest. The class was beneficial for her as a mother as well.

"Parents don't always know how to act with their little ones," Smith said.

Carren Schofield of Yosemite brought her 15-month-old daughter Caroline to the free demo, and said it was a great opportunity for her daughter to play with different toys and musical instruments she doesn't have at home. By introducing children to the unknown through social situations, music, dance, movement and play, they learn on different levels, she said.

"Movement with music (is) the key to learning," Tomlin said. "It's all about you and what your child wants. There's no right or wrong way in this class."

About Kindermusik

For more than 30 years, Kindermusik International has touched the lives of more than a million children and their families, introducing them to learning through music. With a combination of music and early childhood development research, more than 5,000 Kindermusik educators teach children ages newborn through 7 years old in more than 60 countries around the world.

For more information, log on to www.kindermusik.com.

Kindermusik by Samantha schedule

Summer session: Begins June 15 with weekly classes including Peekaboo! I Love You! (ages 0-18 month), Creatures in My Backyard (ages 18 months to 3 years), and Kindermusik Sign & Sing, a sign language class for hearing children (ages 6 months to 3 years).

Summer session II: Begins June 18 with classes including Make Way for Music (ages newborn to 7 years).

Fall session:Begins in September and features Kindermusik Village (ages newborn to 18 months), Kindermusik Our Time (18 months to 3 years) and Kindermusik Sign & Sing (6 months 3 years).

Upcoming: By Spring 2010, Kindermusik by Samantha plans to add classes for parents and children ages 4-7 years old.

So you know

Kindermusik by Samantha will have a booth set up June 6 at the Christian Home Education Network Book Sale and Workshops at Gateway Park Community Center in Liberty. At 10:30 a.m., Samantha Tomlin will provide a free demonstration of her classes.

Classes also are available for birthday parties. Tomlin invites businesses, playgroups, schools, homeschool groups, churches and mom's groups to consider hosting free demo classes and/or playdate classes.

For more information or to enroll, call Tomlin at (606) 510-0903, log on to Click here or e-mail samantha@kindermusikbysamantha.com.