Hot summer days are here! Hooray!

Though we're stuck in the city, we would love to be at the beach- so we've been singing I do like to be beside the seaside and sorting through boxes of shells. 

I do like to be beside the seaside

I do like to be beside the sea

I do like to stroll along the prom, prom, prom

Where the brass band plays tiddly-om-pom-pom

Just let me be beside the seaside

I'll be beside myself with glee

And there's lots of girls besides 

That I'd like to be beside

Beside the seaside, beside the sea

It would sound great on the ukelele, sung with a cheeky wink at the last few lines!

Try this clip of Basil Rathbone for size.....

I've also been trying to learn the sea shells tonguetwister......

She sells sea shells on the sea shore

The shells that she sells are sea shells I'm sure

So if she sells shells on the sea shore

I'm sure she sells seashore shells

... but even just writing it out gets my brain all twisted! I want to do it at Rhymetime, but just can't get it straight. At least it makes my kids laugh!

Everything is growing apace in our garden. All the seeds that the children helped me plant have germinated and there are so many little shoots, leaves and  wisps of green. It's such a satisfying time, when you see signs of growth and life and energy, before the slugs feast on baby plants!

Our favourite seedlings have been the pumpkins. In Milly-Molly-Mandy this is called the surprise plant- and it does grow amazingly quickly. It's perfect for little people who check the pots every day for signs of growth.

The cherry stone rhyme is ideal for this time of year..... 

I had a little cherry stone (finger and thumb as if holding a stone)

I put it in the ground (putting stone onto palm of other hand)

Next time I came to look

A little shoot I found ( make a circle with thumb and forefinger of one hand and push two fingers of the other hand through it, like a shoot)

It grew and grew 

Into a great big tree (fingers grow up and branch out above head, like a tree)

And then I picked the cherries (pretend to pick cherries from above)

And ate them for my tea (...and eat them!)

Postcode Carmen

All my singing with babies and toddlers is based on the idea that music is fun, pleasurable and comforting. I hate the idea that we should be using every opportunity to teach our children something. But on the other hand... singing is a great way to learn things that you might otherwise have to just learn by rote. As a little girl I learnt my postcode by singing it to the opening phrase from Habanera, Carmen. This might sound a little precocious but try it- it works really well! If opera's not your thing, you might be seduced by this fantastic Sesame Street video!

Sesame Street was, of course, another great example of using music to teach all kinds of things- if you're a child of the seventies (like me!) you might remember this pinball counting song too. Oh happy days!