The Dread Pirate Grasshopper is a passionate child who picks up his enthusiasms and hangs on to them fiercely, fanatically, and until they are tattered and woefully wearisome to the rest of his family.
A current example is Old McDonald Had a Farm. As soon as he gets to my house he comes to me saying confidently, "O' Mc Donnal. Hadda Farm." He wants a youtube video.
I think I have watched five hundred youtube videos of this song this month, and sung it a thousand more times. We have sung about the old guy having shoes, a mommy, a glass of lemon-ade, a lion, a kookaburra, a watermelon, and I don't know what all else.
I have tried to interest him in other songs. Toward this end we have listened to and sung:
Pop Goes the Weasel, This Old Man, The Farmer in the Dell, Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, The Incy Wincy Spider, Where Is Thumbkin, I'm a Little Teapot, This is The House That Jack Built (I was getting desperate), and I really do not know know how many more. He will listen politely, with thinly veiled impatience, clasping his hands together tightly as he tries to maintain the mirage of patience, and before the last note has died away he bounces up and down and firmly declares "Hadda cow. Mc Donnal. Cow."
So I thought maybe if we couldn't change our song, we could at least get more variety in the singers, and I looked for more interesting (to me) performers.
He listened to Elvis for about 20 seconds, then folded his hands tightly, clasping them until his knuckles were white and intoned urgently, and firmly in Elivs' general direction, "Cow, cow, cow, cow, cow, cow, cow, cow, COW."
I know when I've been beaten.
Perhaps he likes the long list of sounds as the song goes through the barnyard.
ReplyDeleteI added a couple of songs to an earlier post but thought this morning of the one on musical instruments. Similar type of refrain to Old Macdonald, going back through the list. Great teaching method actually.
"I can play on the big bass drum and this is the way I do it...." Actions as well as sound in chorus and as many instruments as you can thin of. Flute goes tootle, drum goes bang, violins go squeak etc. Action is of playing the instrument. Also Head shoulders knees and hands, Hokey Pokey, Incy wincey spider. I'm thinking back to granddaughter whom I minded for a couple of days each week for about 15 months.
Our local library down here had a great selection of children's rhymes and songs on DVD.
You may find stuff you like on Colin Buchanan. Australian but sells worldwide. Much of his work is fairly biblical and set to catchy tunes for young ones. I'm not up with releases from last 5 years or so, but it used to be good.
Have you tried something like "I just want to be a sheep"? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqOoMwWNfMI
ReplyDeleteJan, I know the big bass drum song! I'll give that one a try. He knows Head and shoulders. It's an old favorite. Incy wincey spider, yes. haven't tried Hokey Pokey. Tanya, I don't know the sheep song. I'll give it a shot.
ReplyDeleteI have one of those children! They are full of ideas and then they grab onto one and milk it for everything it is worth and then some! His usually involve live animals though...
ReplyDeleteYou what song 2 year olds love? "Look Down" from Les Miz. My now 17yo even had a "Look Down" dance. Tamara
ReplyDeleteTanya, were you pulling my leg? That bursting into flames thing at the end of the video was, um, something else.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry, I didn't watch the very end...I just searched for the song I remembered as a kid, saw the puppets and watched about 90% of it. Yikes...Lesson learned!
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