Singing Through December, Part 2

While I didn’t get this one posted in a timely manner, we did do a lot more singing in December. We took some of our favorite carols and worked with them.

Silver Bells

This is one of my mother’s favorites and also one of mine. There is just nothing like hearing the beautiful bells ringing when the song is played. We pulled out the piano music and I played and sang for the girls. They don’t know this song well yet but we’ll definitely be working on that. Once again, we pulled out lots of bells. We had basic individual jingle bells, jingle bells on a stick, a giraffe shaped bell, bells from the Christmas tree, and a crystal bell that I got when I was about 5 years old. We talked about the sounds of all the bells – high and low, loud and quiet, metallic or clear rings, and so much more. We discussed the science of sound a bit and compared a lot about the different bells. And then we watched this video from YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlI805Udxnk

The other thing we did with this song was to play Hide-and-seek Jingle Bell. Never heard of this game? Well, let me tell you – you are missing out! Imagine an Easter egg hunt with tiny little jingle bells. Yep – that’s it. We played this game several times, until someone couldn’t remember where they had hid most of the bells and we only had one left. (I just found the rest of them today while cleaning the house.)

Frosty The Snowman

What holiday singing is complete without this classic song? Well, singing this one is never a problem and we sing it often. We pulled out the story book that we have and read and sang. Then we pulled out the piano music and I played and the girls sang. We had the option with this song to talk about first and second endings. Always good to throw in some music education, right? Afterwards, I pulled out the marshmallows and the girls went through the pantry to find other foods that might work to make Frosty with. Edible Frosty? Of course. They made him and then we took pictures. Sad to say – none of the Frostys made it more than about 5 minutes after picture time.

Let it Snow

This song was done in hopes of encouraging snow in NM for our visit. It didn’t work. We were pretty disappointed. But, the activity was interesting. We tried the Borax snowflakes that I had seen posted in Pinterest. It didn’t work. We actually tried it 3 different times. I am guessing we just didn’t use enough Borax, but even adding more didn’t help. Who knows. It was fun, just the same, and the girls have been enjoying playing with the crystals that did form and then fell off.

There were other songs sung. E really enjoyed a CD that we have of carols sung in Spanish. We played that one a lot this year. We also listened to the Von Trapp family singers Christmas album after we watched the Sound of Music (live on TV and the DVD). I just didn’t take pictures of anything else that we did.

Perhaps this will inspire you to sing your way through December next holiday season. Or, better yet, sing your way through any other time of year, too. Meanwhile, we’ll be singing. At Home.

Tagged: Christmas, craft, DIY, E, food, homeschool, J, L, science