Boowakwala is an online resource for children with over 800 games and activities for children 0-10 years of age. The resource includes musical activities, cooking fun, coloring pages, coordination games, races, classic children’s games and much more. Enjoy exploring this terrific web resource with your children.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote for us this spring, PCMS’  Kindermusik program has won the Upstate Parent Magazine Award for best Music Program for Children in the Greenville Area.   We, of course, already knew this to be true, but now everyone else does, too!

“Music education opens doors that help children pass from school into the world around them — a world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement. The future of our nation depends on providing our children with a complete education that includes music.” — Gerald Ford, former President, United States of America

The National Association for Music Education narrows down the benefits of a music education into four categories:

• Success in society
• Success in school
• Success in developing intelligence
• Success in life

“Every student [should] have an education in the arts,” they write. “Music is the fabric of our society.”

Read this inspiring article here and congratulate yourself for a choosing to give such a gift to your children!

On June 24 the “Breeding Birds” Guided Bird Walk at Chimney Rock Park will take place from 9am–noon.

Summer is a time of frenzied activity for many resident birds as the 2007 “Simon Says” Guided Bird Walk Series continues. Park ornithologist Simon Thompson will point out local Downy, Hairy and Pileated Woodpeckers, who will be noisily feeding their young. Both the summer-resident Scarlet Tanagers and Wood Thrushes should be singing and establishing their territories.

Cost: $19 includes adult Park admission, $8 for ages 6-15; $3 for Annual Passholders, free for Grady’s Kids Club Members Order an optional Hiker’s Lunch for $8.95  Call 800-277-9611 to register and reserve your spot.

Streetplay.com is an amazing resource that has taken games that can be played with nearly nothing (like a stick, or a bottlecap) and a bit of creativity.  Our picks are jump-rope, off the wall, and hit the stick.

The site says,”The variety of ways we’ve found to amuse ourselves in the streets is amazing. At the drop of a hat, we invent games and through sheer determination make them indispensible and legendary. Using whatever is at hand–bottlecaps, a stick, or the ubiquitous spaldeen–city kids though the ages create games that are the envy of any sportsman or marketeer.”

So take some time to look for games you may remember from your own childhood and introduce them to your children.  Play is a powerful thing.

The June issue of the PCMS newsletter — The Development — is now available online.  Look for fun of all kinds, including recital pictures from the Spring recitals, summer programs PCMS offers, recommended summer listening for kids, and much more!

If you are not currently signed up for our mailing list, please email us at musiclasts@gmail.com to be added to the list!

Spend a hot summer evening listening to Ken Waldman’s stories and poems and hearing his fiddle playing along with accompaniment from some of his friends.

This event takes place at the downtown Greenville location of the library on Friday, June 22, 2007 at 7:00 p.m.

Ken Waldman, a native of North Carolina, moved to an Alaskan cabin in 1985 where he spent his time teaching, writing, and perfecting his fiddle playing. He has written five volumes of poetry and recorded five CDs of Alaskan and traditional Appalachian fiddle tunes. His concerts of fiddle music, poems, and stories about life in Alaska are like taking a road trip through the state’s unique wilderness.

You can also watch Ken Waldman perform during a concert at the Kennedy Center by clicking here.

Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each. ~Plato

Read all about it here.

Hat tip to Debbie Long at Musik4Kids.

Family Fun website has a series of instructables on making instruments with common objects found at home.  From perfect measurements of liquid that create the major scale, to making more water music for you (and the neighbors — be discerning!) to enjoy listening to via a garden hose and a wall of “spraychestra” instruments, the homemade instruments on the Family Fun site are the most creative and informative I’ve seen yet.  Check them out and let us know all about it!

With new summery themes you can sink your feet into and short sessions (including makeup classes!) that fit around your vacation schedules, you don’t have to miss out on a fun Kindermusik summer together!

• Two-week sessions begin May 30th — openings still available in our On the Road class for 3 to 5 year olds!
• Once-a-week sessions begin the week of June 11th — openings still available in all classes for ages newborn to 7 years!
• Our special August session includes our drop-off play date camps for children 2-5 years and our popular Sign & Sing class for children 6 to 36 months.

We’re just a CLICK (see links below) or a CALL (232-5010) away.  Don’t delay… make yours a Kindermusik summer today!

What’s NEW this summer
Summer schedule
Summer registration form