lesfred

Programs for Kids

These are some of the programs I have presented for libraries, parks and recs and for Borders Books... and some ideas of programs I'd like to do...

Pre-Schooler Sing-Dance-Clap-Play-Along

Lots of great little songs, a limbo pole, and a suit case full of shakers and tamborines. Moms and dads, grammas and grampas will know all these songs, and they can sing them in the car on the way home.

Stories Told through Song

This is an entertainment program for all ages. This song list will obviously depend on the age of the children... and much of it overlaps, as the older children become able to sing-a-long with songs they've heard before.

Itsy Bitsy Spider, the long version

Autumn to May

House at Pooh Corner

Octopus' Garden

Puff the Magic Dragon

The Fox

The Crooked Little Man

Grandfather's Clock

Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh

The Marvelous Little Toy

The MTA

Right Field

The Unicorn

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Found a Peanut

Boop Boop Dittem Dattum Whatum Chu

Going to the Zoo

I Know an Old Lady

Eating an Elephant (original)

Silly Boy Blues (original)

The Cat Came Back

On Top of Spaghetti

The Witch Doctor (Ooo eee ooo ah ah...)

The Happy Wanderer

Goodnight Irene (new version)

Waltzing with Bears

Teddy Bears Picnic

Yellow Submarine

This Land is Your Land (for older kids, the long version paints a picture of the age of the dust bowl and post-depression era America)

Song Writing for Ages 7 and Up

This program takes 45-90 minutes and teaches basic writing skills that not only apply to song writing, but also to poetry and prose. First, I perform a couple songs and talk about their structure, and the mood set by the music. We'll discuss basics of writing, like "who, what, where, when, how, and why, and how do you feel about that?" Then rhythm, rhyme, and something I call "get it all down and edit it later."

Out comes the laptop computer, and we brainstorm out the content, and how that makes us feel. We write a song together... after we have a couple verses and a good repeatable chorus, I'll save our work to a text file and hand a disc with the lyrics to someone who can go print copies for the participants, while we come up with a tune and sing it through a couple of times.

Be Creative @ Your Library

This is a great time to shake those sillys out and Sing-Along, Dance-Along, Clap-Along, and Play-Along to those great songs that everyone knows. Might do a couple songs that I made up, too. The bigger kids can help show the little kids how to do stuff... especially those dance moves!!

Musical Travelog

We'll sing songs about different states, cities, regions, rivers, mountains, and roads... with a map to point out where each song takes place... and tell some stories about the people and the places from the dozen years I lived on the road.