Animal Week at Rainbow Songs is Coming! 

We’re halfway through the Fall term at Rainbow Songs – which means it’s nearly time for ANIMAL WEEK! Come sing songs about your favourite creatures with us – from Nov 19 to 24.  You can DRESS UP in costume this week too. Children and adults alike are encouraged to wear animal costumes and bring their favourite stuffies to class. Don’t worry if you don’t have an animal costume – we have lots of great animal hats, masks and more to share with any child who would like one.

Mom and tot in animal costume

Rainbow Songs Classic Elephants Have Wrinkles is a great Action Song for Any Age!

In our music class, we’ll be singing along to kids songs like Elephants Have Wrinkles. This fantastic kids’s song incorporates actions to help you have fun together with your child, while simultaneously building language and social skills.

Children of every age can join in! Here are some ways to do Elephants Have Wrinkles actions with your child, no matter what age or stage they are at:

Baby:

• Help your baby lie on their back (if they’re comfortable doing so)
• As you sing about different body parts, point them out on your baby’s body
• This helps with face-to-face interactions and identifying body parts!

Toddler:

• When you sing about different body parts, point them out on your own body
• Encourage your child to do the same themselves
• If they still need help doing some movements, you can always help them along

2-4 Years:

• Trying doing a dance together!
• Point out the body parts as you go along and encourage your child to be creative with their dance moves

Continue reading →

Announcing an awesome deal for Rainbow Songs families!

Do you know Scooter Girl Toys? It’s THE well-known and awesome Roncesvalles toy store, just down the road from Rainbow Songs on Roncy! We love their great collection of toys, wonderful selection of books and all the fun extras they stock for babies and kids!

Enroll in the Winter Session music classes at Rainbow Songs and get a Scooter Girl Discount!

We’re super excited to announce that participants enrolled in Rainbow Songs Winter 2019 Session classes (January 7-March 9, 2019) will get a special 15% discount at Scooter Girl Toys! And yes, that applies to enrollment at any Rainbow Songs location across the GTA. We’re pretty confident that if you’re attending a Rainbow Songs class, you’ve got little kiddies in your life who would appreciate all the fine, fun toys & books that line the shelves at Scooter Girl. To claim, login to your rainbowsongs.com account on your phone while in the store, and show the staff your dashboard (with Winter term enrollment info).

It’ll be a cold and dreary January, but take some music classes and make some toy store visits during the winter months and it will definitely brighten your day (because, seriously fellow Canadians, we should really embrace this hygge business and plan good things for those dark winter months). Continue reading →

Singing is good for both baby and you!

At Rainbow Songs we hear from lots of parents that they love our classes as much as their children. Parents love the guitar-led classes, the beautiful voices of our teachers and our engaging curriculum. They also express how much fun they have in their music class. Parents say that the also enjoy singing our songs with their children at home.

Singing to you baby is good for you and your child!

These experiences reinforce what we know to be true: music is a great learning tool for your baby, but it also has many benefits for adults!

Here is our Top Five list of benefits of singing for both baby and you:

Benefits of singing for your baby

• Teaches listening: Singing helps babies learn how to distinguish sounds and identify repeated words. Infants recognize the melody, rhythm and meter of a song before they understand the words.
• An Expression of Love: a parent’s voice is recognized and loved by a child. Singing is a calming, nurturing and bonding experience.
• Lots of Learning: Kids’ songs will teach your baby about the world around them -body parts, days of the week, colours, numbers, opposites, language, family, people. As well, music and songs are connected to all many developmental milestones – cognitive (language, math), movement (sign language, actions, tying words to objects), emotional and social (bonding with Mom, Dad, grandparents, siblings, everyone!)
• Falling asleep more easily: Your baby loves your voice more than any other sound. Singing lullabies to them is a great way to surround your child with love and comfort. Having a bedtime song as part of your nightly routine is an effective and gentle way to signal to your child that it’s time to sleep.
• Cause and Effect: Songs with  progression (counting, different words added every verse) help babies to know what is coming next.

It’s so much fun music making together!

Benefits of singing for you

• It feels good! Singing releases dopamine (the feel-good hormone), which improves one’s  mood and reduces stress levels & anxiety
• Improves sleep Singing increases lung capacity and therefore gets oxygen flowing through the body. This helps promote deeper and more restful sleep  – especially important for parents of newborns experiencing sleep interruption.
• Good for your body: Singing slows down your heart rate, decreases blood pressure and helps you to relax
• Tools to get through the day: The days are long but the years are short! Using transition songs to signal the start or end of everyday activities (time to clean up, time for a bath, songs about food) helps ease your child through your routine and makes parenting easier
• Bonding with your child: Singing together as a family brings everyone closer. Whether it is siblings, parents, grandparents or other loved ones, making music together is a fun and intimate way to interact.

We hope you continue to enjoy singing with your little one at Rainbow Songs and at home!