Hiya, Friends!

You’ll notice my location change for this video.  I spent the weekend in glorious Woodstock, NY and was so enjoying the weather and Mother Nature that I decided to do my video outside.  I hope you all got to enjoy this beautiful weekend weather, too!

This week’s video is of a song that I do in nearly every class, playgroup and Birthday party.  So, if you’ve ever been to any one of those things with me, then you’ll remember this.  Its a fun stop-and-go song of hand clapping, foot stomping and ground tapping.  And its short and sweet!

Enjoy the scenery and the video and I’ll see you next week!

xoxo

So, here we are, 5 1/2 months into this video series and I realized that I had yet to make a video of my Hello song!

So….that’s today’s video.

“Hello Hello” is the first song on my CD, Singing & Dancing Together.  If you don’t have the CD or downloads of it, I am excited to tell you that it is now easier than ever to get.  Just click on the MUSIC tab on the top of this page website, and you’ll see the list of every song from the CD.  You can listen to samples, download a song, the whole album or order the actual CD!  I’m really excited to finally have this feature on my website!

Enjoy the video!  Don’t forget to wave hello every time I sing hello – and to stamp your feet, clap your hands and shake your whole body when the time comes!  Have fun dancing and saying hello to the day!

xoxo

Like most people, its really hard for me to recall my early early childhood.  But I do have a few memories from that time.  One of them is absolutely loving the daycare/babysitting place I went to when I was @ 2 or 3.  I have fond memories of playing with the Light Brite there.  As well as loving my care givers.  And yes, I really do remember how much I loved this song, “If You’re Happy & You Know It.”

I just remember absolutely loving the tune.  I even recall forgetting about the song until someone would sing it and then remembering how much I loved it.

Hopefully your children also have a great association with this song and will enjoy clamping, stomping, reaching, jumping and dancing along with me.

Here’s to great memories, and great songs!

xoxo

Hello Friends!

The weather here in NYC today was warm, beautiful and oh-so-sunny!  Spring is my favorite season, with Summer in second place.  Suffice it to day I love the sunshine, warm air and lighter feeling all around.  So it seemed wholly appropriate, then, to sing an ode to the sun today.  Mister Sun is a well loved Raffi song that I learned back when I was a Gymboree teacher, and it remains as one of my favorites.

I’ve added some arm movements so that your children can move along with me, as well as sing along with me.  I teach the movements at the beginning, and then appear in a box in the upper right hand corner of the screen doing the motions while the “big” version of me plays guitar and sings. Enjoy!

 I’ve had request for some of our standard favorites, Twinkle Twinkle, Baa Baa Black Sheep and the ABCs.  Did you know that all three songs are the same tune just with different words?  So, I thought I’d put them all together into one video!

I’ve got the words to each song scrolling along the bottom of the video screen, so if you ever wondered about the words to Baa Baa Black Sheep  (one for the master and one for who???), now you’ll know.  Enjoy sing-along with your children.  See you next week!

I’m excited to share this one with you, today!  A couple of months ago, someone requested that I put a certain book to music.  That book was “Subway,” by Anastasia Suen & Karen Katz (Illustrator).  I’m so happy that the request was made because I was introduced to a charming board book, perfect for toddlers and preschoolers and I had the opportunity to write what I think is a really fun song!

As a matter of fact, the creative juices were flowing even today!  As I was getting ready to record today’s video, the song just changed form.  Initially, just a “strummy” guitar song.  But when  I picked out a beat to help me keep time while I recorded the track, I found I really really liked the beat.  The song morphed from a folky road song to a groovy little dance song.  The beat gives the the song that rhythmic feeling of a subway train speeding along —  in my opinion.  What do you think?  Give it a listen and let me know in the comments below!

When I was creating my CD, I often reached into my childhood for song inspiration.  For instance, my song “Spinning Statues” is a song version of the game “Swinging Statues” that my sisters and cousins used to play in the back yard.  And Opposite Day came from a one-act play I wrote that was inspired by the Opposite Day game that I would also play as a kid.

So, while reminiscing I was suddenly struck with the memory of being held by my mother, in my bright green rocking chair.  And every night I’d ask her to sing the Teddy Bear song, again.  Thank goodness for the internet and for Google, because I looked up “Me & My Teddy Bear” and came to learn that it was made popular in the 1950s by Rosemary Clooney.  Apparently, Barney also does this song….but I had no idea!  I just knew that I wanted to record it if I could.

Ever since then, Me and My Teddy Bear has become a part of nearly every class, playgroup, Birthday Party and performance that I do.  And of course, the fun part is that I seem to fall asleep at the end of the song – every time – and the kids get to yell “WAKE UP!”  And this video version is no exception.

So grab your little one and your Teddy Bear and hit play to enjoy!

Happy Spring, my Friends!

Hope you’re enjoying the Springtime weather. What a treat!

This week’s video is for my Sing-Along Medley – the 4th track from my CD “Singing & Dancing Together“.  Its a fun “mash-up” of a bunch of your child’s favorite songs: Twinkle Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy Spider, All Of The Raindrops, Wheels On The Bus, Old MacDonald, Happy & You Know It and the ABCs.

Its pretty straight forward.   There’s not a whole lot more to say about it!  Except: Enjoy!

And enjoy Spring! I look forward to seeing you soon!

xoxo

Hey hey hey!

This week’s video is of a song that always seems to please.  Whether your child is 9 months old or up to five years old, children love singing and moving along to The Wheels On The Bus.

You’ll notice this video is about, oh, six minutes long. !!!  Over the years as I’ve done this song at parties and in performances, it seems to have gotten longer and longer.  Why is that?  Well, aside from the usual things that are on the bus — the wheels, the horn, the doors, etc. — I’ve  added some unusual guests to get the older kids up and moving such as, soldiers.  And kangaroos.  And spaghetti. (Yep, spaghetti.)  We even have a dance party on the bus!

If your child is not old enough to march or jump by themselves you can still engage with them:  have them sit on your lap while you march your feet so they can feel the rhythm and get a fun a ride; for the jumping kangaroos, hold them under their arms and bounce them up and down on their feed, making a jumping motion for them.

I hope you all enjoy the video, as well as the “dancing Nina” in the upper right hand corner showing all of the motions.

As always, I’d love to hear from you if you’d like to leave a comment below.  I’ll even take requests for upcoming videos!!

Wishing you all a great week and I hope to see you soon!

]]> http://mymissnina.com/the-wheels-on-the-bus/feed/ 1 http://mymissnina.com/goodnight-moon/ http://mymissnina.com/goodnight-moon/#comments Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:34:52 +0000 Miss Nina http://mymissnina.com/?p=223 [Read On] ]]>   

This week’s video format is a little different than the one’s before.  You’ll see me saying hello and introducing the song, but the song portion is a video slide-show of the book Goodnight Moon.  After the song, I “come back” and say goodbye.

I made the book portion of this video in the Fall of 2011 as part of my petition.  What petition, you ask?

Well, I’ve ran into some bumps in trying to get the permission/rights to record my song version of Goodnight Moon, so I created this online petition.  My hope is to get 1,000 names on there. !!  That’s a big goal, I know.  But I’m hoping that all of my wonderful fans watching the video will share the petition link with their friends and family, and that together we can easily get to 1,000 names.

Whadda ya think?  Wanna help?!?!!  Here’s the link to the petition:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/MissNinaSingsGoodnightMoon/

I hope you and your children enjoy the video.  SInging along with the book is a great for developing pre-reading skills and for connecting positive, joyful, loving and nurturing experiences to the act of reading.

Have a great week!