Our children have so many things dictated to them on a daily basis. “Brush your teeth”, “Put a jersey on”, “No, you can’t”, “Yes, tomorrow” (with please and thank you of course hehehe)

That is why I think it is fantastic when an opportunity comes up where the children get to call the shots.

This morning, my daughter saw my ukulele and wanted me to play the “ew-guitar”. Since, I was looking for any excuse to procrastinate from doing the housework, I happily obliged.

After singing some songs, my 3 year old started singing a song I didn’t know how to play. I quickly googled it, and found this great instructional video on how to do some cool strumming to “Are you sleeping?” or “Frère Jacques” or “Porowhita” (A great song about the shapes in Maori. Sung to the tune of “Frère Jacques”. Porowhita x2. Tapawhā x2. Tapatoru x2. Manawa x2. Meaning: Circle x2. Rectangle x2, Triangle x2, Heart x2)

So, as we were singing the “Porowhita” song and “Are you sleeping”, my daughter decided she wanted to control the volume of the singing:

HAND UP: LOUD

HAND DOWN: QUIET

Pretty simple…but OH how she loved it! (Let’s just say, I was able to get some good practice with my strumming)

Other ideas:

Make your own instruments, and play them loudly and quietly: Tissue guitar, Rice filled maracas, Pot/Bowl drums, Cardboard tube trumpets etc etc.

Try it with no instruments and just sing loud and sing quietly.

Change the tempo to the music. FAST: WAVE HAND AROUND FURIOUSLY and SLOW: NICE GENTLE MOVEMENTS

Enjoy!

Want to start playing the Ukulele?

EQUIPMENT:

Some ukuleles are not expensive. I would highly recommend getting it from a music store. You could easily pick one up for around $30-$50NZ.

LESSONS:

I went to a 2 hour Playcentre Ukulele workshop a while a go. We were taught 3 chords (C, G7 and F) and were given a list of songs using those chords. It was so much fun!

I wouldn’t be able to join the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra…but I can play a few children’s tunes which is great!

If you do a search online, and on YouTube you should be able to find some good tutorials.

Here is a link to some easy songs to try once you master a few chords:

http://guitar.suite101.com/article.cfm/kids_learn_5_ukulele_songs_in_the_key_of_c

HELPFUL ACCESSORY:

If you don’t think you could tune a ukulele by ear, I would really recommend buying a clip-on Tuner for your Ukulele. Cheaper ukuleles often “slip” and go out of tune, so it is handy to have this electronic clip-on tuner so you can check it whenever you get your ukulele out to play.

You just attach to the end of your ukulele, strum one string, and adjust the pegs. Then the tuner will light up when it is in tune. SIMPLE!

Ukuleles are said to be the new “recorder”, and have been introduced to schools as part of their music curriculum. You can understand why, the kids have so much fun with it!

Come play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up