Click here to edit title

In Cuddle & Bounce, a joyful first Kindermusik experience, parents and their newborns, infants, and crawlers engage in instrument play, dance, exploration time, and together time. As they do so, they strengthen critically important early parent-child bonds; learn about their babies’ early development, fine-tune their baby-communication skills, and receive expert advice and parenting resources based on the most recent research in early childhood development. Welcome to the magic time of life, that all-too-fleeting first chapter of life when miracles happen daily!

Cuddle and Bounce is designed for babies and one year olds.    Each class meets for 45 minutes once weekly, and is for child and caregiver together.   As baby’s best teacher, each parent takes the lead in interacting with her baby as they play, sing, and dance together during all the Cuddle & Bounce activities. We will have a new unit each month, with different songs, themes, and activities for you and your child to enjoy!

The Kindermusik Cuddle & Bounce class includes many different lesson components. Each class is organized to flow comfortably and to meet the developmental needs of a baby in the first year of life and his or her caregiver.

Lesson Focus

Each lesson features a specific learning focus that is experienced, talked about, and discovered 

throughout the lesson. The Lesson Focus is centered on baby’s development in the various learning 

domains. Music and movement are the primary vehicles for delivering the focus. 

Gathering Time

Gathering Time is a planned part of each lesson. It includes the time that babies and caregivers are 

arriving and getting settled, and comprises the first few minutes of class time. The purpose of Gathering Time is to help parents and babies settle in and acclimate to the class environment, so please don't assume we are starting class late!  During Gathering Time, parents and babies have the opportunity to explore thoughtfully chosen objects and instruments, often items that have been explored in class during a previous lesson.  Talking, sharing, and socializing are encouraged!

Hello and Goodbye Rituals:

The Hello and Goodbye Rituals are the Kindermusik class “bookends.” These rituals offer a predictable beginning and ending to the Cuddle & Bounce class experience. They signal to adults, and will eventually signal to babies, that it is time to transition into or out of class. Addressing each baby by name during these rituals will enhance baby’s self-awareness as well as his connection to and comfort in class. 

Bonding Activities

Bonding activities are sprinkled throughout each lesson to allow baby and caregiver to get face-to-face, make eye contact, and focus on one another. These activities are often a bit quieter and more subdued than other activities, so that baby and caregiver can focus on one another with limited distraction. Your Kindermusik educators will “step back” quietly and observe during bonding activities, and truly allow the adult/baby bonding to take place. The following types of activities often serve as bonding activities:

• Intentional Touch
  
• Rocking
  

• Vocal Play
  
• Fingerplays/poems
  
• Lap Bounces
  
• Tummy Time
  
•  Singing
  

Tummy Time

Tummy Time gets adult and baby face-to-face and bonding while baby is in the prone, or tummy-down, position. It occasionally includes an instrument or a prop. This position strengthens baby’s head, neck, back, and core muscles, and stretches the muscles located in baby’s abdomen, chest, and front of the hips. Tummy Time, and the strength it brings, helps to provide a good foundation for rolling and crawling, baby’s first big motor milestones. It also provides baby an alternate orientation in space. With a caregiver face-to-face and providing encouragement, baby will be motivated to continue in this position. 

Listening

Listening activities provide baby with the opportunity to hear a variety of both live and recorded sounds,including many different musical styles and timbres. Listening activities help to build baby’s sound repertoire and attentive listening skills, and they motivate adults and babies to engage each other in vocal play. 

Instrument/Object Play and Exploration

These multisensory activities provide time for baby to discover and engage with instruments and 

objects. How does a baby explore an object? She watches, grasps, mouths, shakes, rolls, transfers, and drops the object, and experiences the effects of those actions upon the object. Through exploring instruments and objects, baby comes to understand the physical properties of these objects and how to further interact with them—and with other objects she will encounter in the future. 

Instrument Play-Along

The Instrument Play-Along helps baby experience a steady beat through bouncing, patting, moving, and playing instruments to the beat—all while baby continues to explore the instrument. This activity often follows an Instrument/Object Play and Exploration.

Movement

Baby learns through moving and being moved through space. Movement stimulates baby’s vestibular system, strengthens his muscles and joints, and causes connections to be made in the brain. The wide variety of movement activities in Cuddle & Bounce provides an optimal learning experience for baby. Movement activities take the form of:

• Lap bounces
  
• Free dances
  
• Baby exercise
  
• Partner and group dances
  
• Movement with props
  
• Rocking and swinging activities
  
• Riding type activities
  

Singing

Singing activities provide a joyful musical setting for baby and caregiver during class, and encourage baby to engage in joyful, spontaneous singing as he grows and interacts with the world outside of class. 

Vocalization

Vocalization activities aid baby’s language development. In these activities, adults nurture baby’s 

spontaneous vocalizations and then intentionally imitate baby, thereby inviting him to vocalize back 

again. It’s the birth of conversation!

Literacy Activities

Literacy activities in Cuddle & Bounce include the examination and reading of board books, sign 

language, and both spoken and sung language. These activities stimulate baby’s interest in words and communication, and nurture his vocabulary development. They grow baby’s love for books and the printed word. And they develop a repertoire of sign language that can be used throughout baby’s daily life.

Relaxation

Relaxation activities include rocking, quiet time, bonding, and bubbles. These calming activities help

baby learn to regulate herself with the support of an attentive caregiver