Devondaisy Posted January 8, 2011 Posted January 8, 2011 I've just looked at the site (thank you for the link) and the beat babies are quite cheap, but I wondered if you get any information on how to use them with them, or do I need to buy a book or CD, and if so, any recommendations? Unfortunately I can't afford the course. I do vaguely remember seeing one used in a setting I worked in once, but it was a long time ago and I wasn't really paying attention...
HappyMaz Posted January 8, 2011 Posted January 8, 2011 I have the book, which gives lots of chants which are categorised as being suitable for beginners, more experienced/older children etc. I found it easy to pick up and use and the children absolutely love our beat baby sessions (I have several now in different colours so the children have to guess which colour our 'magic' beat baby will be at the beginning of each session). I haven't done the training, and I wouldn't say it is necessary to get started. The book gives helpful guidance to the practitioner, from what I remember and there are a wide variety of chants to cover lots of different topics.
HappyMaz Posted January 8, 2011 Posted January 8, 2011 Sorry HappyMaz, which book is it you have? Helping Young Children with Steady Beat - you can get it here on Amazon for £8.
Guest Posted January 8, 2011 Posted January 8, 2011 (edited) I love Beat Baby too and ours changes colour according to the weather (blue when its cold, yellow when its warm). He lives in the Book corner when we're not using him and the children play with him all the time! I use some of the rhymes from the book but have also adapted some and made some up. I've attached my Beat Baby file! Had to share this lovely story with you. Last year I used to go round pre-schools leading music sessions and the minute I arrived the children would ask where Beat Baby was. One of the practitioners I worked with observed a little girl making a ball of playdough and wrapping it in a scarf. She then sat her friends round in a circle and proceeded to pass round her 'Beat Baby' as they said the rhymes! How sweet is that! Edited January 8, 2011 by Guest To remove document which contains copyright material
HappyMaz Posted January 8, 2011 Posted January 8, 2011 I've attached my Beat Baby file! Just to be clear, Kathrynmc does the file you uploaded contain only rhymes you've made up yourself? Its just that if it contains some that are from the beat baby books they will be subject to Lawrence Publication's copyright and we don't want to get into trouble for breaching it!
Guest Posted January 8, 2011 Posted January 8, 2011 Sorry that was really silly of me, some of them are from the book, please remove it!
HappyMaz Posted January 8, 2011 Posted January 8, 2011 Sorry that was really silly of me, some of them are from the book, please remove it! Don't worry - its easily done. I've removed it now, to be on the safe side!
Guest Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 Hi, I've never heard of Beat Baby and have loved reading this post, it sounds great. 7 What age children have you tried this with? Just looking for ideas and inspiration :-)
Guest Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 It is used in Letters and Sounds Phase 1, so starting with ages 3-4 years. However I do know of a school where the older children used it too as they loved it so much, so I guess you could develop your own activities for different age groups if the children still related to it.
Guest Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 so, for a nursery setting it's more pre-school age?
Guest Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 In my LA yes, as we are really drilled in not using Letters and Sounds below preschool age. You might be able to find some things you could use the Beat Babies to support with younger ages though. They are certainly lovely to look after!
Cait Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 I don't have one. I'm not sure I want one. How does it differ from passing round any soft toy? Does it DO anything with the beat?
Susan Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 I don't have one. I'm not sure I want one. How does it differ from passing round any soft toy? Does it DO anything with the beat? It doesnt really, is your answer Cait BUT they are adorable and curl up onthemselves having a magnetic tail!
sunnyday Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 I don't have one. I'm not sure I want one. How does it differ from passing round any soft toy? Does it DO anything with the beat? Cait - they are LOVELY! Could, as you suggest, use any soft toy.....but they are rather special - ours has her own special home (a rather super box) and she only comes out occasionally (to keep her 'special') - children absolutely love her and parents are completely intrigued by their children's interest and many have asked to see her!
HappyMaz Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 I don't have one. I'm not sure I want one. Don't get one then. Problem solved.
HappyMaz Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 parents are completely intrigued by their children's interest and many have asked to see her! I am quite strict on the whole 'adults seeing beat baby' issue. I have to explain that only children are special enough to see Beat Baby, unless of course parents want to come and enjoy a beat baby session with their child... Over the years there have been quite a few issues with parents who have been concerned at their child's response to the "what did you do today darling?" question. They have often wondered about the wisdom of encouraging domestic abuse in our home corner! Seriously, beat babies motivate our children in ways an ordinary stuffed toy (or even a puppet) have been able to do. Ours comes out twice a week for small group time, and the ritual opening of the box and discussing what colour he might be today is very much part of getting children ready for a beat baby session. By the time I am ready to take him out of his box and unwrap him, the children are engaged and focused and eager to participate. Whenever there is a 'lull' and we ask children what they'd like to do, there is a high percentage that they'll choose Beat Baby and when I was thinking about what present to buy the children to mark the end of our nursery, Beat Baby was the only one item I could think of that would please every single child in our group. Ros Bayley is coming to speak at our early years conference next week, and I can't wait to meet her (and to lobby for some Beat Baby training dahn sarf!).
Cait Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 yes but I still don't understand how it's different from say a glove puppet
HappyMaz Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 yes but I still don't understand how it's different from say a glove puppet In our setting, beat baby comes out of his box only for beat baby sessions whereas glove puppets can be used for many different purposes. Beat baby doesn't come out of his box until he can hear the children maintaining a steady beat and joining in with the chant. Beat baby only sits on your lap (and therefore enables you to choose what to insert in the gap in the chant) if you are clapping and joining in. There is something magical about a beat baby that somehow reaches out to children in a way that prompts a response that I haven't seen with puppets or soft toys. Maybe it comes from the adult who uses beat baby, maybe it is more to do with the fact that beat baby sessions rely on children to supply the missing ingredient in order to complete the chant. All I know is that I wouldn't be without ours, and of all the things in my nursery cupboard I will be hanging onto my beat babies when I sell up!
Cait Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 Ah right, so it doesn't have a metronome or anything rhythmical within it. I'm not trying to denigrate it Maz, so I hope you're not thinking that, I'm trying to understand the specific appeal for this particular soft toy. So anything special and appealing to the children would work, do you think, as long as it was kept special to the particular activity?
sunnyday Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 (edited) Ros Bayley is coming to speak at our early years conference next week, and I can't wait to meet her (and to lobby for some Beat Baby training dahn sarf!). That would be fab! Cait - it's so hard to describe the unique appeal of a beat-baby but I promise there is one! My children really believe that she is somehow 'real' they all handle her very carefully......and when we have finished the beat-baby session they all say goodbye to her with such tenderness it's really quite touching! Oh have just realised that your Beat-baby is male Maz - mine is a girl! Edited March 12, 2011 by sunnyday
Susan Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 [quote name='HappyMaz' date='Mar 12 2011, 12:47' post='287113' Ros Bayley is coming to speak at our early years conference next week, and I can't wait to meet her (and to lobby for some Beat Baby training dahn sarf!). Ros Bayley is a great speaker and Im sure will keep you enthralled. Is she talking about anything in particular?
Inge Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 I do think the design of the toy is very clever... just the fact that it rolls up into a ball to go to sleep, and unfurls to join in is very appealing to the children.... we had others like Lola for listening... but the beat baby really did have more appeal than the other soft toys... and actually did not cost very much considering how it held the children's attention.. we were given ours by LEA, and had already bought one, so as others had said gave more fun as to who would be in the bed that day...
HappyMaz Posted March 12, 2011 Posted March 12, 2011 and when we have finished the beat-baby session they all say goodbye to her with such tenderness it's really quite touching! Oh yes, I forgot! We do a "1-2-3-and-pass-it-on" chant at the end of every session - whilst we are clapping 1, 2, 3 the children are kissing and cuddling beat baby before they have to pass it on. Its amazing how many kisses and cuddles they can fit into that final three seconds of their time with him! Ros Bayley is a great speaker and Im sure will keep you enthralled. Is she talking about anything in particular? Something suitably bland like 'play activities that promote children's communication' I think Susan. I'm sure that will include Beat Baby!
Guest Posted March 13, 2011 Posted March 13, 2011 (edited) Maz you should be on commission!!! I've ordered two (and will more than likely top up later!) due to your fabulous description of how you use them and that it was the one thing that sprung to mind that all of your children would love as a present (the website didn't really 'sell it' for me, though I was incredibly and pleasantly surprised at the prices) Knowing which book you started off with was really helpful as there appears to be a multitude to choose from (and I am useless at 'luxury' decisions!!) Have to admit, throughout the thread I was in Cait's camp - picking out in my mind which soft toy was going to be the 'chosen one' but having seen them (and their humble price tag!!) I could see the appeal and couldn't resist, just hope they deliver rapidly (and that I can stimulate the enchantment as well as everyone else has) The colour change caught me off guard...i was thinking there was something magical and then 'it' was revealed and I was genuinely gutted to know the truth ...please tell me the Easter Bunny is still coming edited for typo's Edited March 13, 2011 by gingerbreadman
Verona Posted March 13, 2011 Posted March 13, 2011 From your comments about Beat Baby, I decided that I would look at the website. I am a bit confused - I love the bigger Beat Baby but it only looks as though it comes in one colour - green. There are finger puppets in different colours. Which ones do you have? It doesn't look as though the finger puppets have tails that can be wrapped around themselves. Sue J
mundia Posted March 13, 2011 Posted March 13, 2011 I am so pleased this thread was resurrected. Maz you will love Ros's conference, I'm very privileged to have heard her talk many times, as she comes from my neck of the woods. Im a big fan of beat baby too, Sue J, go for the big beat baby to start with, here is the range of colours for the normal beat baby. I also have the take home one, which has a little pocket on the front for sending home messages. There's a little on why beat matters on cbeebies . I'm sure there is loads more written about this elsewhere too.
HappyMaz Posted March 13, 2011 Posted March 13, 2011 The finger puppet beat babies are designed for specific activities, I think and not for 'traditional' beat baby sessions. If you buy the beat babies from the link mundia gave, Lawrence Educatonal are extremely efficient - mine came within a few days and when I had a query over how the website works they got back to me by email very quickly. Whilst I was there I bought a 'take home' beat baby too, which our children are very excited about. Perhaps one way to start off the excitement is to think about how to introduce him/her to your children. When take home beat baby came to nursery (who is silver grey with silver flecks in the fur) our superstar of the week was asked to go and collect the post. He found a letter to all the children which we read out to them. It was from the village fairy who was telling the children about a magical creature she had seen around and about the village. However this little creature seemed to move very quickly and the fairy could never quite catch it and because the weather has been quite cold, she was worried about whether s/he was ok. She asked the children if they'd look out for this little creature, and gave a description of what to look for. She said they would know where the creature had been because there would be a trail of glittery dust wherever it had been. Apparently this little creature likes to sleep in a small box, and the children were asked if, when they found the box, they would ask an adult to come and take the magical creature inside. There followed a lengthy treasure hunt around the garden, where there was a lovely glittery trail on the flowers, fences, windowsills and so on. The box was under our wooden train, and the children walked past it several times before they found it - very exciting! Of course our children know our existing beat baby very well, so a bit of the magic was lost when we opened the box to reveal the creature inside, although they were still excited to see her (they decided she must be a girl because she has a pouch in her tummy, just like mummy kangaroos). SueJ - what website are you looking at? Lawrence Educational's website says they have five colours (although I think it only lists four). I did find another website who offers more vibrant colours (who also said that the authors insist they sell beat babies with the publications), but they were much more expensive and so in the end I decided to go back to Lawrence Educational. Who incidentally didn't insist I buy any books with them at all!
Cait Posted March 13, 2011 Posted March 13, 2011 I've ordered one, I think you've all answered a lot of my questions, thankyou. I've ordered the book too, which I'll have a thorough read of before introducing beat baby to the children. Hopefully the book will give lots of lovely ideas. I noticed in my searches that there are some on ebay, and the ones on amazon are actually from lawrence educational
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