The Most Beautiful Songs

ABOUT THE BOOK
FAMILY ACTIVITIES

Safa Amer, illustrations by Insaf Haj Yaseen

Music fills the world. People everywhere listen, dance, sing and make music with what they have. The story celebrates music and its power to bring joy to the hearts of people.

Family Activities

Music surrounds us from the moment we are born, and accompanies us wherever we go. It is present in the voices of people, the sounds of nature, and of the moving world around us. We are affected by music and we express our different feelings using it as well.

Video

Dear Parents,

Singing is a first language between a child and their family. We sing lullabies for our children and play with them using songs that are accompanied by movement. This makes them laugh and become happy. At an older age, children enjoy collective singing that enhances their sense of participation and communication, and gives them great pleasure. The child who is raised in a family and social environment that values music and encourages singing, develops their abilities to listen, and to invent various forms of musical and lyrical expressions of their thoughts and feelings.

“The Most Beautiful Songs” is a book that celebrates the music in our lives and invites us to create it.

Family Activities

We can chat with our child about the song(s) he or she likes, and sing it together.
In the repeated readings of the story, we can stop at each scene and repeat the song with the movement: we can tap on the bottles, and bang on the pots, etc.
Together, we can listen to songs with different melodies, rhythms and in different languages. We can encourage our child to talk about how they feel when they hear each song, even if they do not understand the words.
We can collect musical instruments (if we can find any) or other home instruments that make sounds; Kitchen utensils, small bells, wooden spoons, and more. We can then sing a song we love together and use our musical creations!
We can prepare a workshop to make simple musical instruments. Here are some ideas:
• Cardboard cylinders that are sealed at both ends, with beads, chickpeas, or beans inside, make excellent sounds!
• We can cover the small milk cans with rubber rings of different thicknesses (or scrunchies), and we get stringed instruments.
• Cardboard rolls in the shape of a cone can be used as mouthpieces for children to blow into.
Children of this age will enjoy songs accompanied by movements or games. In addition to what is available commercially, it is interesting to recall popular songs that are accompanied by a game or song, such as: “this is how the fish swim,” and others.
Have fun singing!

الموسيقى جزء لا يتجزأ من حياتناـ وهي موجودة حولنا كما الهواء. تبدأ بأصوات الطبيعة والأصوات الصّادرة عن الأجهزة التي نستخدمها، وتنتهي بالموسيقى الصادرة عن أدوات العزف. يحبّ الأطفال الموسيقى ويستمتعون بالغناء الفردي والجماعي.