Today's jbrary blog had a great instructions for a Lady Bug Flannel Game.
It reminded me of a counting song that had a very catchy beat which I adapted and recorded with my friend Rahel. I love using this song along with a set of Lady bug finger puppets purchased years ago from Folkmanis. I have posted the song below. Feel free to use it!
On another note, on Wednesday, Mother Goose on the Loose, LLC launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a Mother Goose on the Loose Home Kit. I thought this would appeal to everyone, and with just a small donation from a lot of people, we would reach our goal. After just a few days, we've had some sizeable donations and lots of "likes" with personal emails congratulating us on the site, but it seems the crowd funding response I envisioned isn't there.
It's disappointing. I know there are tons of people who have a very personal and passionate connection with Mother Goose on the Loose. But, I did not realize that the love for the MGOL program might not translate into enthusiasm about a Home Kit for parents that would enable moms and dads to use the same bells and scarves from the MGOL sessions at the local library with their children at home.
We are not professional marketers, and only learned after our campaign had launched that we should have sent out press releases and pushed for lots of publicity. It's too late for that, now. We've sent out some press releases but since the site is already live, the punch behind the opening is gone.
I'm an optimist, so there is still the hope that our site will come to the eyes of someone who falls in love with the idea of a home kit. And, since people have been sharing the link for the Kickstarter Website, more people are learning about Mother Goose on the Loose. Just yesterday, and old camp friend who I haven't spoken with in about 40 years called and inquired about bringing Mother Goose on the Loose sessions into low-income housing community centers in his area. What a wonderful development!
If you have a chance, please have a look at the site: http://kck.st/1Uiyqt3
If you would like to donate something, that would be great.
But whether or not you choose to donate, please share the link with others, in order to spread the word about Mother Goose on the Loose.
We know that the early years are extremely important for young children, and that positive early experiences make a big difference in children's lives. MGOL is a program that is easy to learn and easy to present. So much research is being done now about the importance of the early years, and emphasis is being placed on best practices such as talk, sing, read, write, and play. Mother Goose on the Loose is a program that incorporates the research and models the practices in an interactive way. It shows parents HOW to sing, talk, read, do fingerplays, and talk with their children, and gives them joyful experiences with positive reinforcement for doing so.
My dream is to have Mother Goose on the Loose expand beyond the library world, to become a tool that will assist childcare providers, parents, and any other professionals who work with children. In order to do this, people outside of the library have to find out about it! So, my new is hope to use the Kickstarter website as an opportunity to spread the word about Mother Goose on the Loose, and to see which doors it will open from there.