Review: Moana: The Beat of Your Heart - A Musical Exploration Activity Book

MOANA

The Beat of Your Heart

A Musical Exploration Activity Book

Hal Leonard Corporation

Picture Book

32 pages

ages 4 to 8

Feel the beat inside you when you play along with the Drums of Motunui! This beautifully illustrated book with online music, video, and drumming allows children to discover beat, rhythm, and the sounds of Motunui's drums through activities and creative play with characters and artwork they'll recognize from the Disney movie Moana. Includes online activities such as: video read-along, audio sing-along, and activities to explore sounds and sound makers. Singing and making music provide important benefits to children as they grown and learn. EXPLORE MUSIC books encourage children to be free to explore, play, and develop musical ability at their own pace which can establish a life-long love of music.

 MY TIDBITS

Not only does this book teach about rhythm and beats, but it explores various ways to drum the sounds while having tons of fun.

This book is about rhythm--what it is, how to make it and various ways to create new sounds. At the beginning, there's a table of contents, which makes it easy to find the topic young readers want to explore because this book is packed full of ideas. From different forms of clapping to various instruments kids can easily create, these pages contain a multitude of ideas which can be used over and over again.

Moana is the star in this book, which is very fitting with her island beats. Each chapter (two-page spread) presents a quick explanation of an aspect of rhythms and then immediately dives into a 'do-it-too' section, where kids are invited to create their own rhythms and join in. Everything starts simple, allowing readers to get accustom to the idea of beats, and then evolves into motions and instruments with different sounds so that kids can make music of their own or play along with the songs and activities offered online. This is a book which can be visited time and again, and even be varied as readers can use their self-made instruments to try the exercises in various ways.

Not only do the Moana characters come to life in the lovely illustrations, but the more simple brown and white pictures which accompany the exercises make it easy to understand what actions should be conducted and how. From clapping to tapping the floor, kids will enjoy joining in and making their own beats. But this isn't a book kids will be able to visit alone. At least, not at first (Plus, it wouldn't be as fun.) Although the directions are pretty clear, young readers will need someone older to help them keep the beats and perform the rhythms correctly until they get a hang of it on their own. Especially some of the directions in the later chapters are a little too complex for younger listeners and even slightly older ones will become frustrated without the help of someone older to help them out.

The instrument ideas are mostly simple and include things often found in many households. But even these can be improvised with a little fantasy.

The online activities which accompany this book make the entire thing a real gem and let young readers feel the beats, sing and play along. Although this book might be a bit much for the younger listeners, children ages four and up are sure to enjoy it and will be drumming, clapping and beating music of their own.

All about. . .

This book is authored by a Hal Leonard team of artists, designers, writers, music educators, songwriters and music producers, and based on an early childhood music curriculum commissioned by Disney Learning. Each of these hardcover picture books includes not only a charming, colorfully illustrated story that's perfect for ages 4 to 8, but also an array of musical exploration activities. To add to the fun, additional online activities, including video read-alongs, audio sing-alongs, and more, are provided for each title on the Hal Leonard Explore Music website.

Review: Mickey's Found Sounds from Hal Leonard

MICKEY'S FOUND SOUNDS

A Musical Exploration Book

Published by Hal Leonard Corporation

32 pages

ages 4+

Explore Music! Learn music through creative play, including online activities.

This inventive story uses music, crafts and creative play to help children experience the fun of making music out of “found sounds.” The Main Street Parade has been rained out, but Mickey and his friends make their own parade as they discover items around the house that can be used to make musical instruments. The book includes special unique online activities including a video read-along, an audio sing-along, and activities to explore sounds and sound makers. Ages 4+.

Also available from Hal Leonard Corporation here.

MY TIDBITS

One cute story, and before you know it, kids are creating instruments and making music of their own. Love it!

Mickey Mouse opens up the window and realizes that it's a great day for a parade. Mickey's friends have tons of ideas for it too. But when the weather takes a turn for the worse, the parade is cancelled. Now, the friends have to come up with something else to do.

First, comes Mickey Mouse and a simple tale, which includes all of his most familiar friends. It's a quick read, only a few lines on each page, and perfect to pull into a short adventure. The only thing that's missing is the ending. . .and that's exactly the way this should be. With finesse, the story glides into an invitation for kids to get involved and make their own music instruments. While some of the instrument ideas take a little bit of material gathering (plastic bottle, glue, construction paper, etc), others are so simple that it only takes a quick run and grab (a bucket and two spoons). There are five different projects and each one is explained in detail on a two-page spread. Although an adult needs to stand by to offer a hand, most steps are simple enough for kids ages four and up to tackle without too many problems.

The illustrations are bright and fun as is to be expected for Mickey and Co. During the instructions on building the instruments, there are 'real life' photos of the materials required as well as of each step, making it clear what needs to be done. A cheerful Disney character mentors each instrument, tying the entire thing together. And at the end of each instrument's instructions is a 'play' idea, which inspires kids to use their self-made musical toy. All of this is easy to follow and the instruments are simple enough that they are pretty fool proof and will work well in even the clumsier hands.

As an extra bonus, there are extra activities offered online which accompany this book. There's a 'sing-along' where the kids can do a type of karaoke and play their instruments, and the words for this are also found toward the end of the book. There's also a couple of extra activities and even a read-along version of the full book, so kids can watch it and listen to the story too. All of these are nicely done and offer a bit of variety.

At the very end of the book, there's a note to parents, caretakers and teachers which offers a few quick hints on homemade instruments, music and how important/easy it is to slide this into kids' lives.

In other words, this book packs a lot of fun in a few pages, encouraging not only reading but music, crafting and family fun. The different aspects enable the book to be used in many different ways so there's always something new to discover and do.



All about. . .

This book is authored by a Hal Leonard team of artists, designers, writers, music educators, songwriters and music producers, and based on an early childhood music curriculum commissioned by Disney Learning. Each of these hardcover picture books includes not only a charming, colorfully illustrated story that's perfect for ages 4 to 8, but also an array of musical exploration activities. To add to the fun, additional online activities, including video read-alongs, audio sing-alongs, and more, are provided for each title on the Hal Leonard Explore Music website.