When we moved to Benicia, if you would have told me I'd lead a music class for 3 years for toddlers, pre-schoolers, and their parents and caregivers, I would have said, "Umm, no...you've got the wrong person." I'm not the warm, lovable type you might associate with that sort of thing, I don't like a lot of kid chaos, and I get self-conscious being goofy in front of other adults.
But after attending Cherubs with 2nd Brother and Sister for a year, I decided to step up and keep the program going from 2014-17. It was started over 30 years ago by some moms from our church, and various parents have volunteered to be in charge over the years. Extremely reasonable dues are charged, and during my time, that covered CDs, t-shirts, a few parties, and materials used in class.
Weekly classes are held from September - May, and each lasts for about 45 minutes. I kept everything running behind the scenes and led some songs, and a fellow mom with lots of Cherubs experience led songs too. She was up for doing whatever, so I assigned the most embarrassing songs to her. (Boom Chicka Boom and the song where you pretend to roll in the snow and do snow angels come to mind). We sing most of the songs with a CD, and a few are the same each month like:
Hello Neighbor
The "La La" Song (with puppets)
and The Rainbow Song. (The piano accompanies this one, and the kids take turns putting something that is the color of the month through our fake window while we sing about it).
Other songs are specific to a certain month and theme. The bunny ears in this pic go along with the Little Bunny Foo Foo song for April:
Here I am in circle time leading Five Little Ducks:
and Clean Up Kangaroo:
and reading a story before our Goodbye Song and stamp:
(Side note: thanks to my husband for taking these pictures when he had a morning off before eye surgery. I knew they would make me cringe, but this is for posterity or something. Other side note: we had our lowest attendance of the year during the class pictured. During 2016-17, we averaged 10-12 kids, but not this week).
There are many things I love about Cherubs. First, it's very low key. We're starting late, things seem unorganized, or you don't think I have a great singing voice? Too bad! We're just an unofficial group of people, and it's $30 for the year; what do you want? Your kid just wants to go in and out of the classroom doors or spends most of the time with a drumstick in her mouth? Fine, whatever.
Second, it's a great way for little ones and their caregivers to socialize, something that is SO needed in my experience. Those who were interested would go to a park after class too or play in the church gym if it was a cold day, killing a chunk of time with activities that weren't screen-related. Winning!
Third, I love music in general, and it's amazing how much little humans can learn from it. And fourth, Cherubs is my kind of missionary work. A good chunk of attendees were Mormon, but many were not. Hopefully being in the church building and associating with some real-life members at least dispelled some weird or negative stereotypes.
