"What time is it?"

"It's breakfast time at last!!" HIP HIP HOOOOOORAY!! I've just written a new song about eating breakfast! It's going to have a "breakfast foods rap" in it and I hope to get a real rapper (not a famous one I expect, but not me, as I can't rap to save myself!) to do that bit. Anyway I'm so glad I've nearly finished writing a new song! It's been so long, I didn't think I COULD anymore!

It's raining today. I'm home alone and loving it! It's also been raining, which is a very good time to catch up on things inside. I spent 6hrs yesterday cleaning my house (which I'm not living in at the mo, my nephew is) and now it's looks sparkling clean and tidy! I like cleaning sometimes - it's very satisfying!

That reminds me, I have just finished a song, for preschoolers, called "Clean up and Tidy up" for them to put on when it's clean up time at their preschool OR at home I guess. It should be a fun song to clean up to and I'm sure will help to get the clean up done more quickly! I'm also working on a few other songs at the mo. One's called "We go to the beach", and another called "You've got food on ya face"

I'm hoping to make an action-song CD for 'up to 5yr olds' next year - it will have some of my songs from the Dragon and Dinosaur CDs but a few newies too. I'll let you know how I'm getting on.

I just ate some lollies - "Starburst Re-juiced" to be precise. I don't eat many lollies, but once I open a packet, it's hard to stop! I reckon 4 of those is enough at once - and it's better to eat them slowly, then you have more for another day AND you can share them with your friends when they come to your place.

It's getting very close to Christmas. If you celebrate Christmas, what have you asked Santa to bring you? I think I'd like................ummmmmmmmmm
................a Manager!! That's what I'll ask for! Do you think I'll get one?

I can't wait until the weather settles down and becomes summery every day. Last weekend it was so hot and I was at "Rabbit Island" (it's in Nelson, NZ), I went for a lovely swim - the water was actually still a little bit cold for my liking, but it was lovely and refreshing.

I've been in Christchurch recently and met some lovely kids down there. Have had some nice emails from some of them too, since I've been back.

I've got a good idea - if you have a grandma or grandpa who doesn't live near you, why don't you write them a letter or draw them a picture - or both?? If they have email then that's nice and easy, but writing a letter by hand can be a lot of fun too - and it's always exciting getting mail when you are an adult - especially mail that isn't a bill!

Have a happy Christmas and enjoy your school holidays, if I don't blog before then - I have a song about that.....it goes like this: "Comes in December each year without a doubt, it's like the weekend something to sing about, our work is over it's time for chilling out, it's Christmas, Christmas time"

Sausages

What IS it with the word "sausages" that's so funny???? I was watching a band last night and they said "sausages" and then all got the giggles and so did the whole audience!!

That's IT, I really HAVE to write a song about sausages! Or at least have the word in a song somewhere..........I'll get right onto it! I think it will be a song with lots and lots of "s's" in it....

Have any of you ever been to Hokitika? Well that's where I am at the moment and I love it! It's friendly, the beach is awesome (although it's not a swimming beach, but right now, it's WAY to cold to swim anyway!), walking through town it feels like you've gone back in time as some of the shops are original buildings from way back, and I can just imagine horses and carts trotting up and down.

Thanks to all you lovely kids who came to my last few gigs. "Story Time Books for Kids" in Petone, "Next Page Please" in Takapuna, St Mary's hall in Hoki. I've had a lot of fun and special thanks to Leo who made me feel so good watching him smiling and enjoying himself so much - when I get back home I'll put some photos up for you all to look at =)

That's it for now - any suggestions regarding the sausage song, please don't hesitate to comment on this blog or go to my website www.songs4kids.co.nz and email me!

Hope all your school hols went well and you did lots of fun things and slept in and stayed up late and enjoyed the break from your teachers. Be good next week!

Kath =D

Auckland

Hi everyone! Well I'm now living in Auckland for a while and really enjoying it! Aucklanders are friendly and great drivers!! I'm finding it hard to get used to the changeable weather though....

Well today I visited Bucklands Beach Primary and it was cool!! I performed with the whole school - not at once! - juniors first - we all had a good fun time; then the middles and they were lovely and enjoyed joining in; and then the seniors who were fantastic! So thanks all you guys for making my day fun =D Hopefully I get sent some photos so I can put them on my blog.

Yesterday I went to Kaukapakapa school, past Helensville. That was a lovely school too. One of the teachers asked me if I had written any songs on Medievel times (and knights and stuff!) but I hadn't. I offered to go into her class after my performances and help her class write one of their own. They came up with all sorts of ideas and together we made up a chant. Then some of the kids remembered that beat from "We Will Rock You" by Queen (you know, that "stamp stamp clap" one), so 4 of them did the beat and the rest chanted the song. It was cool!

I'm about to make a pot of vegetable soup - it's COLD today aye? I'm going to put pumpkin, onion, garlic, a tin of tomatoes, potato, parsely and anything else I can find, into it. It's really easy to make soup - ask someone to help you make some one day. Add some salt and pepper too.

Where else have I been and what else have I been doing.......I sang some backing vocals (that's when you're not the main singer but you sing some harmonies sometimes during a song)on TV3's "Sunshine" programme, for my friend Mel Parsons who's a really cool singer/songwriter who has just put a new CD out. It was fun - I've never been on tele before. Oh, wait a minute, yes I have! I was on Mainland TV in Nelson (but there was something wrong with the 'tape' and I kept getting stuck in one place for a long time! It was quite funny actually!) But I've never had makeup put on me or been live on tele until the ther day. All the people at TV3 were so nice and helpful. Maybe, hopefully I'll get on again singing my kidsongs! Fingers crossed.

I might have to go now. I'm cold and need to start chopping my veges up.

Sing loud, sing lots, smile lots and have heaps of fun doing it!

I'll blog again soon =) Look forward to your comments. Thanks Boris for your kind comment - I answered it, but you have to look at the post titled "Going Away".

Kath

Yay, a new CD!

Hey there! So finally I have a new CD. It's called "I've got a dinosaur in my back yard!" and I really have!!!See!!

There are 13 songs and a poem (written by my mum) on the CD. It's got a wide variety of songs. Some action songs; some sing-along songs, some slower songs (my favourites!) and some fun, silly ones!

The CD release party was fun! Here are some pics

Here we are "Walking around in our Brand New Shoes" - that's one of the songs from the new CD. And here's a pic of Ocean attacking T REX!!!......

And here we are just having a good time - from left to right, Rich, me, Maria, Sian and Laura - in red.

And here we are (Rich and I) mid-song with a very appreciative line-up watching. Can you see my "Bee" t-shirt? I had them specially made for the CD release party, by a lady called Catherine in Westport.

Right, well I'm off to eat corn on the cob for lunch then go to work. Its a grey old day in Nelson, but "It's Never the Wrong time to go out!" or so one of my new songs says anyway!!

Have a really good Christmas if you celebrate and fantastic school holidays. Thanks to all of you who came to my party and hope you are enjoying my new CD if you have it =D

It's been 6 months!!!

Well, it's been 6months since I wrote here!! That's a long time!

Most recently I went up to the Wairarapa, which is in the lower North Island. I performed at 5 Libraries up there. I caught the train from Wellington and got picked up at Featherston Station. The gigs were fun. Some small audiences and some medium-sized ones. At each gig I asked kids and adults to give me some ideas for new songs. Here are some of the ideas they wrote down:

Superheroes
How the world turns around and we don't fall off (I like this idea!)
Love
How to make rainbow jelly
Something about girls putting TOO much make-up on (Claudia, I agree!!)
Roses blooming
honesty
Silly people
Clothes
New friends and old friends (Good idea! I already have a song about friends)
Hope
Supercillyis Spider
With you
No one
Aren't mums and dads great (This is true!)
Lollies make me spew
Chocolate is yum
I have an alien on my head (Very interesting.....)
If you can do it so can I (I really like this idea!)

Thanks for all the ideas......I'll never run out of songs to write, will I!?

I met some lovely people up there. They werevery kind and friendly. I met a lovely girl called Te Uira. It was nice to me you =)

I also sang at a fundraising evening for "Operation Coverup". They knit blankets for orphanages in the Ukraine and Muldovia - see if you can find out where they are on a World Map or by searching the internet. It gets very very cold over there and often the children only have a small cotton cover on their beds. "Operation Coverup" give children their own warm and usually colourful woollen blanket! It keeps them warm and makes them very happy =D

I am still recording my 2nd CD. It takes a long time!! I really enjoy it though. I have 2 neices called Maria and Laura and they are very good singers. They are 6 and 10. (actually I have 4 neices, but the other two are grown up and one has a son!) They sang on "Don't Wanna" on my "Dragons Under My Bed" CD. We have recorded them singing one song for my new CD so far and they are practising another one - you might sing it at school. It's called "Seasons". I am recording a new version of it. My daughter, Sian, is now 18 and she sang "Individuality" on the Kiwi Kidsongs CD, with a boy called Theo Va'a, when she was 11yrs old and then we sang it together on my "Dragons..." CD. She is going to sing a lovely song about clouds on my new CD.

I really enjoyed the summer in Nelson! I hope you all had a good summer. I don't enjoy winter quite so much, but I suppose if it was summer all the time, I'd get sick of it. Do you think I would? Hmmmmmmm, I'm not sure!!

Well, this week I'm going over to Blenheim and Picton (top of the South Island) to perform at Schools and Kindys and also to start writing a School Song for Riverlands School. Looking forward to that!

I spent some time last week at Hira School as I am going to write them a School Song too! It's a lovely school with very friendly teachers and kids. It's a little bit country, is surrounded by bush and hills and has it's own creek running through it! They have a mud brick pizza oven and a mud brick letterbox!! I think I'll have to put those things in the song!! Don't you?

In my last post I talked about making shakers. I visited a Kindy and the Head Teacher there told me that using things like rice/macaroni in the shakers may not be appropriate in everyone's house. Also using empty toilet rolls may not be appropriate either. I suggest you ask your parents/caregivers what's OK to use and what isn't. Everyone is different, so it always pays to ask. There are lots of things outside you can use - like little stones, pieces of bark, gum nuts, acorns or other seeds perhaps. And you can use empty boxes - like teabag boxes - or cut a piece off an empty gladwrap roll, stick some paper over one end, put your shakey bits in, stick some more paper over the other end - decorate and "Bob's your Uncle"!! Have you heard that saying before? Ask a big person what it means if you're not sure! =)

Don't forget to comment, to ask me questions, to make suggestions and to KEEP SINGING!!!!

Have a happy day =D

Kath

Save the Planet and other things

I have written a song called "Save the Planet". It's about being environmentally friendly, taking care of the planet. It takes good care of us! Simple things like beautiful roses to look at and smell; a buzzing bumblebee; the clouds; blossoms in Spring; a sun shower; mountains with snow on top; rivers, lakes and the ocean to swim in or ski on! There are endless things for us to appreciate every day.

I want every school and early childhood education centre to be singing this song. I'm trying to think of ways of getting it to all of you! Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! I'll let you know how I get on.

Here's the lyrics to the first verse:

"Well there's a hole in the ozone layer (save the planet, help save the planet)
And there is global warming too (save the planet, help save the planet)
Simple things that we can do, like unplug the tele and the DVD too
And turn off the lights and the heater when we're not in the room........"



Today, when I finish on the computer, I am going to make a whole lot of shakers out of empty toilet rolls and other containers I have collected over the past year or so!! I thought I'd make up a song called "Shake It" and give out shakers to the audience to shake in the right places!! I'll have to get inspired while I'm making them! I've got glue, cellotape, white paper, colour pencils, felts, stickers and scissors. To fill them I have rice, popcorn, peppercorns, split peas, sunflower seeds, little stones from off my driveway, macaroni and sesame seeds. I have also saved some bottle tops and I'll make some sort of shakery-type instrument out of them too! Any other ideas?

I am singing at the Granary at Founders Park on Sunday 2nd Dec from 2.30-3.15pm! Come along and join me!! I'll need all the help and support I can get because I won't have Rich with me! I might have even finished the "Shake It" song!! I'm going to sing some Christmas Carols and some of my songs and even some Nursery Rhymes for the real littleys! It should be fun to have a sing-along!!

I'm also playing at the Tiny Tots and Teddys at Washbourne Gardens on Sunday 9th. Not sure of the time yet - it should be on the TDC website somewhere. I am half way through writing a special Teddy Bear song for the day and I have bought a pre-loved teddy for the occassion. My daughter wants to come and sing too, so hope she makes it!!

Well that's about all I can think of for now. Don't forget to tell your friends about my blog - I want to get LOTS of kids reading and commenting!!!

See ya out there somewhere =D

"It's Never the Wrong Time to go Out!"

The Arts Festival is over! It started with the Mask Parade! I bet a lot of you made masks and joined in the fun!! There were some really cool masks out there that must have taken AGES to make!

I really enjoyed my kid's concerts. Lots of kids and adults came and had fun!

During the first concert I asked some kids up on stage and a whole LOT of them came up! The stage was pretty crowded. We sang "Dad I Wanna be a Camel".

Flossie the balloon lady made some really really cool 'creations' with her balloons. I'll put some pictures of the concert here when I receive them.

We sang some new songs like "It's Never the Wrong Time to go Out" about going out no matter what the weather is like, and "Save the Planet" about helping to care for the environment!! That's an important thing to do. My daughter Sian, sang a song I wrote called "Changing Clouds" about lying on your back looking up into the blue sky and watching the fluffy (cumulus) clouds or the whispy (cirrus) clouds and making shapes out of them!

Thanks to everyone who came and had a good time =D

I'm off to Wellington today to meet with other Children's Song Writers! It's going to be fun! I'm also visiting a couple of friends while I'm over there. I'll also see if I can get some more shops to stock my Dragons Under My Bed CD for the children of Wellington to listen to!

Don't forget to email me your ideas for songs, questions you may have or just to say "Hi Kath!"