Frohe Ostern! April 2, 2012

Happy (early) Easter!!

I was just working on the books and songs for my next German story time, and I thought I’d share some of the books and songs I’ve found. This session has been a challenge for me, as I really know nothing about Easter for children in Germany. What songs do they sing? What books do they read? I’ve found quite a lot of songs, surprisingly, but I have no idea which ones might be typically sung. As for books, I basically just looked for books about bunnies and eggs!

So far, I plan to keep our own celebrating at home rather low-key for Aleksander. I found a fun Elmo basket for him and got some small, inexpensive toys to put in it. I also will hide plastic eggs around the house – or maybe in the yard, depending on the weather – for him to find. In each egg, he’ll find a little capsule that, when you put it in water, grows into a spongy animal shape. I thought he’d have fun watching them grow (and playing in the water, of course!). So far, Aleksander is not much of a chocolate or sweets eater. I’m pretty okay with that So one day, maybe we’ll add some chocolates to his Easter basket, but not just yet.

What kinds of things do you do to celebrate Easter?

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Back to the German story time…. Here’s a list of what I’m planning (for song lyrics, click over to my story time blog). If anyone has suggestions to add, please let me know!!

Lieder  /  Songs

• “Häschen in der Grube”
• “Osterhas, bring mir was”  (Melodie: “Häschen klein”)
• “Heute geh’n wir Eier suchen”  (Melodie: “Häschen in der Grube”)

Kniereiter  /  Knee Bouncer

• Klein Häschen wollt’ spazieren geh’n (okay, this one is really a song, but I thought it made for a fun knee bouncer!)

Bücher  /  Books

• “Osterhas, Osterhas” from the book Mein großes Osterbuch  (Ravensburger, 2007)

• Ein buntes Ei vom Hasenfranz by Ursel Scheffler & Wolfgang Slawski (Ravensburger, 2008)

• Eins, zwei, drei, fertig ist das Osterei! by Ursel Scheffler & Wolfgang Slawski (Ravensburger, 2012)

• Der Hase mit der roten Nase by Helme Heine (Beltz, 2004)

Also, for some more info on Easter songs, I’ve found some websites that have been useful:

• Die Liederkiste – Osterlieder
• Kinderreime und Lieder – Ostern
• Kinderspiele-Welt – Ostern (this one has more than just songs)

Kinderlieder April 17, 2011

We’re still listening to a lot of German music – mostly Kinderlieder (children’s music). I find them running around in my head as I try to go to sleep at night. I’m slowly learning the words, too. I really want to find some time to sit down and look up the words, so I can learn the songs properly. It’s so frustrating to know just a line or two. There’s one about the rain (we’ve been having a lot of that this month), and I only know the first and last lines… “es regnet, wenn es regnen will…” (it rains when it wants to). So now’s my chance! Here are the words to this simple song that is sung in a round:

Es regnet, wenn es regnen will
und regnet seinen Lauf
und wenn´s genug geregnet hat
so hört es wieder auf

It rains when it wants to
and rains as long as it wants
and when it’s rained enough
then it stops again

AND! I just discovered a great website resource called Mamas Truhe! It not only gives the words but also the musical setting and an audio clip of the song. Most of the songs are in German, but some are in other languages, too.

A few weeks ago, I downloaded one of Nena’s albums of children’s songs. I love her renditions of the songs! And her voice is so easy to sing along with. I chose Komm, lieber Mai. I think I’ll be getting more of her music soon.

One of our favorite songs is “Rubber Duckie.” We sing it every day at bathtime. But sometimes I continue our German time into the evening, so I needed to learn the words in German, too. I found the German version on iTunes and downloaded it. The words were pretty easy to figure out:

Quietscheentchen, nur mit dir
plantsche ich so gerne hier
Quietscheentchen, ich hab’ dich so furchtbar lieb
Quietscheentchen, so ein Spaß
Wenn ich drücke, sagst du was
Quietscheentchen, der beste Freund, den es gibt
Jeden Tag, wenn ich baden mag oder spritzen
Seh’ ich auf meinem Lieblingsplatz meinen kleinen Schatz sitzen
pitsche pitsche patsch pitsch
Quietscheentchen, du bist mein
Und gehörst nur mir allein
Quietscheentchen, ich habe dich lieb…
Quietscheentchen, ich hab’ dich so furchtbar lieb!