Spotlight: Monkey Around at Monkey Music 'n Play

This week my 2-year-old music critic and I went to a trial of Joannas ‘n Bananas’ weekly Monkey Music ‘n Play class. This new program is popping up in locations around Westchester from Joanna Levine-Pawlings, a local musician and music educator.

The 45-minute classes focus on singing, rhythm, and movement and are led by Joanna. Ours started with drum playing, which was a big hit (no pun intended) for our eager learners.

We also sang a song about snowflakes where we threw scarves into the air and waved them around. The songs were a variation of original songs by Joanna on instrument or a capella and old hits played on a speaker. A kid favorite, those trusty egg shakers, made an appearance, and we did freestyle dancing to “Boogie Shoes” by KC and The Sunshine Band. The other students, most of whom were obediently sitting in their caretakers’ laps, were just as transfixed by the original songs coming from Joanna’s guitar as my own, who was excitedly trying to strum it too.

My toddler enjoyed running around the room to a “stop and go” song. My little one is constantly on the move, and she had the freedom in this class to explore and come back to the music circle at her own pace.

One fun and unexpected element was musical storytime. Joanna had a book called “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” with moving elements on each page that she read as we sang along. My toddler could hardly keep her hands off the book, she was so intrigued by the moving parts.

The class wound down with free play with a giant pile of kid-friendly instruments and noisemakers for the children to explore.

Monkey Music ‘n Play classes take place at Yoga Haven 2 in Scarsdale, The Little Red in Dobbs Ferry, Sprout Wellness in Pleasantville, and Learn’ique in Rye. Registration is still open for the Winter/Spring session. For a free trial class, click here. Joannas ‘n Bananas is also available for birthday parties and private events. To register or for more information, go to joannasnbananas.com.

A special thank you to Total Fusion in Harrison for welcoming Baby Got Chat readers to a free trial class this weekend. We came and we sweat. I’m still sore today and itching to go back.

As always, check our website for events and weekly library programs. 

See you next week!

Andrea