Do you remember the PBS show “Romper Room?”

The milk and cookies?
The “Do Bee?”
The Magic Mirror?
Yeah, I need to talk about that….

When I was four, I didn’t even *like* Romper Room that much.
But I obsessed over that Magic Mirror at the end!

If you don’t recall, Miss Molly would look through the kaleidoscopic Magic Mirror, and recite:   “Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic Mirror, tell me today, have all my friends had fun at play?”

And then she would list the names of the children watching at home.  Like me.

And I waited, and waited, and waited for my name.
It.  Never.  Happened.

Really?  “Joe-say?”  But no Kathleen, never?
My childhood was very disappointing.

(Ironically, “Kathleen” is the very first name listed on Wikipedia’s synopsis of the show.  Too little, too late, Romper Room!!!)

I’ll get to the point:  I vow to NEVER LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN.  So I begin every preschool class by singing a personal greeting to each child!

First, and most importantly, it helps me to learn all of their names.  It helps engage them, and transition from classroom time into music time.  They wait so eagerly to hear their names, just as I did.  And they *love* to correct me if I forget anyone.  Seriously — class screeches to a halt until they are sure that everyone has been included.  Which is wonderful!

We also greet all of our teachers and aides… and yours truly, Ms. Kat herself….

And here’s the part you might be familiar with:  We sing our song again (and again, and again), replacing all the words with “meow, meows!”

We meow, meow  fast.
We meow, meow  slow.
We meow, meow  loud.
We meow, meow  soft.

We meow, meow like mama cats, daddy cats, big-kid cats, and baby cats…. and most recently, like race-car cats.  I’m not sure I can adequately explain that last bit.  Maybe I’ll post a demo video instead.  🙂

In the meantime, here are the super-simple lyrics to Ms. Kat’s Hello Song!

                         Hello to __________,  hello to __________,
                         Hello to __________,  hello to __________.
                         Hello to __________,  how do you do?
                         Hello to me,  hello to you!

Ideas for Caregivers:

• At a party, a playdate, or a family gathering — sing Ms. Kat’s Hello Song to each guest!  Or, at home, to a collection of favorite dolls and stuffed animal friends.
• Trying to kill time in a waiting room?  Sing Ms. Kat’s Hello Song to all of the furniture in the room.
• Long car ride/unexpected traffic jam?  Take turns singing Ms. Kat’s Hello Song to everything outside the window.
• Test your child’s melody memory by replacing the words to favorite songs (e.g. “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”) with meow, meows, and see if they are able to identify the songs!

Until next time, well… Goodbye!
Meow, meow!

Edit:  Here’s a recording of the song!