Winter days are short and indoor time can be long when you have little kids, but Ah Haa knows how to help you enrich that carpet time with fun and education. Two upcoming parent-child classes, Kindermusik and yoga, tap into children's natural affinity for music and movement while giving parents meaningful ways to while away the winter hours with their kids.

From newborn babes to warp-drive toddlers, Kindermusik, starting Jan. 18, offers age-appropriate, parent-friendly music education activities that tap into a form of expression we are born to love. This winter features the Kindermusik Village: Cockadoodle Moo for infants newborn to one year and Kindermusik Our Time: Away We Go for toddlers ages 1 to 3.

Taught by local music diva, veteran teacher and certified Kindermusik instructor, Ulli Sir Jesse, Kindermusik offers a way to connect with your kids from birth on.

"Kindermusik enhances the bond between parent and child," Sir Jesse said. "In these years when language is just beginning, music can help you get to know each other on a deeper level. The system uses a scaffolding approach, which means the parents follow whatever the kids come up with, which encourages parents to tune in to non-verbal communication – something we don't naturally do as adults."

Kindermusik fun easily transfers to the home with the wonderful set of musical materials, giving parents enjoyable enrichment activities that can become part of the home routine.

If you have a toddler who is all about moving about, consider channeling that energy into Parent and Child Yoga starting Jan. 23 with Marie Green. A dancer, Green started practicing yoga while pregnant and has incorporated this ancient movement practice into her child rearing, with wonderful results.

"Not only does yoga help me be more patient with my children, but it helps my children develop with better balance and confidence," said Green. "Plus, they love it. We spent a year in Sweden and my children did all these classes, but yoga was the one they looked forward to the most."

Many of the yoga positions have animal names – frog, donkey, dog, cat, cow – which Green says children relate to right away. Embedded in the fun, however, are benefits for the body as young bodies begin to absorb the yoga positions and implant them in the muscle memory. Along the way, confidence and well-being are cultivated, as well as meaningful time with their parents.

For more information about these and other classes, call Ah Haa at 728-3886.