Confetti Park Children's Workshop

Author: Confetti Park

  • Students at Arden Cahill Academy share their love of Louisiana culture

    Students at Arden Cahill Academy share their love of Louisiana culture

    Arden Cahill in the spotlight!

    In this episode of Confetti Park, we meet some of the teachers and students at Arden Cahill Academy in Gretna, Louisiana, and hear some of the original poems and essays created by students in the seventh and eighth grades under teachers Nick and Rick Mithun.

    Nick Mithun teaches French, while Rick Mithun teaches history. They are the grandsons of Arden Cahill, the woman who founded the school in 1968 along with her husband, Harry. Currently there are four generations of Cahill family members involved at the school—the youngest just enrolled in the infant center.

    Education rooted in the arts

    Arden Cahill envisioned an early childhood education center rooted in the arts, and rooted in Louisiana French culture,  in a country-like atmosphere. The legacy of her dream is fulfilled today in a twelve-acre campus shaded with oak and cypress trees along Bayou Fatma in Gretna. At the back of campus, there is a country farmyard with animals that children interact with daily, and an equestrian arena with horseback riding lessons. Music, art, and theater classes are core parts of the curriculum, and all children learn French.

    Confetti Park’s Katy Hobgood Ray interviewed Nick and Rick Mithun and some of their students, and gathered their poems about life in Louisiana. Listen

    Thank you to all the teachers and students at Arden Cahill for sharing your great work on Confetti Park! To learn more about this wonderful school in Gretna, Louisiana, and its deep focus on French culture and the arts, visit ardencahillcademy.com

  • Music Medley: Pink Carnation

    Music Medley: Pink Carnation

    Pink-Carnation-pink-colorConfetti Park is a community radio program out of New Orleans. We feature local storytellers and songs that kids love, songs created for kids, or created by kids, inspired by life here Louisiana. This medley of kids music shows the diversity of our state sound.

    Songs featured in this episode, in order:

    Also featured in this episode, a music memory from Cameron Meshell and the storytime feature Little Laveau, a magical bedtime story by Erin Rovin.

    The Confetti Park hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. It showcases songs that kids love, songs created for kids, and songs created by kids. Sparkling interviews, in-studio performances, delightful music medleys, jokes, local author storytime, and a little surprise lagniappe make for an entertaining show!

    Subscribe on iTunes

    The radio program version launched on April 4, 2015 in New Orleans on WHIV FM and is supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and Music Rising at Tulane University.

    Current broadcast schedule:

    Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.

  • Music Medley: Pirates on the Deck

    Music Medley: Pirates on the Deck

    pirateConfetti Park is a community radio program out of New Orleans. We feature local storytellers and songs that kids love, songs created for kids, or created by kids, inspired by life here Louisiana. This medley of kids music shows the diversity of our state sound.

    Songs featured in this episode, in order:

    Also featured in this episode, a music memory from Foots Quinn of Bogalusa and the storytime feature Tale of a Spitball by Ms. Chocolate.

    The Confetti Park hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. It showcases songs that kids love, songs created for kids, and songs created by kids. Sparkling interviews, in-studio performances, delightful music medleys, jokes, local author storytime, and a little surprise lagniappe make for an entertaining show!

    Subscribe on iTunes

    The radio program version launched on April 4, 2015 in New Orleans on WHIV FM and is supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and Music Rising at Tulane University.

    Current broadcast schedule:

    Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.

  • Andreas Sahar shares about a musical childhood and following the call

    Andreas Sahar shares about a musical childhood and following the call

    Andreas Sahar Andreas Sahar, of New Orleans, is a musician, songwriter, and the artistic director of Totally Square Records.  In this interview with Confetti Park, Andreas talks about his record label, about his earliest childhood musical memories, and about nurturing a love for music within his own young children.

    Wimmerpot

    From Andreas’ childhood recollections is the enchanting nickname his grandmother gave him: “wimmerpot.” He discusses this nickname in the interview… and from his website:

    “My grandmother made up the word,” explains Andreas. “Roughly translated from German, her moniker for me was something along the lines of “stewing teapot,” a reference to the constant humming I did while playing with my Legos or train sets. At four years old, music was already brewing inside my head, escaping in bouts of sonorous steam while I fiddled with my toys.” More from his website

    Totally Square Records

    Andreas discusses with Confetti Park the unique concept behind Totally Square Records, which features pop and pop rock music. The featured artists have more than captivating hooks, intriguing melodies, and tight harmonies in common—they also share a commitment to serve as positive role models to their fans.

    “What we do is we sign recording artists who agree to stay out of trouble, to stay away from all the tabloid catchers, and focus on making great music,” Andreas explains.  He then goes on to introduce some of the artists featured on the label. (Enjoy clips of the following artists from the roster of Totally Square Records in the interview.)

    • “Anamaria Angel has a great pop rock feel…She is a fantastic artist.”
    • “I’m also really excited to work with Justin and Alina, a brother and sister team. It’s amazing watching and hearing them work together.”
    • “We also have an artist by the name of Nicole Raviv, a fantastic vocalist. She was raised in Canada and Israel. She goes back all the time to Israel to put on some really big shows.”

    Outside of the label, Andreas creates his own music—which runs the gamut of styles from pop singles to long-form symphonic pieces and musicals.  Much of Andreas’ musical creativity is inspired by his spirituality. (Listen to some samples.)

    Andreas and daughter Ramona, who is already showing a love for songwriting
    Andreas and daughter Ramona, who is already showing a love for songwriting

    Passing on the love of music

    Andreas also enjoys collaborating with his children, twin boys and a daughter, on music.  Here is a song called “Rock ‘n Roll Star” that features a hook that his five-year-old daughter Ramona came up with.

    “She just started singing it and I immediately screeched to a halt whatever I was doing and listened and started banging it away on the piano,” says Andreas. “It’s such a catchy little hook!”

    Andreas’ advice to parents who want their kids to find a creative outlet is, first and foremost, let them breathe and have room to find their own passion.  And once you see their passion, nurture it!

    “Kids will have their own spark and their own interest, and you can pick up on that,” he says. “If you do see a spark, and a genuine interest, I say feed it!”

  • Kids radio show “Confetti Park” debuts on WRFA-LP 107.9 FM on Saturday, April 15

    Kids radio show “Confetti Park” debuts on WRFA-LP 107.9 FM on Saturday, April 15

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | April 11, 2017
    Contact: Kathryn Hobgood, (504) 650-1238, kathryn@bienvilleray.com

    Kids radio show “Confetti Park” debuts on WRFA-LP 107.9 FM on Saturday, April 15
    Kids variety show and podcast out of New Orleans features children’s music and stories

    On Saturday, April 15 at 8 a.m., a weekly half-hour children’s radio show called “Confetti Park” will debut in Jamestown, NY on WRFA-LP 107.9 FM.

    “Confetti Park,” hosted byWRFA-LP_logo Katy Hobgood Ray of New Orleans, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. There are skits, poems, jokes, clapping songs, brief interviews, children’s voices, and a weekly story time.

    “I hope, through Confetti Park, to showcase the diversity, depth and universal appeal of Louisiana culture, and also, to show that kids music can be really good,” says host Katy Ray. “May the families in New York be filled with joie de vivre as they listen to the stories and songs.”

    Ray, who works in communications at Tulane University in New Orleans, has a master’s degree in musicology from Tulane and is a former producer and host for Red River Radio, an NPR-affiliated public radio network in north Louisiana. She directs a children’s choir in New Orleans called the Confetti Park Players who won a Parents’ Choice Award for their first album.

    With support from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and Music Rising at Tulane University, Katy traverses her state to unearth music and folktales, local legends and spooky stories, colorful family memories and overlooked histories.

    For the weekly segment Confetti Park Storytime, she features published children’s authors as well as interviews and encounters with everyday people on the street. Children’s voices are often used to share poems, contemporary jump rope jingles, hand-clapping games and other playground chants.

    A podcast version of the show is available on iTunes.



    CONFETTI PARK
    Confetti Park is a children’s media workshop in New Orleans. We create books, mobile apps, music, videos, and special events geared toward celebrating and growing the wonder and magic of childhood. For more information, visit https://confettipark.com

  • Rosemary the Garden Fairy: How does your garden grow?

    Rosemary the Garden Fairy: How does your garden grow?

    Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

    “Follow me to the garden! Let’s check out the magic of nature!”

    Rosemary the Garden Fairy shares gardening tips and natural lore with children.

    How does your garden grow?

    All seeds need water to sprout. Sometimes rain waters the garden. You can also collect rain, in a rain barrel, to make sure you have it at exactly the right time you need it.

    Irrigation systems are another way to get the water to the plants in a garden or farm.

    After the seeds sprout, the vegetable plants or seedlings needs the right amount of sunlight. Most need six to eight hours a day.

    Other important things that will help your garden grow… keep an eye out for pests, like caterpillars and other bugs who like to eat the plants.

    Compost and fertilize when needed, and pick the vegetables when they are ripe and ready!

  • 2017 New Orleans International Music Colloquium

    2017 New Orleans International Music Colloquium

    I am really excited to be giving a presentation today at the 2017 New Orleans International Music Colloquium on “Children’s Music & Rhymes from Louisiana.” This is an opportunity to share all the really amazing stuff I’ve gathered over the last couple of years from Louisiana kids and musicians with some of our leading musicologists in New Orleans.

    I’ll be sharing photographs of the children and adult creators I’ve met from all corners of our state along with the sound clips of poems, jump rope jingles, clapping songs, and music. It should be a lot of fun!

    – Katy Hobgood Ray

     

     

     

     

  • Music Medley: Lights Turn Red

    Music Medley: Lights Turn Red

    traffic light cartoonConfetti Park is a community radio program out of New Orleans. We feature local storytellers and songs that kids love, songs created for kids, or created by kids, inspired by life here Louisiana. This medley of kids music shows the diversity of our state sound.

    Songs featured in this episode, in order:

    Also featured in this episode, a music memory from Andrew Baham and the storytime feature A Pig’s Tale by Jerica Guillory.

    The Confetti Park hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. It showcases songs that kids love, songs created for kids, and songs created by kids. Sparkling interviews, in-studio performances, delightful music medleys, jokes, local author storytime, and a little surprise lagniappe make for an entertaining show!

    Subscribe on iTunes

    The radio program version launched on April 4, 2015 in New Orleans on WHIV FM and is supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, OffBeat magazine and Music Rising at Tulane University.

    Current broadcast schedule:

    Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.

  • New Orleans comedian Mike Strecker publishes a joke book for kids

    New Orleans comedian Mike Strecker publishes a joke book for kids

    Mike Strecker is a stand up comedian who has published a series of joke books for kids. Photo by Sally Asher
    Mike Strecker is a stand up comedian who has published a series of joke books for kids. Photo by Sally Asher

    Mike Strecker is a stand-up comedian who has been performing in the New Orleans area since 1995. And now, he is a published book author. Mike recently released two volumes of jokes, Young Comic’s Guide to Telling Jokes Vol. 1 and 2, which are nationally distributed by Sterling Children’s Books.

    “The way it came about… my wife’s a school teacher, and I have a habit of coming up with these corny little jokes. And she would say, ‘You have to write these down; kids love these kinds of books.’

    So I wound up writing them down, and sure enough, I sent them away and a publisher wanted  to publish them.”

    “First I wrote 150 jokes—I figured that would make one volume. Little did I know!” laughs Mike. “I sent it away, and they said, ‘Yes, we like this. But we want to make two volumes of 600 jokes each.’”

    Whew! That’s a lot of jokes!

    Young Comic’s Guide to Telling Jokes Vol. 1Mike rose to the challenge, and spent the next few months torturing his wife and kids with experimental puns and word play.

    “I have to say, the experience was pure joy,” says Mike. “Some days I’d come up with ten, other days, I’d come home and say, ‘Honey, what a day! I did 45 jokes!’ Finally, she was like, ‘Can you turn this off?’”

    “There is a pun every where you look…. Once you start looking for them!” says Mike.

    Mike’s books came out in January 2017. Included with over 600 jokes each are tips of how to deliver jokes, which Mike developed from his 20+ year career in standup comedy. For example, a joke should always be delivered conversationally. “Act natural,” says Mike. “Don’t read your jokes from this book or any book.”

    Mike is already working on a followup, which is tentatively titled “Jokes for Crescent City Kids.”

    You can catch Mike performing his family-friendly brand of stand up comedy around New Orleans. Check out his schedule at http://openmikestrecker.com/index.html

  • Scenes from Family Pyrate Day

    Scenes from Family Pyrate Day

  • Family Pyrate Day in Old Algiers Point on Saturday, March 25

    Family Pyrate Day in Old Algiers Point on Saturday, March 25

    Family Pyrate Day
    Family Pyrate Day in Old Algiers Point

    Treasures from the Point and Family Pyrate Day – Saturday, March 25 
    The Confetti Kids Treasures from the Point porch sale starting at 8 a.m. will be followed by a day-long family-friendly celebration of pirate culture hosted by Confetti Kids & the NOLA Pyrates starting at 11 a.m. in Algiers Point

    Arghh, mateys! It’s the first annual Family Pyrate Day in Old Algiers Point, a family friendly event celebrating pirate culture in New Orleans.

    Join Confetti Kids, Confetti Park and our mates of NOLA Pyrate Week for a swashbuckling good time on the Mississippi River in Algiers Point. SEE MAP There will be storytellers, musical performances, a pyrate market and cafe…games, demonstrations, and crafting, too.

    Storyteller-LineupConfetti Park Storytelling Stage

    You can look forward to the sea shanties of The Whiskey Bay Rovers and the Confetti Park Players, and pirate tales spun by authors such as Dianne de Las Casas, John Couret, David Ray, Erin Rovin, Ol’ Chumbucket, Sam Staley, Zachary W. Mohr, and crafting with Karen Konnerth of Calliope Puppets.

    Lots more piratical fun

    Next door to the kids pirate cafe at Warren’s Corner at 601 Patterson is the 21+ pirate tavern, the Old Point Bar. There will be fun along the river all the way down to Larkin Playspot, including pirate merchants, magicians, historians, nautical knot lessons, and a neighborhood-wide treasure hunt co-sponsored by Hubbell Library. And it’s all coinciding with the Treasures from the Point sale of the century in Algiers Point (beginning at 8 a.m.)

    NOLA-Pyrate-Week-LOGO-2017-1280Take what you can, give something back

    All proceeds from Pyrate Day food sales, garage sales, and donation buckets go to building a new children’s park in Algiers. Want to help in other ways? Bring your old instruments to donate to children. The Hungry for Music bus will be parked at 601 Patterson to take donations! And bring canned food for the Algiers Point Lil Free Pantry and take a “pigture” with Coco the Pirate Pig!
    More information about Family Pyrate Day

  • Music Medley – Beets at the Door

    Music Medley – Beets at the Door

    Beets with facesConfetti Park is a community radio program out of New Orleans. We feature local storytellers and songs that kids love, songs created for kids, or created by kids, right here in Louisiana. This medley of kids music shows the diversity of Louisiana musicians.

    Songs featured in this episode, in order:
    Woody, Lead Belly & Pete – Ph Fred
    Pig Latin Song – Lead Belly
    Woodpecker – a poem by Nola Frazier
    Lost in the Library – Judy Caplan Ginsburgh
    O’Guillori – Michael Doucet
    This Old Man – The Swing Setters
    Goodbye in the Bayou – Jazzy Ash

    Also featured in this episode, a music memory from Layla Isis and a story called Dixie the Old Dog by Tommie Townsley.

     

    The Confetti Park hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. It showcases songs that kids love, songs created for kids, and songs created by kids. Sparkling interviews, in-studio performances, delightful music medleys, jokes, local author storytime, and a little surprise lagniappe make for an entertaining show!

    Subscribe on iTunes

    The radio program version launched on April 4, 2015 in New Orleans on WHIV FM and is supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, OffBeat magazine and Music Rising at Tulane University.

    Current broadcast schedule:

    Community radio stations, interested in carrying Confetti Park? Contact Katy Ray.