Review: Maestro Classics Mike Mulligan & Sorcerer’s Apprentice (TOS Review)

 

I was so excited to have the opportunity to review Maestro Classics. It is a program I have been eyeing for quite some time, and even planned to use this current school year, but never got around to just doing so!  We received two CDs The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. 

    The Sorcerer's Apprentice is the story with music incorporated.  Much like the famous Disney movie Fantasia, this story talks of the boy apprentice who wished to be a sorcerer.  The CD includes an activity booklet. This is much more than a music curriculum, or just a nice story.  Following the story there is still more;   There is a short historical lesson in regards to the story
There are many suggestions for activities to go along with these CDs on the web, Maestro Classics has a homeschool lesson plan to turn this and the other remarkable classical music cds for children into unit studies! 
After the history portion is a clip of the March of the Brooms song.  This is great little clip to point out the different instruments heard.  We tried to identify those instruments, and match them with instrument picture cards we had.    Who doesn’t like to play along?  Break out your instruments for the Play-Along Kitchen Percussion track!  Pots and pans and wooden spoons!  What fun!   My kids had the most fun dancing around the room to the music!  Particularly to the Sorcerer’s Apprentice with their magic wand and wizard hat!     We worked on counting by and multiplying by 2s, we discussed the water cycle, the properties of water, and measuring liquids.  We watched Fantasia, talked about France/Europe….explored the Europe Geography box.  All of which were suggestions from the Homeschool Curriculum Guides on the Maestro Classics webpage!     The classic story of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel set to music makes for a great introduction to classical music as well.  The CD layout is similar to that of Sorcerer’s Apprentice, except of course, it’s based on the story Mike Mulligan.  It also comes with an activity booklet.  This CD also has accompanying lesson plans, which includes links to videos online about how steam engines and excavators work.   My boys also love construction trucks!  They loved digging around with their toy trucks along to the story of Mike Mulligan!   There is lots of road and other construction going on around our town; we enjoyed pointing out the variety of construction vehicles as we ran our regular errands.  We also worked on area and perimeter problems and watched a youtube reading of the story book.   The CDs are great because you can take them on the go!  My kids enjoyed listening to them again and again.    The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is listed for ages 6+ and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel is listed for ages 4+, however all my children (ages 3-7) enjoyed aspects of each.    The CDs are available for $16.98 each or as MP3 downloads for $9.98 each.   These CDs are a great way to introduce music into your home, whether you plan to make full unit studies or just enjoy the CD on it’s own it’s a worthwhile investment!   You can get printables we made for these units by visiting my other posts from this week! Mike Mulligan Free Printables
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