Sheila Ellison
Page 10
157
Musical Fingers
Age Range: 18 months and up
Set out a large piece of paper along with finger paints of various colors. Play different kinds of music and encourage your child to finger paint to it, picking the color that best reflects each kind of music and painting to the rhythm, tempo, or emotion expressed. Paint alongside your child, tapping the paper quickly to the staccato beats and letting your hand gracefully sweep the page on the slow, soft melodies. Get both your hands into the action. Feel the movement of the paint as an extension of the music. Keep adding more paint when needed.
158
Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
Age Range: 21 months and up
Toddlers are interested in body parts. A great way to help them learn the names of body parts or to show how proud they are that they already know them is to sing a song where they can act out their newfound knowledge. Here are two favorites:
Head, shoulders, knees, and toes.
Knees and toes.
Head, shoulders, knees, and toes.
Knees and toes.
Eyes and ears and mouth and nose, Head, shoulders, knees, and toes. Knees and toes.
If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands (physically clap hands)
If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands (physically clap hands)
If you’re happy and you know it, then your face would surely show it,
If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.
(stomp your feet, turn around, shout hurray, shake your head, etc.)
159
Homemade Instruments
Age Range: 24 months and up
All sorts of instruments can be made out of materials found around the house.
Paper-plate tambourines: Staple or tape two paper plates together, leaving a space to pour in some dried beans. Staple or tape closed.
Maracas: Fill a plastic container with dried beans or pasta and shake.
Drums: Tape a few empty oatmeal containers together to create a bongo drum, or tie a string around one to make a marching drum.
Horns: Find different-sized funnels and blow through them to make the sound of a horn.
Cymbals: Hit spoons together or against a metal lid.
Blocks: Put sandpaper on one side of two blocks, and have your child rub them together.
* Words of Wisdom *
We have a clean-up song—whenever I start humming it, my son knows it’s time to start picking up his toys.
—Jessica, Robinson, Illinois
160
Clapping Rhythms
Age Range: 24 to 30 months
Clapping is a fun way for kids to participate in any musical endeavor. In its simplest form, a clapping game begins when one person claps a rhythm and the other tries to copy it. It is also fun to listen to familiar songs and clap along with them or tap your hands on the floor or your knees, and stomp your feet to the beat. You might ask your child to create the rhythm of a dance by clapping her hands in whatever rhythm she likes while you dance to that rhythm. Partner hand-clapping games are also fun. Sit across from each other. Make up a clapping pattern to include hands clapping straight across, then crossing in the middle or hitting your legs. The idea is to make the pattern simple enough for your child to follow and then repeat it a few times.
161
Kitchen Band
Age Range: 24 months and up
The kitchen offers endless musical possibilities: pans turned upsidedown, plastic containers hit with wooden spoons, a wire whisk lightly strumming a roasting rack, spoons hitting spoons. Sit on the floor with various containers, bowls, pans, and utensils spaced around you and your child. Put on some music and play along with it, hitting the kitchen instruments like you would a drum set. Have other family members pick up one of the instruments and play together. Let your child play as you make dinner or do other kitchen work.
* Words of Wisdom *
Glue nickels, pennies, and quarters onto the bottom of an old pair of shoes to make tap shoes. Let your child try these fun shoes out on cement or a piece of flooring that is already scuffed.
—Jason, Cadillac, Michigan
162
Guess the Noise
Age Range: 30 to 36 months
Here’s a game that can be played anywhere. It will teach your child to listen carefully and become more sensitive to sounds. Have your child shut his eyes and guess the sounds you are making. Here are a few ideas:
Kitchen: water dripping, fork on the sink, fork on a glass or pan, putting a lid on a pan, refrigerator door opening, or microwave bell
Around the house: ball bouncing on the floor, phone dialing or ringing, or a door closing
Container rattles: Put different things into containers to see what they sound like—rice versus beans versus popcorn versus tissue, etc. Then show your child what you are going to put into the container and ask him to guess what it might sound like before actually trying it. Take turns. Ask your toddler to make the sounds while you guess.
163
Sound Count
Age Range: 30 to 36 months
Here’s a musical game that helps your child learn his numbers. Roll a die. Whatever number shows up on the die determines the number of sounds your child needs to make. These sounds can be made by clapping, humming, singing, or playing various musical instruments. The fun of this game comes in stringing the various sounds together as the non–sound making participant counts. Take turns. Help your child count the number of sounds by saying a number as his sound is made.
164
Story Soundtrack
Age Range: 36 months and up
Pick a favorite storybook that happens to have action that might be associated with a certain sound like rain, footsteps, wind, train whistles, or crackling fire. Or write your own story with some of these elements. To create rain, spray water from the sink sprayer into a bowl of water or run the shower into a bucket. For footsteps, go outside and walk on gravel, or fill a box with sand or gravel and walk in place. Create the sound of running the same way. For the sound of a fire, crumple up an empty potato-chip bag. You can purchase train whistles in hobby stores. Be creative with all the sounds you can create. Record the sounds in the order you would hear them in the book. Then, as each sound is read, you can turn on the tape. It is also fun to have the sound-effect makers right at hand so you can add them live as the story is read.
Imaginative Play
165
Puppet Play
Age Range: 15 months and up
Start a puppet collection. Keep them in a special container so they can be pulled out to enact a story you’re reading or thrown in the car to entertain on long car rides.
Sock puppets: Find an old sock. Use pieces of felt and fabric paint to create a character at the toe of the sock.
Popsicle stick puppets: Use construction paper or magazine images to create a face and body for your puppet. Glue your character to a piece of cardboard and then attach it to a Popsicle stick.
Finger puppets: Use an old glove to make a family of joined finger puppets, or cut the fingers off of the glove to create individual characters. Use felt and paint or permanent markers to decorate.
Mask puppets: Draw a face on a paper plate. Cut out the eyes, nose, and mouth. Decorate with hair, glasses, a mustache, or whatever suits your character. Glue the mask to a wooden dowel so you can hold it in front of your face when you talk.
166
Balloon Friends
Age Range: 15 months and up
Children are intrigued with balloons. Inflate a few balloons. Use permanent markers to make faces on them. Give each balloon a specific expression, name, and character trait. Attach a string or a stick. Introduce your child to the balloon with a formal introduction, “Suzy, I’d like you to meet Slick Mick, the boy who likes to do tricks.” Then let your child watch as you act out the part of each balloon. Let your child join in by becoming one of the characters. Remember to
dispose of the balloon when you are finished playing. Deflated balloons or pieces of a popped balloon are choking hazards.
167
My One Block
Age Range: 18 months and up
The joy of childhood is in the ability to see the extraordinary in the ordinary. Pick out a few of the blocks your child likes to play with. Paint or decorate them in a special way that sets them apart from the other blocks. Tell your child that these blocks are make-believe blocks. These special blocks can become dogs as you push them along the floor, airplanes raised overhead, or perhaps circus trains traveling into town. Maybe the blocks are people, animals, or magic fairies. Enter into this imaginative play world with your child—enjoy the magic of make believe.
168
Everyday Play Dough
Age Range: 18 months and up
Play dough is not just for squishing and rolling. It can help to tell a story. Think up a story you’d like to tell your child. Then take a piece of play dough and mold it into a shape of something related to the story. (The idea is to use your imagination, so the shape doesn’t have to look exactly like what you’re describing.) As the story continues and new characters emerge, encourage your child to pick up the play-dough shape and mold it into something else. It is also fun to make many shapes, one for each character, before the story begins. Below is a recipe for smooth, pliable dough. It can be stored in a plastic container for several weeks, and does not need to be refrigerated.
Saucepan
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon food coloring
1 cup salt
2 tablespoons oil
2 cups water
Mix all ingredients in the saucepan, stirring constantly, over medium heat until dough leaves the sides of the pan. Continue to stir the dough ball around in the pan for a minute, then remove it from the pan and knead it for several minutes.
169
Dress-Up Box
Age Range: 21 months and up
Today is a great day to start a dress-up box for your child. Go through your closet and, instead of discarding your old clothes, look for things that would make good dress-up items: old scarves, jewelry, high-heeled shoes, jackets, dresses, purses, and blouses. Visit antique and thrift shops for old dresses. Tell your friends that you’re collecting old bridesmaid’s dresses—the ones that will never be worn again. Make sure to put a full-length mirror up so your child can see the full effect. It’s also fun to save old makeup to bring out for special occasions. Make sure to have your video camera out the first time your daughter tries to makeup her own face!
* Words of Wisdom *
Big scarves are my daughter’s favorite playtime accessories. We dance with them, make costumes, tie them together to connect us like train cars, play peek-a-boo with them, and more. I even carry a few in my diaper bag.
—Margaret, Asheville, North Carolina
170
Mail Play
Age Range: 21 months and up
Whenever you are out and about, point out to your child how the mail gets delivered. Show him your mailbox, introduce him to the mail deliverer, and visit the post office. Then, use an old shoulder bag and fill it with junk mail. Sort the letters by size, putting them into paper bags or boxes. Deliver the mail to your mailbox. Go back in the house, then be yourself and go out and collect the mail. Let your child open the junk mail, look at the pictures, and throw out the opened envelopes.
* Words of Wisdom *
My son and I challenge each other to cleaning races. We see who can get the task done faster—my dishwashing or his trains being picked up, for instance. No matter who gets done first, we both win.
—Leanne, Westchester County, New York
171
Felt Characters
Age Range: 21 months and up
Materials
Cardboard
Felt
Scissors
Glue
Cut various oval and circular shapes out of cardboard to use as faces. Cut flesh-colored felt to fit the shape of the cardboard and glue it to the cardboard. Make all sorts of facial features: eyes, noses, mouth, mustache, glasses, hair, ears, eyebrows, or anything unusual you can think of. Use the felt board face as the base to make up characters for stories you might tell.
* Words of Wisdom *
My daughter used to get frustrated coloring pictures with crayons because the crayon tips were so thick. I bought her colored pencils, and now she enjoys coloring much more.
—Kathleen, Corona, California
172
Disguises
Age Range: 24 months and up
Kids love to play with disguises. Thrift stores carry a variety of cheap options: the big, soft clown nose, plastic eyeglasses with a nose attached, mustaches, and beards. Or you could try to make a few of your own.
Goggle eyes: Make crazy glasses out of pipe cleaners. The design options are endless; try spiral lenses, antennae, or embellish with cotton balls, tiny pom-poms, fringe—anything gaudy and fun. Try them on together in front of a mirror and act silly! You could even hold a photo shoot.
Paper plate masks: Make these wacky and fun—they don’t have to look like anything in particular since their purpose is to disguise your face.
Veils: Take a headband and attach tulle, ribbons, and other decorations.
Animal paws: Fabric paint a footprint for an animal onto an old sock and slip it over your child’s hands.
173
Masking-Tape Madness
Age Range: 24 to 30 months
Masking tape is one of the most useful supplies for make-believe play. Simply by putting a piece down on the floor, you can create the boundary of a new world, the outline of a castle, many planets in the sky, weaving rivers, or paths. Make a series of intersecting roads for cars to drive on. Then pretend you are really driving the cars; honk and rev up your engine as you pass the factories and farms. Outline the floor plan of a house (the kitchen, bedroom, and backyard) so everyone knows where to place the props and where the kids need to go when the make-believe mom says it’s naptime. The possibilities are endless.
174
A Rose by Any Other Color
Age Range: 24 months and up
Materials
Toilet paper tubes
Popsicle stick
Popsicle stick
Tape
Make your own rose-, blue-, green-, and yellow-colored glasses. Cut the cellophane into circles big enough to be taped over the end of a tube. Make two tubes of each color so they can be used like binoculars. Have your child look through all the different lens combinations—sometimes two of the same color, sometimes a different color in each eye—and see how the world around him changes with color.
* Words of Wisdom *
I have my kids paint with their papers in rimmed cookie sheets—cleanup is a cinch.
—Matt, San Diego, California
175
Voice Lessons
Age Range: 30 months and up
Toddlers are excited by all the different sounds they can make. Play with this newfound curiosity as you talk through different-sized containers, tubes, or other objects. Notice the way the sound of your voice changes a bit depending on the length and width of an object. Try using a rubber tube and letting it move around while you talk. Change the tone of your voice. See how it sounds when you stand close or far away. Try a few sound effects. Whisper, shout, giggle, and hum as you experiment with your very own noise machine. Let your child talk or hum while you softly pat his chest.
* Words of Wisdom *
We never seem to buy doll supplies—just last week my daughter made a wonderful bed for her dolls out of a shoebox and towel.
—Mimi, Carson City, Nevada
176
Character Spin
Age Range: 30 to 36 months
Materials
Spinning tray
Magazine pictures
Tape
Go throug
h a magazine and find pictures of animals, people, or objects that your child could easily act out. Evenly space the pictures and tape them to the tray. Set a favorite toy on the floor next to the tray. Spin the tray around. Whatever picture stops in front of the toy will be the one your child will act out. Take turns doing the acting. Rotate the pictures once all of them have been used.
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Finish the Story