This week we will introduce sounds. There are a lot of ways you can include sounds in their everyday activities. One of my favorite activities is to go for a Sound Walk. Of course, one of my favorite activities is to go for any kind of walk! HA!
On your walk ask your child what they hear. Look for birds in the trees, vehicles on the street, airplanes in the sky, people talking and pets barking or meowing. You can make a Bingo card and mark off the sounds you hear on your walk.
If you have instruments in your home you can do the same with different instruments and have them identify what instrument makes what sound.
Another fun game is to make a recording of sounds they hear during their day and identify them. A vacuum cleaner, the dishwasher, water running, a lawn mower, the car engine, voices they know and sounds from the kitchen. It is fun to have them think of sounds and make the recording so other family members can guess the sounds. This is an activity they can do with family and friends they interact with on a video call and the other family members can do with them. It is an interactive activity that works well on a screen.
We will be singing songs about bells this week and next. We introduced the song Jingle Bells in class and will sing it as well as some other fun winter songs. If you have a song your child likes to sing please let me know. Frosty will be a song we will sing in January when we start our snow themes but we can add him now if your child is singing it at home.
A fun activity that includes Sight / Smell / Sound is making popcorn (or toast). If you have an air-pop popcorn maker they can see the popcorn swirling around, smell it and hear it as it pops. Then taste it! Yum!
Making toast is similar as they can smell it as it toasts, see it come up out of the toaster and hear it as it ‘pops’ up.
Cooking activities are great science activities as well as fun memories you can make with your child.
The activities this week are activities all the children can do with minimal expense and preparation. If your class is not doing the activity you may want to do it with your child on your own. Children love making instruments and interacting with different materials that make noises. Enjoy!
~Teacher Janice