Activity Ideas

Cooked Play Dough

The Best Play Dough Recipe Ever!!!!!!

1C Flour
2T Cream of Tartar
1T Oil
1/2C Salt
1C Water
Food Coloring (optional)

Measure & combine ingredients in saucepan or skillet.
Heat on low, stirring constantly, until the mixture forms a small ball
Remove ball from skillet, kneed well for 5 min.
Store in airtight container
Will keep for a month

Drum Songs and I Use My Brain

Music Activities

Drum Songs?

Play music for the children with drum parts. Jazz is particularly good because there are often drum solos for listening.

Encourage the children to pretend they are playing the drums with the music.

Show the children different ways to make drumbeats to the music.

Hit your fists on different surfaces.

Use wooden spoons or rhythm sticks to play on different surfaces.

Play imaginary drumsticks in the air.

Using a hand drum, play a steady beat and ask the children to follow you as you move in and out around the room. As you walk, skip, hop (you choose) sing the following song to the tune of “London Bridges.”

We are moving to the drum

Rum tum tum, Rum tum tum

We are moving to the drum

Now we stop.

When you stop, sit down on the floor and sing the song again as the children pretend to play a drum.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Listen to the drums in some music and talk about if it is fast, slow, loud, or soft.

For developing the idea – Listen to the music again and pretend to play the drums when you hear them.

For moving forward – Visit a music store and look at drum sets or invite a drummer to the classroom.

?I Use My Brain?

From infancy, as babies develop, the sounds of rattles and musical toys intrigue them. Toddlers begin composing their own rhythmic patterns by banging on pots and other surfaces. A tune on the radio or television can spontaneously inspire a toddler to respond by swaying and bouncing his little body.

Here is a rhythm action poem that develops motor skills and identifies body parts.

I Use My Brain by Jackie Silberg

I use my brain to think, think, think

(touch your head with your index finger)

I use my nose to smell

(touch your nose)

I use my eyes to blink, blink, blink

(blink your eyes)

And I use my mouth to YELL

(yell)

I use my mouth to giggle, giggle, giggle

(touch your mouth)

I use my hips to bump

(sway your hips)

I use my toes to wiggle, wiggle, wiggle

(wiggle your toes)

And I use my legs to jump

(jump)

Here are some additional ideas for playing this rhythm game depending on the age of the child.

Clap the rhythm of the poem. Notice that the rhythm is the same every other line.
Clap two lines and speak two lines.
Clap two lines and stamp two lines.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence - Say the poem and do the actions with the child.

For developing the idea - Say the poem and ask the child to do the actions.

For moving forward – While holding a doll or stuffed animal, point to the doll’s body parts as you say the poem.

Babbles and In and Out

Activities for Infants?

Babbles

This game is a wonderful language developer.

Listen closely to the rhythm of your baby’s babble and you will discover that she babbles a bit and pauses. The pause is waiting for you to respond with some babble or words.

Then you pause, and the baby will pick up on that and babble again.

You are teaching the art of conversation.

Try it! You will be amazed.

When babies begin to make babbling sounds, they start with lots of “p” “b” and “m” sounds.

If you say a lot of words using those sounds, you will be helping to develop their language skills.

Sing songs starting all of the words with the same letter sounds.

Have a conversation with your baby and use the same sound over and over again.

Current research is saying that babbling is a very important sign of good language development.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence – Sing the melody of a familiar song using the same sound for the words. Using the beginning sound of your baby’s name is a good way to start.

For developing the idea – Repeat the same sound several times and then put it in a word. For example, ba, ba, ba, ba, ball. If you are using the baby’s name, say his name after repeating his beginning sound.

For moving forward – Using the sounds that your baby makes, imitate those sounds and add words that start with those sounds.

In and Out

Early experiences shape the way circuits are made in the brain.

Understanding spatial concepts like in, out, over, under, and behind are important for brain development.

Playing games that encourage this understanding will benefit your baby in future years.

Start with inside and outside. Take a large paper sack¾the kind that your cat would like¾and put a favorite toy inside. Help your baby find the toy and take it out.

Put it back in again and keep playing the game over and over. Soon your baby will put the toy inside the sack by himself.

Make up a silly song or group of words, such as the one below, and say it each time you put the toy back into the sack.

Sacky, wacky, toysie, woysie

Boom, boom, boom (say the last boom in a bigger voice)

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Play the game several times and compliment your baby each time he takes the toy out of the sack or puts it into the sack.

For developing the idea – Give him a different toy and ask him to put it into the sack and take it out.

For moving forward – Find different containers to put toys into. Perhaps a basket, a box or a bowl.

Rain on the Green Grass

Activities for Toddlers

My name is…..

This is a game that I play in my classes for parents and babies. It is very popular.

You will need a brightly colored rhythm stick. A lummi stick is perfect because of the small size.

You will also need some smiley face stickers

Decorate the stick with the smiley face stickers.

The ideal situation for this game is to have one adult with each child. That way, if the child is not speaking yet, the adult can speak for them and move their arms up and down.

Seat the children in a circle and pass the stick around one child at a time. The child who is holding the stick taps it on the floor and says "My name is -----, and I like -----." Then she passes it on to the next child.
The children really enjoy this game and also discover that they have similar likes. This game is also excellent for eye-hand coordination and language development.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence: Say to the child, “I like the way you hit the stick and told what you liked.”

For developing the idea: Ask the child, “Can you tell me other things that you like?”

For moving forward: Say to the child, “Let's draw some pictures of things that you like.”

Rain on the Green Grass

Say the following poem together:

Rain on the green grass
Rain on the trees
Rain on the rooftops
But not on me

Let the children name three things that it can rain on. For example, sidewalk, kitty cat, and windows. Always end with the same last line "But not on me."

Rain on the sidewalk
Rain on the kitty cat
Rain on the windows
But not on me!

Continue to name things that can be rained on and then put them in the rhyme.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence: “Let’s say the rain poem again.”

For developing the idea: “Let’s look out the window see the different places the rain could fall.”

Jack In the Box and Babies Love Faces Activities

Activities for Infants

Jack in the Box

Repeating a small motor skill, such as squeezing a squeaky toy, develops neural circuits that move from the brain’s thinking areas into the motor cortex and out to the nerves that move the muscles. Encourage babies to practice small motor skills to stimulate brain growth. This is a wonderful game to help fine motor development.

Show your baby how to make a fist.

Then take the thumb of his other hand and put it into his closed fist.

Practice opening and closing his hand to make a fist.

Now practice pulling his thumb in and out of his fist.

Say the following rhyme.

Jack in the box

You sit so still – thumb is in the fist
Can you come out?
Yes, I will. – pull thumb out of the fist
Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: "Can you show me your thumb? Can you make a fist?”

For developing the idea: “Can you put your thumb in my fist? (hold out your fist)

Can you put your thumb in your fist?”

For moving forward: Take a favorite stuffed toy and show your little one how to take the toy’s hand or paw and put it into his fist.

Say the poem again and play the game.

Babies Love Faces

Babies are very content when they look at faces.

When your baby sees your face, she will be happy and delighted.

Say the following poem with your face about eight to twelve inches from your baby’s face:

Hello, hello, I love you very much.
Hello, hello, my fingers they can touch.
Hello, hello, I’ll touch your little nose. (touch baby’s nose) Hello, hello, I’ll kiss your little nose. (kiss baby’s nose)

Repeat this poem and change the last two lines to different parts of your baby’s face - ears, eyes, cheeks, lips.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence: Say the poem again and give your baby a kiss at the end of each line of the poem.

For developing the idea: Change your voice as you say the poem. Babies love to hear “parentese” voices. (high pitched)

Babbles and Music & Rock-a-Bye Baby

Music Activities

Babbles and Music

When babies start to babble, they begin with open vowels (Ohs and Ahs).

Next are new sounds and combinations, with Ps, Ms, Bs, and Ds.

Sing a song using the same vowel sound for the words. A good song is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Instead of “Twinkle, twinkle, little star,” it could be “ma ma ma ma ma ma ma.”

When your baby hears you sing with the same sound, he will try to mimic you. Current research is saying that babbling is a very important sign of good language development.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence: Sing a familiar song with the same vowel sound. When your baby starts to copy you, praise her and give her a hug.

For developing the idea: While your baby is singing along with you, clap her hands together and sing with great enthusiasm.

For moving forward: Sing the same song and change the vowel sound every two lines. Starting with “ma ma” and “ dada” is familiar to your baby and is a good way to start.

Rock-a-Bye Baby
Rock-a-bye baby in the tree top
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall
And down will come baby, cradle and all

Providing warm, responsive care to young children strengthens their biological systems and help them handle their emotions. A strong, secure connection with your child will help him withstand the ordinary stresses of daily life.

Hold your child in your arms and rock him back and forth as you sing lullabies and other soothing songs, such as the following:

Goodnight, Irene
Hush Little Baby
Kumbaya
Rock-a-Bye Baby
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
By’m Bye
Sleep Baby Sleep

Use a rocking motion to calm your child and develop trust between the two of you.

After the last line of the song, hold your toddler close and give him a big hug.

Brain research says that exposure to music affects spatial-temporal reasoning. Such reasoning underlies math, engineering, and other disciplines.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence: Sing the song and rock your child in different places and at different times of the day.
For developing the idea: Sing the song while your child holds a doll or stuffed animal and rocks it in his arms.

For moving forward: Act out the song and fall down at the appropriate place.

Ordering a Pizza & Pass the Potato

Activities for Toddlers

Communication with a young child creates the patterns for understanding. Laughter, especially, helps in releasing feel good chemicals and responses in the body, thereby increasing attachment and feelings of self-worth.

Ordering a Pizza

You will need pictures of pizza.

Ask the children if their parents have ever ordered a pizza by telephone.

Talk about what information you would give on the phone.

What kind of pizza?

What size pizza?

Your name.

Your address.

Your telephone.

Have a pretend conversation with the children and order a pizza.

After you have played this a few times, you will see the children start to play this game with their friends.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence –Ask the child “what kind of pizza do you like to eat?”

For developing the idea –Tell the child that you are going to pretend to talk on the phone and order a pizza. As the child to tell you what he would like on his pizza.

For moving forward – Look at the pictures of different pizzas and talk about what others like to eat on their pizza.

Pass the Potato You will need pictures of potatoes and a large russet potato.

Talk about all of the ways that you can cook a potato…boil, fry, mash, bake, etc

Sit the children in a circle and sing the following to the tune of the song "London Bridges."

Round the circle, here it comes

Here it come, here it comes

Round the circle, here it comes

Pass the potato

As the children are singing this rhyme, they pass the russet potato from one to another. When the rhyme is finished, the child left holding the potato gets to come into the circle and pretend he is eating a potato. He can also tell what kind of potato he is eating...mashed, fried, boiled, etc.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Let the children tell you what kind of potatoes they like.
For developing the idea – What sound does the word “potato” start with?

For moving forward – I’ll name some words and you tell me if they have the same sound as “potato.” Pig, party, happy, funny, pony……etc.

Cardboard Music & Animal Songs

Music Activities for Infants and Toddlers

Cardboard Music

Playing this game will develop rhythm and memory.

You will need a toilet tissue paper tube (ARTROLL) for each child.

Show the children how to make a musical sound by singing into the tube.

If you sing "toot, toot, toot" you will make an interesting sound.

Try "toot tooting" familiar songs like " Happy Birthday" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

Playing this game is a forerunner to playing a kazoo and later perhaps a wind instrument.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Ask the child to toot a song and you sing along.

For developing the idea - Try tooting the songs in a high voice and a low voice.

For moving forward – Pick out three favorite songs and play them together. Let the child choose which song he will toot in the morning, the afternoon and the evening.

If your child is enjoying this, change to new songs every few days.

This is a great pre-cursor to poetry and reading in general.

Animal Songs

This activity encourages creativity, cognitive thinking and the joy of singing.

Young children are particularly fond of songs, games and books about animals.

The more that you sing with your child, the better language he will have and the better reader he will be.

Here are some songs about animals. Can you think of some more?

Itsy Bitsy Spider, Five Little Ducks, Old Macdonald, All the Fish, Shoo Fly, Bingo, and Hickory Dickory Dock.

A wonderful website to find Animal Songs is Kididdles.com.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:For building confidence –Sing an animal song with the child and praise him for doing such a good job.

For developing the idea - Pick an animal song and ask the child to make the sound of that animal. Now sing the song in the animal voice that the child made.

For moving forward – Make up a song with the child about an animal. It’s best to use a familiar tune like “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Here is an example.

Bobby had a little dog, little dog, little dog,
Bobby had a little dog
It’s fur was black and white.

Giggle Box & Sweet Little Bunny Activities

These games will help to grow the brains of infants and toddlers. Whether it’s through singing, dancing, cuddling, rocking, talking, smelling, or tasting, you can encourage the brain pathways to make new connections.
Activities for Infants
Communication with a young child creates the patterns for understanding.

Laughter, especially, helps in releasing feel good chemicals and responses in the body, thereby increasing attachment and feelings of self-worth.

Giggle Box

Help your baby know how special she is by imitating and mimicking her sounds.
When your little ones begins to giggle, giggle right along.

Laugh often and show spontaneous joy at what your baby can do.
Bring a favorite toy to life. Take that teddy bear or puppet and have it dance, sing, and move about. Be prepared for lots of giggles.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Let the favorite toy jump up and down while you laugh together.

For developing the idea - Do some more actions with the stuffed animal. Rock it in your arms and sing a song.

For moving forward – Give the stuffed animal to your baby and let him rock the toy or move it up and down. You may need to help him at the beginning.

Sweet Little Bunny

You will need a toy bunny.

Hold the stuffed animal in your hands and say the following:

Sweet little bunny hopping on the ground - hold the bunny and hop it up and down
Sweet little bunny looking all around - turn the bunny around

Look up high - hold the bunny high in the air

Look down low - bring the bunny down to the ground

Run, run, run

Oh, Oh, Oh, - run with the bunny

Sweet little bunny, where did you go? - hide the bunny behind your back

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence – After saying the poem again, give the stuffed animal to your child. Ask her to hold the bunny high and hold the bunny low. Move her hands up and down as you ask these questions.

For developing the idea – Hold your child in your arms and say the poem letting her hold the stuffed animal. Move her arms accordingly with all of the actions.

For moving forward – Pretend you are the bunny and do the actions in the poem. Encourage your little one to copy you.

Creating a Story

Activities for Toddlers

Creating a Story

This game will help develop vocabulary.

You will need a variety of small objects to put into a paper bag. For example, a set of keys, book, a small toy, or a spoon.

Remove each item from the bag one at a time, and create a story by adding one sentence for each item as it removed.

For example: Once upon a time there were some keys on the floor – Key
When I picked up the keys, I laid them on a book. – Book

Continue on making new sentences with each word.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Use the same words again in a little story.
For developing the idea - Put two new objects in the paper bag. Take them out and use the words in your story.

For moving forward – Draw a picture with your toddler about the story.

Can you Name?

Ask the children if they can tell you what is in their house…tables, chairs, lamps, tv, etc.

Sing this song to the tune of "London Bridge" and leave out the last word for the child to fill in.

Tell us please, what’s in your house
In your house
In your house
Tell us please, what’s in your house
Tell us …..(Lakeesha)
(Lakeesha names something in her house)

Continue singing this song about trees, animals, flowers, food, and more.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence – Can you name some of the things at your house?
For developing the idea - What do you like to do in your house at a table?
For moving forward – What does your mother do at a table? What does your grandpa do at a table?

Bumpin' Along

Music Activities

Bumpin' Along

Singing and moving together with a young child develops fun and bonding. We all have good memories that involved music.

Sit on the floor with your child on your lap.
Sing this popular folk song to the tune of "Ten Little Indians" as you bounce your child up and down.

Bumpin along in my little red wagon
Bumpin along in my little red wagon
Bumpin along in my little red wagon
Look out, here comes a bump!
(swing your child over to one side)
You can make up additional verses such as:
Oh, oh, the wheel is broken
Oh, oh, the axle's broken
I'm gonna get my hammer and fix it
Always end the song with the same words…look out here comes a bump!

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Sing the song and use the child’s name in the song. For example, “Betsy is riding in her little red wagon.”

For developing the idea - “Let’s pretend to ride in something different. Maybe a car or a tricycle.”
Let’s go riding in a pretty red car…etc.

For moving forward – Let’s pretend to ride on a train, or an airplane.(make up new words for the song)

Movement Fun and Watching!

Activities for Infants

The newest brain research says that early movement experiences are essential to the neural stimulation of an infant.. For healthy brain development, infants need to have many movement experiences.

Movement Fun

Sit on the floor with your baby sitting opposite you.
Play this game as you sing to the tune of “London Bridges Falling Down.”
Hold your baby’s hands as you follow the directions in the song.

Put your hands up in the air
In the air, in the air
Put your hands up in the air
Clap, clap, clap – clap your baby’s hands together.
Put your hands down to the ground
To the ground, to the ground
Put your hands down to the ground
Clap, clap, clap

Continue using different motor activities. Always end the song with “clap, clap, clap.”

When you feel that your little one understands the activity, add movement with another part of the body.

For example you can:

Kick your leg into the air
Move your arm from side to side
Take your legs and shake, shake, shake

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Play the game and encourage and praise your little one.

For developing the idea - Ask questions using the words of the song. “Can you put your hands in the air?” “Can you clap your hands?”
For moving forward – Give your child a toy that has arms and legs. Show her how to move the toy’s arms and legs as you sing the song.

Watching

Loving care provides a baby’s brain with positive emotional stimulation.

Think of all the different places that are good for watching.

When babies can watch things move, they are happy.

A front-loading washing machine or dryer is fun for babies to watch.

Windows that are near trees are wonderful watching places.

Sit outside with your infant for an amazing amount of stimulation. You can:

Watch birds fly from one place to another.
Watch cars moving down the street.
Watch the branches of a tree blow in the wind.

Take time to sit with your infant and watch together. Having you next to him will give him the comfort and security that he needs to enjoy the wonders of the world.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – As you watch things together, speak words of praise in a gentle voice. “The wind feels so nice.” “What a lovely flower this is.”

For developing the idea - Encourage your baby to move his head back and forth. Hold a small toy in your hand and when he is looking at it, move it back and forth.

For moving forward – Hold your infant and walk around the room or outside and talk about all the different things you are looking at.

Two Little Blackbirds and The Piano Game Activities

Music Activities for Infants and Toddlers

Two Little BlackbirdsSing or say the words to this popular children’s song as you do the actions

Two Little Blackbirds Two little blackbirds sitting on a hill – Hold up the index finger of each hand.
One named Jack and one named Jill –Wiggle one finger for Jack and the other finger for Jill.
Fly away Jack - take the Jack finger and put it behind you.
Fly away Jill – take the Jill finger and put it behind you.
Come back Jack – bring you finger back to where you began
Come back Jill – bring your finger back to where you began.

Now play the following movement game. Divide the group into two parts. One part is “Jack” and the other is “Jill.”
Two little blackbirds sitting on a hill – wave your arms like a bird
One named Jack and one named Jill – say “tweet, tweet, tweet.”
Fly away Jack – fly to a different part of the room
Fly away Jill – fly to a different part of the room
Come back Jack – fly back to where you began
Come back Jill – fly back to where you began

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence – Say the words of the song together.
For developing the idea - Sing or say the words as you act out the story.

For moving forward - “Where do you think blackbirds live? What do you think they eat?”

The Piano Game

You will need a keyboard.

The word "piano" comes from the Italian word "pianoforte" which means loud and soft. The piano can make both loud and soft sounds.

Let the children watch as you play some notes at the top of the piano. Talk about the "high" sound. Now play some notes at the bottom of the piano and talk about the "low" sounds. Ask the children to close their eyes and tell you whether you are playing a "high" sound or a "low" sound.

Ask the children to pretend they are elephants and move around the room. Play loud and slow notes on the keyboard.

Ask the children to pretend they are butterflies and move around the room. Play high and fast notes on the keyboard.

You do not have to know how to play a piano to do this activity with the children. Just play one at a time in any order that you desire.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Can you show me where the high sounds and low sounds are on the keyboard?

For developing the idea - Can you make your voice sound high and low?

For moving forward - Let’s make rain sounds. The high notes are raindrops and the low notes are thunder.

Be a Machine and Many Faces Activities

Activities for Toddlers

Be a MachineTalk about all the different kinds of machines that we see everyday.

Show the children pictures of a vacuum cleaner, toaster, clock, computer, dishwasher, and any others that the children will recognize.

Talk about the machines that you have in your house. The washing machine, the toaster, the vacuum cleaner, a clock, etc.

Look at the pictures and discuss each one individually and as to how they are used and why they are important. Choose two machines that are familiar to the the children and show them how to imitate these machines. For example a clock and a vacuum cleaner.

For a clock, let your hands become the clock’s hands and move them in a circle. For a vacuum cleaner, move around the room in a gliding manner.

When you say the words "Machines go!" the children pretend to be the machines. When you say "machines stop!" the children stop.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence – Ask the question “Why do you think a clock is important?” and “Why do you think a vacuum cleaner is important?”

For developing the idea - What other machines do you have at your house?

For moving forward - Tell me what the vacuum cleaner does, the toaster does and the dishwasher can do.

Many Faces

This game helps children to become more observant and sensitive to others.

Look through books and magazines with the children and talk about the different faces that you see.

Talk about happy faces, silly faces, sad faces, and angry faces.

Play the following game.

When I am happy, I look like this- make a happy face
Can you make a happy face?- (wait for the children to make happy faces)
Continue on with silly, sad and angry faces.

After you have finished practicing all the different faces, choose individual children to make a face and the rest of the group guess which face he is making.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence – Expressing emotions with the face.

For developing the idea - Becoming aware of different feeling and emotions.

For moving forward - “What are some things that make you happy? What makes you angry? What makes you sad?"

Peek-a-Boo and Laughing Fun Activities

Activities for Infants

Peek-a-Boo

Playing “peek-a-boo” with an infant will reward you with smiles. It’s definitely a favorite game.

Why is peek-a-boo so important? This game makes connections between a child’s brain cells. The more they use these connections, the stronger these pathways become.

Here are some different ways to play peek-a-boo.

Cover your eyes with your hands.
Put a towel over your face.
Hide behind an object and pop out.
Place a toy or stuffed animal under a cover and then pull away the cover.
Draw a face on your thumb with magic marker and hide it under your other fingers.
Make your own peek-a-boo pictures,
Cut out pictures from a magazine and tape one picture each on a separate piece of cardboard.
Cut out pieces of fabric that are bigger than the cardboard picture and tape it on one end of the cardboard to cover the picture. You should be able to lift the fabric and see the picture.
Make up a story about the picture and then lift the fabric and show your baby the picture. For example: The little dog said “Bow Wow, Bow Wow, I want to see you.”
Lift up the fabric and show the dog picture and say “Peek-a-boo.” Soon your little one will learn to lift up the fabric himself.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Play the game with your baby and praise him as he plays

For developing the idea - Try to switch roles. Put your baby’s hands over his eyes and take them away as you say “peek-a-boo.”

For moving forward –Show your infant how to play the game with a stuffed animal.

Laughing Fun

Once you hear a baby's laugh, you won't be able to get enough

Laughter helps in releasing feel good chemicals and responses in the body, thereby increasing attachment and feelings of self-worth.

Baby's first smiles easily melt your heart. Soon your baby will learn to laugh out loud. Sometime between three and four months of age, she'll likely begin giggling along with her cooing.

What will inspire that first giggle?

The sight of your face, a silly grin, a favorite toy or a silly sound could stimulate the giggle.

Your baby is learning to recognize her voice and seeing how others react to it. She is also learning to move her mouth and tongue to produce different sounds.

Here are some ways to encourage your baby to laugh.

Funny faces: Scrunch up your face and stick out your tongue. Your baby will laugh and soon try to imitate you.
Peek-a-boo: Always guarantees a giggle.
Silly sounds: Make up a silly sound of your own as you smile and laugh. This will tell the baby that she can smile and laugh at the sound.
Fingerplay: Short poems that have a surprise.
Jack in the box, you sit so still (hand folded with index finger of other hand tucked inside the folded hand). Say, Won’t you come out?" and then say, "Yes, I will!" (say in a big voice as you pop out the index finger.)
Looking in a Mirror: Look with the baby in a mirror and make funny faces.
Dancing: Hold your baby and dance and glide around the room. If you add music, it makes it even more special.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Imitating and mimic your baby’s sounds.

For developing the idea - Play games that encourage laughter with your baby.

For moving forward – Laugh often and show spontaneous joy at what your baby can do.

Diddle Diddle Dumpling and The Blue Danube

Music

Diddle Diddle Dumpling
Poem – Anonymous
Song – by Jackie Silberg

This musical game is fun to sing or say and teaches beginning sounds.

Ask the children to each take off one of their shoes. Now say the following poem or sing the song.
Diddle diddle dumpling, dumpling , dumpling,
Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John.
Went to bed with his stockings, stockings,
Went to bed with his stockings on.
One, one shoe off.
One, one shoe on.
Diddle diddle dumpling
Diddle diddle dumpling,
Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John.
The words “Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling” are fun to say and to sing. “Dumpling” is a term of affection.
What other words are terms of affection? ...sweetie, cutie, honey? There will be a lot of laughing in this discussion.

Sing the song with different beginning sounds. Try a “b” sound: “biddle, biddle, bumpling.” Or a “z” sound: “ziddle, ziddle, zumpling.”

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence: Do you wear your shoes when you go to bed? What do you wear on your feet?
For developing the idea: Can you tell me what the boy did with one of his shoes?
For moving forward: The words “diddle diddle dumpling” all start with the same sound. What sound is it? Can you think of others words that start with that same sound?

Color Clothes

For Toddlers

Tell Me What it Says

The brain likes novelty. By exploring and investigating new sounds, the brain seeks to connect the learning to an already existing pattern or begins the process of creating a new pattern for understanding.

You will need pictures of a baby, a clock, a bird, a drum, and water
The teacher asks the question and the children give the answer.
First, tell the child what the baby says. Then ask the question:
Tell me what the baby says.
Ma ma, ma, ma
Continue on telling the answer and then asking the question.

Tell me what the baby says
Da da da da
Tell me what the clock says
Tick, tock, tick, tock
Tell me what the birdie says
Tweet. Tweet, tweet, tweet
Tell me what the drum says
Boom, boom, boom, boom
Tell me what the water says
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, gurgle
Depending on the age of the baby, ask the appropriate number of questions.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence: Let’s make these sounds again.
For developing the idea: Let’s look through magazines and find pictures of things with other sounds
For moving forward: What are some things in our classroom that make sounds? (door, water running, footsteps)

Color Clothes Sit the children in a circle.

Ask them to look at their clothes carefully to see the different colors that they are wearing.
Tell them that you are going to ask them questions about the color of their clothes.
If a question applies to them, they should stand up.
Sometimes more than one child will be standing.
Make up questions about their clothes.

Who is wearing black shoes?
Who has a jacket on?
Who is wearing a belt?
It is fun for them to see which children are similar to one another.
Once you have played the game awhile, ask if anyone else would like to ask a question about someone’s clothing. You will find that your older toddlers will volunteer.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence: Tell me about the shoes that you are wearing. What color are they?
For developing the idea: Does anyone else have on shoes that look like your shoes?
For moving forward: Let’s look through some magazines and try to find a hat, a belt, brown shoes, and a dress.

One, Two and I'm a Walking Activities

For Infants

The newest brain research says that babies need touching experiences to “grow” the brain and grow the body. It is as critical as nutrients and vitamins.

One, Two

Sit with your baby on the floor.
Make up rhymes as you hold your baby’s hand and let him or her touch different parts of your body.
Here are some ideas:

One, two, touch my shoe.
Yellow, red, touch my head.
Dippity dips, touch my lips.
Apples, pear, touch my hair.
Each time you say the body part, put your child’s hand on that part. When you say, “One, two, touch my shoe,” put your baby’s hand on your shoe.

Continue on with each rhyme.
Reverse the game and help your baby touch his shoe, head, etc.
Make up new rhymes for different parts of the body.
Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: Say the rhyme with your little one and praise him as he touches the different parts of his body.
For developing the idea: Ask your little one “Where is your head? Where is your shoe?” Encourage him to touch his head and his shoe.
For moving forward: Using a doll or stuffed animal, find the head, shoes, lips and hair on the toy.

I’m a Walking

Movement unites all brain levels and integrates the right and left hemispheres. The locomotion centers of the brain are paired, facing one another along the top of the right and left hemispheres, so that the center controlling the left leg parallels the center controlling the right leg, and so forth. For this reason, movement ties in both hemispheres, allowing young children an opportunity to use both sides of the brain.

This song is on the CD: "Hello Rhythm" by Jackie Silberg and in the I Love Children Songbook by Jackie Silberg.

Sing or say the following words.
I’m a walking, walking, walking
I’m a walking, walking, walking
I’m a walking, walking, walking
Then I stop!
Walk around the room and on the word “stop” freeze in place.
Hold your child’s hand to walk or carry him if he isn’t walking.
You can also skip, hop, jump, skate, swim, run, tiptoe, swim and march.
Children adore playing this game…..especially the stop part.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence: Walk several times and practice the stop part. Make positive comments like "Isn’t this fun!” or “I like to walk with you.”
For developing the idea: Repeat the activity using different motor skills.
For moving forward: Let’s sit down and crawl and scoot to the words.

Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Music

A favorite song with young children is “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.”
They love to make the animal sounds.
Read the book Old MacDonald in the City to introduce the idea of different kinds of jobs Old MacDonald could have and the different sounds they would make.
Try singing the song using other ideas.

Old MacDonald had a cold, e,i,e,i,o
And with his cold he had a cough

Think of sounds you have with a cold.
Old MacDonald could also have a yard, a house, a candy store, etc.
Changing the words will develop vocabulary.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: Let’s sing Old MacDonald together
For developing the idea: “If Old MacDonald had a candy store, what kind of candy would he have in the store?” Let’s sing about it.
For moving forward: Let’s sing "Old MacDonald Had a Car" and make up car sounds.”

What Shall I Wear?

For Toddlers

Stories Come to Life

Creating and acting out a story makes it come to life and helps children internalizes the concepts in the story.

Read The Three Little Pigs or another familiar story to the children.
Read the story out loud and as you read, find one word such as huff, and say it in a loud voice.
Ask the children to act out the "loud" word when they hear it (by huffing).
You can also use words that show emotion such as “happy” and “sad.”

Ideas to do to that will take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: “Who do you think has a loud voice in this story?”
For developing the idea: “Can you pretend you are one of the pigs? Can you pretend that you are the wolf?”
For moving forward: Could you tell me this story? What would come first in the story?”

What Shall I Wear You will need a raincoat, heavy wool hat, bathing suit, and a lightweight jacket or dress.
Talk with the children about the kind of clothes you need for different kinds of weather and seasons.
Look at the articles of clothing and discuss when you would wear them.

Say the following rhyme:

What shall I wear on a rainy day, rainy day, rainy day?
What shall I wear on a rainy day?
This is what I’ll wear.
(on the last line, choose a child to go to the clothing and hold up the correct item.
Continue with a new rhyme.
What shall I wear on a sunny day?
What shall I wear on a snowy day?

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence: What do you wear when it is cold outside?
For developing the idea: Clothes protect us from changes in the weather. What did you wear to school today? Why did you pick these clothes?
For moving forward: Let’s make up a story about a hot summer day at the swimming pool. What clothes shall we talk about?

Two Nice Fathers and Roll Olympics

For Infants

Two Nice Fathers

Say this finger play with your little one as you do the actions.

Two nice fathers met in the lane
(hold thumbs up)
Bowed most politely and bowed again.
(bend thumbs toward each other)
How do you do, how do you do
And how do you do again
(move thumbs as if they were talking to one another)
Repeat this verse while holding babies thumbs as you say the words.
Continue on with the finger play. You say it first and then move the babies fingers to repeat it.
Index finger - two nice mothers met in the lane....etc
Middle finger - two nice teachers....etc
Ring finger - two nice children....etc
Little fingers - two little babies....etc
On the "babies" it's fun to talk "baby talk." Try to make the sounds that the baby makes.

Ideas that you can to do to take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: Let’s say the poem again as we move our fingers.

For developing the idea: I’ll say the words and you move your fingers. (depending on the age of your baby, you may need to help him with moving the fingers.)

For moving forward: Let’s pretend our fingers are kitties. What would they say to one another?

Roll Olympics Helping your baby roll over from tummy to back will develop the chest and arm muscles. Brain research says that using these muscles repeatedly gives babies’ the strength and elasticity for rolling over.

Here is a fun game to play while encouraging your baby to roll over.

Put your baby on her tummy on a soft and flat surface. Carpeted floors and the middle of beds are good for this game.

Hold up a teddy bear in front of your baby’s face and do antics with the bear. You might say the following poem as you make the teddy bear move around:

Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn a round. (turn teddy bear around)
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground. (make teddy fall down)

When you are sure that your baby is watching the teddy, move it to the side so that your baby’s eyes and hopefully her body will follow.

Repeat the poem, moving the teddy bear each time.

Ideas to do to that will take this activity to the next level:

For building confidence: As you play the game, if your baby doesn’t roll over the first few times, move her physically to help her understand.

For developing the idea: Lay on the floor on your back. Put the baby on your tummy facing you. Rock from side to side and say the “teddy bear” poem.

For moving forward: Each time you baby is successful in rolling over, give her lots of praise and clap your hands.

Make an Opera

Music

Making an Opera

You will need plastic letters for each child.
The word “opera” printed on a chalk board or poster.

The more you use language with your children the better their brains will grow.

Singing is another way to use language that will help your children focus on words and what they mean.

Play a recording of any opera in English. One song is enough.

“The Telephone” by Menotti is a suggestion. This gives the children an opportunity to hear how words are sung instead of spoken.

Tell the children that you are going to have an opera at lunch. You will sing everything

Instead of speaking words like “here is a potato, or “would you like some milk,”, etc....sing the words.

Practice with the children sing the names of foods they will have at lunch.

Ask the children to take their plastic letters and copy the word “opera.”

Ideas that take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence : You have a nice singing voice.
For developing the idea: What songs do you like to sing?
For moving forward: Instead of saying “I like peanut butter and jelly” can you sing those words to me?

Now you are singing opera!

Waggle Dancing Music by Rimsky Korsakoff – Flight of the Bumblebee

You will need pictures of bees and their hives, and honey for tasting.

Honey is a very healthy and nutritious food.

Bees make honey and this dance is about the bees.

Bees do the Waggle Dance to communicate with each other.

Select an area of the room for the hive.
The direction they fly when they return to the hive lets the other bees know where pollen has been located.

Bees also will circle around an area where food has been located. They wiggle their bottoms and circle the area. This is the Waggle Dance.

Place a flower or a replica of a flower on the floor.

Play the music.

Invite the children to spread their wings (arms) and circle the flower while wiggling their bottoms to the music.

After a few minutes change the location of the flower and invite the “bees” (children) to follow.

After changing the flower three times, fly back to the hive.

Music adds to the fun.

Ideas that take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: "I like the way that you do the Waggle Dance."
For developing the idea: "Have you ever eaten honey? Honey is very sticky. What did you have it with?"
For moving forward: "Let’s make up a story about a bee flying from flower to flower. What would be a good name for the bee in our story?"

Let's Play Dress Up!

Toddlers

Playing dress up gives children an opportunity to express their feelings, use language, and imagination.

You will need a basket filled with shoes, hats, scarves, gloves, jewelry and belts.
A full length mirror makes this game even more fun..

Pick out a hat and put it on your head. Then give another hat to a child.

Stand in front of the mirror and say or do something different with the hat on. For example, pretend to be another person and use a different voice.

Encourage the children to do something different in front of the mirror.

Ideas that take this activity to the next level:

For building confidence: Say to the child “When I have on a cowboy hat, I say “howdy partner. Can you say that?”
For developing the idea: What would you say to me if you are wearing gloves?
For moving forward: Can you make your voice sound different when you put on the different clothes? Let’s put on some scarves and change our voices

Winter Clothes Tell the children that you are going to pretend that it is cold outside with lots of snow and that there will be a pretend snowman in the room.

You will need mittens, scarves, hats, boots, and other winter clothes.
Choose one child to be the "snowman."
Tell the children that you are going to dress the snowman.

Ask the class, “What shall we put on first?”

Proceed putting on a hat, scarf, mittens, etc. on the snowman.

Ask the children to look very closely at the clothes the pretend snowman is wearing.

Now ask the children to close their eyes. While their eyes are closed, change one clothing item ( e.g.. put a different hat on) or take a piece of clothing item away.

Ask the children to uncover their eyes and guess what is different about the snowman.

Encourage them to use complete sentences. Example: “The snowman’s hat is different.”

Say the following snowman poem.

A Chubby Snowman - Author unknown

A chubby little snowman
Had a carrot for a nose.
Along came a bunny
And what do you suppose?
That funny little bunny
Was looking for his lunch.
So he ate the snowman’s nose,
Nibble, nibble crunch!
Ideas that take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: Say to the child “Changing our clothes is something that we do often. When do you change your clothes?
For developing the idea: “When you dress yourself in the morning, what clothes do you put on and what clothes do you take off?”
For moving forward: “Can you tell me three things that you wear every day?”

Exploring Texture with Infants

For Infants

Babies need a variety of tactile experiences to become familiar with their world. An infant spends the majority of his first year of life learning through these tactile experiences.

Babies need touching experiences to “grow” the brain and “grow” the body. It is as critical as nutrients and vitamins.

Exploring texture is something that babies love to do. You can uses silky cloth, materials that are fuzzy, smooth, and furry.

Another lovely tactile experience is to take a hair dryer and blow gentle air on different parts of the baby’s body.

Here is a wonderful tactile game that you can play with your baby.

Using your index and middle fingers, gently tap on different parts of your infant’s body. As you tap, name the part of the body.

Use the following poem as a guide:

Tap, tap, tap
On my baby’s (or use baby’s name) cheek.
Tap, tap, tap
On my baby’s cheek. (take his hand and put it on his cheek)

Repeat this little poem, tapping on different parts of the body.

Ideas that take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: Each time you tap a body part, clap your hands and shout “Hooray!”
For developing the idea: Reverse the game. Take your baby’s fingers and tap them on your body.
For moving forward: Play the game with a stuffed animal or doll.

Through songs and fingerplays, many important skills can be taught which are vital in the development of the brain.

The following rhyme develops sensory perception and fine motor skills. Say the rhyme as you touch your baby’s fingers one by one. On the final verse, wave your baby’s hand.

Tommy Thumb

Tommy thumb, Tommy thumb,
Where are you?
Here I am, here I am.
How do you do! (wave baby’s hand)
Peter pointer, Peter pointer,
Where are you?
Here I am, here I am.
How do you do! (wave baby’s hand)

Continue on with Toby tall, Ruby ring, Sally small, and fingers all.

Your baby will respond to your touch and your voice.

Ideas that take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: Each time you touch your baby, kiss the finger you are touching.
For developing the idea: Reverse the process. Put the baby’s hand on your fingers.
For moving forward: After you play the game, add the song “Where is Thumbkin” to play with the fingers.

Beginning Rhythm Ideas

Learning Objective – Beginning rhythm ideas
Rhythm experiences for young children are vital for their development. It puts them in sync with the world.

Play some recordings for your children that use drums.

If you can bring a drummer to your room or take the children somewhere to see a drum set, that would be wonderful.

As you listen to the music, pretend you are playing air drums.

Here are some ways to make drumbeats to the music.
Hit your fists on different surfaces.

Use wooden spoons or rhythm sticks to play on different surfaces.

Shake your entire body to the rhythm of the music.

Some children will naturally feel the rhythm of the music. Others will need more time to develop a sense of rhythm.

Hit a steady beat with a drum or your hands and ask the children to hop on the beat, stamp on the beat and march on the beat.

Ideas that take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence – Awareness of drums and their different sounds.

For developing the idea – Listen to instrumental music and identify the drums. If the drum beat is simple, clap your hands with the drums.

For moving forward – “How could we use drumbeats in the classroom? Could the teacher hit the drum to tell you it’s time to sit on the circle?’

Learning Objective – Encourages musical learning
The newest brain research says: The earlier music is introduced, the more potential a child has for learning and enjoying it in the future.

If You're Happy and You Know It Sit on the floor with your child facing you.

Sing the song "If You're Happy and You Know It."
If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.
(take your child’s hands and clap them together two times.)
If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.
(repeat clapping)
If you're happy and you know it
Then your smile will surely show it
If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.
(repeat clapping)
Keep repeating the song and changing the action.
Move your child’s hands for clapping, waving, wiggling, snapping, etc.

Do the action first and then let your child do it.

Ideas that take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence – Repeat the song and clap softly and loudly.
For developing the idea – Do other movements with the song. Hop, jump, tap your foot, turn in a circle are a few to try.

For moving forward – Play the game with a stuffed animal. Let your child move the animals hand, feet, or paws to the words of the song.

Acting Out Sounds

Learning Objective – Acting out Sounds
Let the children act out sound words. Make up a sentence using a sound word.

Instead of saying the word, let the children make the sound and move accordingly. For example:

First there were small raindrops and there was loud ---------(thunder sounds)

I see a fire...here comes the ---------. (fire engine sounds)
The drummer was playing on the ------. (drum sounds)

Ideas that take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence - “Let’s make some like thunder sounds, some fire engine sounds and some drum sounds.

For developing the idea – What sounds do you make in the morning? (wash face, brush teeth, drink milk)

For moving forward - What are some of the sounds that you hear at your house?

Learning Objective – Understanding Vocabulary

This rhyme helps toddlers understand and use vocabulary.

Say the following rhyme and point to each part of the body.

You are also saying words that begin with the same sound

I’ll touch my chin, my cheek, my chair
I’ll touch my head, my heels, my hair
I’ll touch my knees, my neck, my nose
Then I’ll bend and touch my toes.
Ideas that take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence -“Let’s name all the words in the rhyme that start with “nnn sound..”

For developing the idea – Where is your neck? Where are your knees?

Watch This!

For Infants

Learning Objective – Developing positive emotional stimulation. Think of all the different places that are good for watching.
When babies can watch things move, they are happy.
A front-loading washing machine or dryer is fun for babies to watch.

Windows that are close to trees are wonderful watching places, or sit outside with your baby for an amazing amount of stimulation.

Watch birds fly from one place to another.

Watch cars moving down the street.

Watch the branches of a tree blow in the wind.

Take time to sit with your infant and watch together. Having you next to him will give him the comfort and security that he needs to enjoy the wonders of the world.

Ideas that take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence – Talk about how nice it is to sit and watch things together. Use lots of loving conversation.

For developing the idea – Name specific things that you are watching. For example, a bird, a tree branch, or the sky.

For moving forward – Say the words that you have just named in a sing-song high pitched voice.

Learning Objective – Recognizing Vocabulary
The Pointing Game Tell your baby that he is going to learn a poem about finding things in the room.

Show him how to point his index finger.

Ask questions like, “Do you know where the ceiling is?

Take his index finger, point it to the ceiling and say, “There is the ceiling.”

Do this with a few more objects like body parts, tables, and windows.

Now say the poem.

Point to the window
Point to the door

Point to the ceiling
Point to the floor
Point to a table

Point to a chair
Point to your nose
Point to your hair
Point to your head now
Point to your knee

Point to your elbow
Point to me!!

Depending on the age of your baby, say as many lines of the poem that you feel he can understand.

Ideas that take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence – Repeat the vocabulary words many times until your little one recognizes them.

For developing the idea –Take the words individually and use them in many sentences. Repeat the poem several times.

Exploring Voice Sounds

Music for Learning

Learning Objectives – Exploring voice sounds
There are many sounds that you can make with your voice. I’ll make the sound first and then you copy me.

Tell the children what sound you are going to make.

Make the sound.

Ask the children to copy the sound.

Discuss where that sound is made.

Here is an example: whisper a few words and ask the children to copy you. Talk about whispering if someone is asleep.

Here are some other sounds to make:
Singing, whistling, hissing, coughing, crying, talking, breathing, sighing, humming , laughing and sneezing.

Things to do to take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence - What sounds do you like to make with your voice?

For developing the idea: Developing: Can you make a sad sound, a funny sound, or a singing sound?

For moving forward: Could you teach someone at your house to make sounds? Who would that be?

Learning Objective – Learning Color Vocabulary
Each child needs a piece of paper and the following crayons: yellow, red, black and blue.

Sing the following songs to the children in the order that they appear here.

Sing one song at a time and ask them what color did they hear in the song.

Ask them to find that color crayon and draw something on their paper using that crayon.

Continue on with the next song.

Here is the order of the songs:
"Yellow Bird"
"Red Red Robin"
":Miss Mary Mack"
Skip to My Lou"
"Jennie Jenkins"

If you don’t know the song, go to kiddidles.com and you can find the words and hear the music.

Things to do to take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: The song "Skip to My Lou" has the names of two colors. What are they?

For developing the idea: Let’s sing some of these songs again.

For moving forward: Let’s make up a song with color words in it.

Again, Please!

For Toddlers

Learning Objective – Developing Reading Skills

Again, Please!

When toddlers like a poem, a books or a song, they want to hear it again and again. Sometimes that is very boring to the caregiver.

Here are some ideas to make it more interesting and develop reading skills in the children.

Ask the children to tell the story in their own words.

Read the story and let your children fill in words. They probably have it memorized by now.

Select simple stories that the children can memorize and they will become favorites at this age.

Help the children act out the story.

Things to do to take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: What story do you like to hear over and over again?

For developing the idea: Let’s look at the pictures and talk about the story.

For moving forward: Can you tell me the story?

For Toddlers

Learning Objective – Language Skills

Important Accents

The current brain research says: that young children develop a clear bias for words with first-syllable accents .
With this information, you can help develop your child’s language abilities.

For example, the rhyme “Baa Baa Black Sheep” is a good rhyme for playing this game. Say the rhyme and put an accent on the first word of each line.

Baa Baa black sheep
Have you any wool
Yes sir, yes sir
Three bags full
Some other rhymes that work well with accenting the first word in each line are; London Bridge, Mary Had a Little Lamb and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

Things to do to take this activity to the next level:

For building confidence: Let’s say the poem Baa Baa Black Sheep and make some of the words louder than the others.

For developing the idea: Can you ask me a question and make the first word louder than the rest?”

For moving forward: Can you sing a song making some of the words louder than the others?

Where Is the Sound?

A young child's brain grows at a phenomenal rate in the early years of life opening windows of opportunity for learning that occurs only once in a lifetime.
These simple games will promote early brain development for Infants and toddlers.

For Infants

Learning Objective – Auditory Development

Where Is the Sound?

The newest brain research says that musical experiences enhance the future ability to reason abstractly, particularly in the spatial domains.

Auditory awareness is something that comes with age and experience.

Playing games to heighten your baby’s hearing awareness will help wire her brain.

Take a wind-up musical toy and put it out of your baby’s sight.

Wind it up and ask her “where’s the music?”

When she turns to the sound, praise her generously.

Repeat this game in different parts of the room.

If your baby is crawling, you can hide the music under a pillow or elsewhere so that she can crawl to the music.

Ideas to take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: Repeat the game several times and praise your baby.

For developing the idea: Put the musical toy at different levels: on a table, on a chair, on the floor, etc.

For moving forward: Put the toy next to the baby and clap hands and sing "la la la" to the music.

For Infants

Learning Objective – Practicing Language

Speak with your body

When babies learn new words, they like to repeat them over and over because they enjoy the sounds. Practicing speech patterns is a wonderful pre-reading experience.

Start with simple words like “moon.” Say it with your mouth several times,’

Say it in the evening so that you can point to the sky as you say it.

Say it with your hands Clap your hands as you say the word.

Say it with your head. (move your head up and down to the word).

Say it with your feet - (stamp your feet to the word.)

Say it with your eyes -(blink your eyes to the word)

Play the same game with another word or words.

Ideas to take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: It's fun to say the words in different ways. Let's say the word and I will bounce you on my knee.

For developing the idea: Let's say a new word and clap our hands at the same time. Pick a name of a family member.

For moving forward: Tell me a word you would like to say with this game.

Color Songs!

Learning Objective - Developing motor skills

Color Songs

The children should be sitting in front of you in a circle.
Give each child a piece of drawing paper.
Have an array of crayons next to you so that all the children can see the colors.
Sing a song to your children that has a color word in the lyrics. Here are some suggestions.
"Skip to My Lou"
"Yellow Bird"
"Red Red Robin"
"Miss Mary Mack"
"Jennie Jenkins"

Ask them to listen for a color word.
Then, select a child to come and find that color crayon and draw a circle on his paper.

Ideas that take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: The song "Skip to My Lou" has the names of two colors. What are they?
(Little red wagon painted blue.)

For developing the idea: Let’s sing some of these songs again.

For moving forward: Let’s make up a song with a color word in it.

Learning objective – Developing motor skills

Here is a rhythm action poem that children enjoy.

MY BODY HAS RHYTHM by Jackie Silberg
I use my brain to think, think, think
(touch your head with your index finger)
I use my nose to smell
(touch your nose)
I use my eyes to blink, blink, blink
(blink your eyes)
And I use my mouth to YELL
(yell)
I use my mouth to giggle, giggle, giggle
(touch your mouth)
I use my hips to bump
(sway your hips)
I use my toes to wiggle, wiggle, wiggle
(wiggle your toes)
And I use my legs to jump
(Jump)

Clap the rhythm of the poem. Notice that the rhythm is the same every other line.
Clap two lines and speak two lines

Ideas that take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: Say the poem and do the actions with your child. Give her lots of praise.

For developing the idea: Clap the rhythm with your child as you say the words. She will soon become familiar with the rhythm changing every other line.

For moving forward: Give your child a stuffed animal and help her do the actions with the toy.

Awareness of Sounds

For Toddlers

Learning Objective – Awareness of Sounds

Body Sounds

Before there were pianos and guitars, people made sounds with their bodies.
Think of the different parts of your body that can make a sound.
Ask the children to do the following.

Rubbing your hands together.
Hitting your hands on different surfaces,
Stamping your feet against the floor.
Slapping – open your hands against your chest, slap your thighs, and your tummy..
Clap your hands together or against someone else’s hands.
Mouth sounds – click your teeth together, rub your tongue against your lips, gargle, smack your lips.
Whispering

Ideas that take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: Do you have some favorite sounds? Can you make them now?

For developing the idea: Let’s find some pictures with people making different sounds.

Tell Me What It Says

For Infants

Learning Objective– Developing language

The current brain research says: that young children develop a clear bias for words with first-syllable accents For example, the rhyme “Baa Baa Black Sheep” is good to say with your infant. Say the rhyme and put an accent on the first word of each line.

Baa Baa black sheep
Have you any wool
Yes sir, yes sir
Three bags full

Some other rhymes that work well with accenting the first word in each line are: "London Bridge," "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

Babies pay closer attention to accented words.

Ideas that take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: As you say the accented words, raise your voice to a higher level using a parentese voice.

For developing the idea: Holding the baby in your lap, each time you say the accented word, clap the baby’s hands together.

For moving forward: Sing familiar songs with your baby and pick out certain words to accent. When you sing the accented word, do a movement activity at the same time. For example, jump, walk very slowly and sing the word slowly, march, and twirl slowly.

Activity: Tell Me What It Says

You will need a picture of a baby, a clock, a bird, a drum, and some water.

Point to one of the pictures and say to your your baby “Tell me what the baby says.”

Then answer the question – “Ma ma, ma, ma” or “Da da da da.”

Repeat the same question asking about each picture and giving the answer.

Tell me what the clock says
Tick, tock, tick, tock
Tell me what the birdie says
Tweet. Tweet, tweet, tweet
Tell me what the drum says
Boom, boom, boom, boom
Tell me what the water says
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, gurgle

Ideas that take this activity to the next level:

For building confidence: Make the sounds with the baby and encourage him to copy you. Praise all of his efforts.

For developing the idea: Look at books and magazines with the baby and find things that make sounds.

For moving forward: Show your baby different mouth sounds. Clicking, moving your tongue back and forth on your lips, the raspberry, and any others that you can think of. Babies love to look at faces and will try to copy you.

Sound Awareness and Creative Thinking

Learning Objective- Awareness of Sound

This game is like a scavenger hunt. Talk about all the different kinds of sounds you can listen to and try to find examples of these sounds.

Crunchy, funny, terrible, scary, scratchy, buzzing, humming, a sound that starts and stops, and metal sounds.

Here are some ideas to start with.
Carrot for crunching
Scary sound with your voice
A buzzing toy
Two metal spoons
Slide whistle

Pick up one of the objects and make the sound. When you make the sound, give the descriptive word.
“Oh, that is a loud sound.”

Take a walk outside and see what sounds you can identify.

Things to do to take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence - “Can you make your voice sound happy?”

For developing the idea - “You make wonderful happy sounds. Can a bird make a happy sound? Can a dog make a happy sound?" Continue asking about different animals and different sounds.

For moving forward - “I’m going to make a sound. See if you can tell what it is. (make a sound of a cat. Now you make a sound and I’ll see if I can tell what it is.” There’s a good chance that the child will copy your sound. That’s normal and should be expected.

Learning Objective – Creative thinking
A favorite song with toddlers is “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” They love to make the animal sounds.

Talk about other kinds of places Old MacDonald could go. The children will tell you things based on their families.

Try singing the song using other ideas.

Old MacDonald had a cold, e,i,e,i,o
And with his cold he had a cough. Etc.

Think of sounds you have with a cold.

Old MacDonald could also have a yard, a house, a candy store, etc. Changing the words will develop vocabulary.

Things to do to take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence – “ Let’s sing Old MacDonald together.”

For developing the idea - “If Old MacDonald had a candy store, what kind of candy would he have in the store?”

For moving forward - “Let’s sing Old MacDonald had a car and make up sounds of the car.”

An excellent book to read for this activity is Old MacDonald in the City by Suzanne Williams.

Develop Your Toddler's Vocabulary

These games will help to grow the brains of toddlers. Whether it’s through singing, dancing, cuddling, rocking, talking, smelling, or tasting, you can encourage the pathways of their brains to make new connections.

Learning Objective – Developing vocabulary
Sit the children on the floor gathered around you. If they understand sitting in a circle, that would be ideal.

Ask the children if they can tell you what is in their house…tables, chairs, lamps, TV, etc.

Sing this song to the tune of "London Bridge" and leave out the last word for the child to fill in.

Tell us please, what’s in your house
In your house
In your house
Tell us please, what’s in your house
Tell us …..(Lakeesha)
(Lakeesha names something in her house)
Continue the song giving the children an opportunity to tell about their houses.

Things to do to take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence - Can you name some of the things at your house?

For developing the idea - What do you like to do in your house at the table?

For moving forward - What does your mother do at the table? What does your grandpa do at the table?

Learning Objective – Growing motor skills
Cut out large apple shapes from colored paper. Laminate them and place them on the floor. If this presents a problem, you can cut out the apple shapes and tape them in different parts of the room.

Ask the children to hop from one apple to another as they sing to the tune of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

Hopping, hopping for my health
For my health
For my health
Hopping, hopping for my health
I am healthy.

Continue with other movements such as jumping, marching, turning, and running.

Follow with a conversation about exercise and health.

Things to do to take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence – Tell the children “hopping makes up feel good and is a lot of fun”.

For developing the idea – Ask “where are places that you like to hop”?

Discover Your Hands!

For Infants

Learning Objective - Discovering your hands
Babies love to stare at interesting faces and toys.

Take several colorful toys and, one at a time, slowly move it back and forth in front of your baby to stimulate his vision.

This is also the time when babies discover their hands. They watch and watch and finally discover that they can make their hands appear and disappear.
Take your baby’s hands and gently clap them in front of his face. As you do this, say the following poem:
Clap, clap, clap your hands,
Clap your hands together.
Put your hands on Mommy’s face. (substitute name of the person doing the rhyme with baby)
Clap your hands together.
Clap, clap, clap your hands,
Clap your hands together
Put your hands on baby’s face (substitute child’s name)
Clap your hands together

Things to do to take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence – Use encouraging phrases to tell the baby what a good job she is doing.

For developing the idea – Continue playing the game and adding new parts to touch. Hair, eyes, nose and lips are good to start with.

For moving forward - Say “I can clap my hands.” Clap your hands. Now say, “You can clap your hands.” Take the baby’s hands and clap them. Repeat this except the next time, clap the baby’s hands once and encourage her to do it by herself.

Learning Objectives – To strengthen your baby’s back and neck
Lie on your back and put your baby on your tummy.

With your hands firmly around his waist or chest, raise your baby in the air and up to your face.

Say the following and do the actions:
Where’s my baby?
There he is. (lift him up to your face)
Where’s my baby?
There he is. (bring him back down to your tummy)
Where’s my baby?
There he is. (bring him back up to your face)
Where’s my baby?
There he is. (bring him back down to your tummy)
Where’s my baby? Up high, high, high. (bring your baby up high over your face)
Where’s my baby? (bring him back down to your tummy

Keep repeating the high, high, high part.

Things to do to take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence - Each time you go high, add a fun sound like “whee” or “yay,”

For developing the idea - Continue to play games with your baby where you hold him and take him high in the air. With older infants, sit on the floor with your baby sitting in front of you. While holding him firmly around his waist or chest, rock back and forth or side to side. Sing a song as you play this game.

Music for Learning

Learning Objective - Using different parts of the body
Sit on the floor with the children and ask them to follow the actions. Sing to the tune of "London Bridge."
Now it's time to touch our nose, touch our nose, touch our nose
Now it's time to touch our nose
Here it is! (touch your nose)

Now it's time to blink our eyes – here they are
Now it's time to touch our toes
Now it's time to shake our feet
Now it's time to stand up tall – I am tall
Now it's time to sit back down – I can sit

Things you can do to take this activity to the next step:
For building confidence – Say, “I can touch my nose. Where is your nose?” Continue on with different parts of the body.
For developing the idea – Say, “can you touch my nose?” Name different body parts and let the child touch them on your body.
For moving forward - Ask the children to do the actions in the song with a stuffed animal.
Learning Objective - Using music for transitions
Children need time for finishing one activity and to get ready for the next one.
Music is a wonderful way to help children recognize that it’s time to finish what they are doing. Remember that their time line is different from yours. They are focusing on their project and time is not on their mind.
You can play music using the same song each time or you can sing something.
For example, you can sing to the tune of “London Bridge is Falling Down.”

Now it’s time to have a snack, have a snack, have a snack,
Now it’s time to have a snack,
Please pass the juice.

Things you can do to take this activity to the next step:
For building confidence – Compliment the children on what a good job they are doing.
For developing the idea – Ask the children how they change activities at home.
Going from sleeping to getting up and getting dressed.
Stop playing to get ready for dinner.
Getting ready to play outside.
For moving forward – Say, “let’s make up another song about changing activities.”

Toddler Brain Development

Learning Objective - Learning to communicate verbally
You will need a rhythm stick and some smiley face stickers.
Decorate a brightly colored rhythm stick with smiley face stickers.
Seat the children in a circle and pass the stick around one child at a time. The child who is holding the stick taps it on the floor and says "My name is -----, and I like -----. Then she passes it on to the next child.

The children really enjoy this game and also discover that they have similar likes. This games is also excellent for eye-hand coordination.

Things you can do to take this activity to the next step.
For building confidence - “I like the way you hit the stick and told what you like.”
For developing the idea - “Can you tell me other things that you like?”
For moving forward: - “Lets draw some pictures of things that you like.”

Learning Objective - Developing fine motor skills
Say this finger play with your children.
Two nice fathers met in the lane
(hold thumbs up)
Bowed most politely and bowed again.
(bend thumbs toward each other)
How do you do, how do you do
And how do you do again
(move thumbs as if they were talking to one another)

Continue on with the finger play.
Index finger - two nice mothers met in the lane....etc
Middle finger - two nice teachers....etc
Ring finger - two nice children....etc
Little fingers - two little babies....etc

When you say "babies" it's fun to talk "baby talk."

Things you can do to take this activity to the next step.
For building confidence –“ Let’s say the poem again as we move our fingers.”
For developing the idea - “You be one father and I’ll be the other as we move our thumbs.”
For moving forward – “What other family members could you make up to go with this poem?”

Infant Brain Development

These games will help to grow the brains of infants. Whether it’s through singing, dancing, cuddling, rocking, talking, smelling, or tasting, you can encourage the pathways of their brains to make new connections.

Learning Objective - Identifying Body Parts
Sit in front of a mirror with your baby in your lap.
Say, “Who is that baby?”
Wave your baby’s hand and say, “Hi, baby.”
Say, “Where’s the baby’s foot?”
Wave your baby’s foot and say, “Hi, foot.”
Continue asking questions and moving different parts of your baby’s body.
Shake heads, wave bye-bye, clap hands, etc.

Things you can do to take this activity to the next step:
For building confidence – Repeat the actions with a complimentary remark. For example, you can say, “What a nice foot.”
For developing the idea – Add new actions with each body part. Move the body part up and down or back and forth.
For moving forward – Ask the person in the mirror questions about additional body parts, For example, “Where are your fingernails?”

Learning Objective - Developing fine motor skills
Show the children how to take the thumb of one hand and put it into the fist of the other hand.
Practice this activity several times.
Take your thumb and put it into the fist of the other hand.
Say the following rhyme with great drama.
Jack in the box
You sit so still
Can you come out?
Yes, I will. – pull thumb out of fist

Things you can do to take this activity to the next step:
For building confidence – “Can you show me your thumb? Can you make a fist?”
For developing the idea – “Can you put your thumb of one hand in the fist of your other hand?” (help the child if they cannot do it themselves)
For moving forward - “You did a good shop with that poem. Let’s try to make our bodies be a jack-in-the-box.

Music for Learning

Circles and Music

Sit with your baby in your lap facing you.
Take one of his hands and move it around in a circular motion.

As you move it in a circular motion, sing the following to the tune of “In and Out the Window.”
Go round and round the circle
Go round and round the circle
Go round and round the circle
A circle’s very round.

Take the other hand and do the same thing.
Now move both hands at the same time.
Make circles high in the air, sideways, down low, etc.
Play some instrumental music and make the circles as you listen with your baby.
This game is a good prelude for drawing shapes to music.

Song Patting

Try song patting when changing a diaper, giving your child a bath, or any time.
Sing a favorite song to your little one and, at the same time, pat her tummy or back with your index finger to the rhythm of the song.
Always end the song with a snuggly kiss.

You can also sing one line of the song and pat only one word. For example, “Twinkle, twinkle, little (pat the word “star” but don’t sing it).”

This game helps develop a child’s sense of rhythm and listening skills.

Brain research says that for a young child's brain to grow and thrive, the child needs to be loved, held, talked to, read to, and allowed to explore.

For Toddlers

Choo Choo Happy Game

When you repeat the same word many times and then change to a new word, your toddler will pay attention to the new word. This is called “shaping.”

Hold your toddler on your lap facing you.

Say the words “choo choo” as you bounce her up and down on your knees. Repeat the words several times and then add a different word. For example:
Choo choo choo choo happy

Repeat this several times so that she becomes familiar with the new word “happy.”
Now, use the new word “happy” in several sentences.
“I’m a happy mom,” or “Here’s a happy face.”
Now say the word “happy” several times and add a new word.
Happy, happy, happy, happy, (new word).
Use the new word in a few sentences before you play the game again.

Your baby will become familiar with the word “happy” and other words that you use and will recognize them when she hears them.

Games for Infants

For Infants

Develop your infant’s language skills when you prepare a meal or snack by chanting the following verse or singing it to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell.”

It’s time to find the milk
It’s time to find the milk
Hi, ho, the derry oh
It’s time to find the milk.

Walk to the refrigerator and take out the milk carton. Say, “Oh boy, I love milk. Yum, yum.”
Use the chant with other foods or household items. Take out the item, chant the verse, and then talk about the food.

Expressing pleasant emotions with your baby is very good for brain development.
In addition, games such as this one develop language skills.

Brain research says that tone and facial expressions are understood before words. Emotional learning is intertwined with all domains of learning.

Try this game.

This Is Bill

Sit your baby on your lap
Hold one ankle in each hand as you say the following rhyme:

This is Bill and this is Jill.
They went out to play.
Over and over, (move his legs over each other)
Over and over, (move his legs over in the other direction)
“This is fun,” said Bill and Jill.
And then they said, “Hooray!” (give your baby a big hug)

Learning Rhythm

The Ants Go Marching

Sing to the tune of “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.’

The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one
The little one stops to suck his thumb
And they all go marching out to the big parade.

Additional verses
two by two- the little one stops to tie his shoe
three by three - the little one stops to climb a tree
four by four - the little one stops to fall on the floor
five by five - the little one stops to joke and jive
six by six - the little one stops to do some tricks
seven by seven -the little one stops to point to heaven
eight by eight - the little one stops to shut the gate
nine by nine - the little one stops to read a sign
ten by ten - the little stops to say “THE END.”

March around the room and sing the song. Act out each part that says, “the little one stopped to...”
Substitute other actions for the word marching, as follows:
The ants go skipping . . .
The ants go hopping . . .
The ants go swimming . . .
Experiment with ant voices. Teeny, squeaky voices are lots of fun.
Party stores carry plastic ants. Singing and counting the ants as you move them along is a great game.

Moving to Music

The more rhythm experiences a young child has, the better they will relate to the world. Talking, reading, and moving all improve with rhythm activities.

Play some instrumental music and move with your child. If the music is fast, move quickly. If the music is slow, move slowly.

Encourage the children to copy your actions. Say things like “Can you turn like me?” or “Can you bend like me?”

Toddler Brain Development

A young child's brain grows at a phenomenal rate in the early years of life opening a window of opportunity for learning that occurs only once in a lifetime.

These simple games will promote early brain development for toddlers.

Fly Little Bird

Children surrounded by words almost always become fluent by age 3, whatever their general intelligence. And people deprived of language as children rarely master it as adults, no matter how smart they are or how intensively they're trained.

Stand and face your toddler. Take his hands in yours.

While holding hands, walk around in a circle and sing the following rhyme with your own melody.

Fly little bird through the window - pretend to fly
Fly little bird through the door- pretend to fly
Fly little bird through the window
Fly and touch the chair.

On the words "fly and touch the chair”, pretend to fly and touch a chair. Ask your toddler to do the same thing.

Each time that you sing this little rhyme, fly and touch something different.

This game teaches vocabulary in a very pleasant way.

Dress Up

Here is another fun game that develops language skills.

Playing dress up is something toddlers love to do. As you discuss the various clothes with your child, you are developing language and giving your child new vocabulary.

Gather together all kinds of clothing...hats, scarves, shoes, gloves, whatever you think that your toddler would enjoy.

Put one of the hats on your head and say, “How do you do, Mr. (child’s name)?"

Put on a glove and say “Oh, this feels so smooth.”

Encourage you child to pick an article of clothing. Help him with words if he doesn’t have his own.

Infant Brain Development

A young child's brain grows at a phenomenal rate in the early years of life opening a window of opportunity for learning that occurs only once in a lifetime.

These simple games will promote early brain development for Infants and toddlers. Activites for toddler brain development will follow in a different post next week, so be sure to tune in!

Remembering – This game helps to develop your baby’s memory.
Place two blocks in front of your baby. The blocks should be totally different in appearance.

Say to your baby, “This is the red block.” as you pick it up. (Describe the block you are picking up)

Take the red block and put it behind your back.

Make sure that your little one is watching where you put the block.

Ask your baby, “Where is the red block?"

He will give you a sign that he knows where it is. Pointing and making sounds are ways that your infant can communicate with you.

Praise him with cheers, claps, oohs and aahs.

Repeat with the second block.

If this is working, you can hide the block in different places. Some ideas are: behind the baby, under a nearby table or chair, or under a blanket or a scarf.

Mirror Games

The neurons for vision begin to form very early. Babies need stimulating visual experiences to help develop their neurons.

Looking into a mirror is great fun and gives your baby another perspective on who he is.

Here are some things that you can do with your baby as you look into a full length mirror.

Smile.
Shake different parts of the body.
Make faces with silly sounds.
Make sounds with your lips.
Make animal sounds.
Rock back and forth.

Nursery Rhymes

Nursery rhymes can play an important part in children’s lives. For many children, nursery rhymes are the first songs and stories that they hear.

I remember as a child learning and singing nursery rhymes at home and at school. Think about the ones that you know and teach them to your children.

Nursery rhymes stimulate memory, improve language skills, develop appreciation for music, enrich vocabulary, phonemic awareness, encourage thinking skills, and develop pre-reading skills….and best of all, they are fun!

Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider and sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

This is a lot of fun to role play. You will need a group of children.

The children take turns being Miss Muffet pretending to eat curds and whey. Another child pretends to sneak up behind her as the spider. Students are encouraged to scream a really good "eeek!"

I wrote an additional verse to Miss Muffet. It appears on the Sniggles, Squirrels, and Chickenpox CD and in the I Love Children Songbook.

Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet
Eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider and sat down beside her
And said “what a very nice day.”

Who Am I?

Using nursery rhymes that your children are familiar with, play this game.

When the subject is identified, everyone says the nursery rhyme together.

Give clues to nursery rhyme characters. For example:
I am a girl.
I have an animal that follows me to school.

Mary Had a Little Lamb
Mary had a little lamb
Its fleece as white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went
That lamb was sure to go.

It followed her to school one day,
Which was against the rules,
It made the children laugh and play,
To see a lamb at school.

Clue: I am a mouse
I like to run up and down clocks

Hickory, Dickory, Dock
Hickory, dickory, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse did run,
Hickory, dickory, dock.

Clue: I am round.
I sat on a wall and fell down.

Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King's horses and all the King's men,
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

Nursery rhymes will help stimulate your child's memory, improve their language skills and develop their appreciation for music.

Toddlers - Touch

Games involving the senses help develop memory in young children.

When areas of the brain experience a stimulus, it increases the strength of the signal to the brain.

Here are some games that you can play that will develop the sense of touch.

Bag Mysteries

Fill three plastic bags with different textured materials. For example, popcorn, cooked pasta, and jello.

Let the children feel the bags and tell you how it feels.

It’s important for you to give the children the vocabulary to use: squishy, hard, soft, smooth, etc.

Head and Shoulders

Touch the body parts as you say the words in the chant. If you want to sing the chant, it goes to the tune of “Tavern in the Town.”

Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes,
Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes,
And eyes and ears and mouth and nose,
Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes.

Start slowly and each time you say the words, go a little faster. The children love to do this.

Feeling Fruit

Take an orange, an apple, and a banana and place them in separate plastic bags.

Ask the children to identify the fruit by feeling the bag and not looking at it.

Feel the Shape

Cut several assorted sized shapes from heavy cardboard or tag board. A circle, a square, a triangle and any others that the children will recognize.

Ask a child to close his eyes. Ask him to feel the shape and to guess what shape it is by using his sense of touch. Let each child to have a turn.

A Touch Poem

Touch your shoulders,
Touch your knees,
Touch your hands behind you please.
Touch your elbows,
touch your toes
Touch your hair,
and touch your nose!
Touch the wall,
Touch the floor,
Touch the table,
Touch the door.

Touch the Room

Give your child directions to walk around the room and look for different textures to touch. This will familiarize them with the way things feel.

Start with soft. Look around the room and touch something soft. How many soft things can we find?

Continue on with hard, bumpy, cold, warm and smooth.

Infants - Cause and Effect

Infants enjoy dropping things.

Use the following games as learning experiences for your infants.

Babies like to throw things out of the high chair or over the side of the crib. They watch the objects fall and
listen to the sound it makes when it hits the floor. Your baby is exploring cause and effect relationships.

Listen to the Sound
Your baby should be sitting in a high chair.

Take a large basket or a pot and put it on the floor next to the highchair.

Fill a separate container with several small objects and place the container in front of your baby.

Take something from the container and drop it into the basket.

Ask your baby to copy you..

If he doesn’t understand, put one of the objects in his hand and help him drop it..

When it drops, say words like “bumpity bump” or “ding dong.”

Give the baby objects that fall with different sounds. For example: a rattle, a wooden spoon, a ball, and a washcloth. Talk about the different sounds. “Oh, that was so soft.” “That rattle sounded noisy.”

Bouncing
Another reason that babies like to throw things out of the high chair is to see what happens to the object.

Does it bounce like a ball or does it stay still? Actually, she is learning about the laws of gravity.

Give her a wadded up piece of paper to throw on the floor. Next, give her a tennis ball or small rubber ball to do the same.

Talk about the differences. “Oh look, that ball bounced. Oh look, the paper didn’t bounce. Here is a block. I wonder if it will bounce.”

When your baby throws food on the floor, she is probably wanting to see if it will bounce!

Games for Enjoying Music with Children

Children of all ages express themselves through music. Even at an early age children sway, bounce, and move their hands in response to the music they hear.

Here are two games for enjoying music with your children.

Growing Up

Pretend to be a little seed just planted in the ground.
Water the little seed.
Let the sun shine on the little seed.
Sing the scale and pretend to grow as the music goes up.
Singing the scale means: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do....just like in the song "Doe a deer, a female deer."
When you come to the last note in the scale, say "Look, now I'm a beautiful flower!"

Now It's Time

Sit on the floor with your child and do what the words say.
Sing to the tune of "London Bridge."

Now it's time to touch our nose
Touch our nose, touch our nose
Now it's time to touch our nose
My fair (child's name)

Now it's time to blink our eyes
Now it's time to touch our toes
Now it's time to shake our feet
Now it's time to stand up tall
Now it's time to sit back down

Set the Stage for Future Learning

The games in this section are designed for parents, grandparents and all adults who want to nurture their toddlers mentally as well as emotionally. Each game involves simple words, movements and interactions that cultivate one or more of the basic skills --language, thinking, social and physical manipulation -- that set the stage for all future learning.

Car Puppets

This game will keep your toddler occupied in the car and develop her language skills.

Draw a face on each of your child's thumbs with a felt tip marker.
Name the thumb puppets so that you can talk to them. "Hello, funny face," or "How are you, Billy?"
As you drive, talk to the thumb puppets. Your toddler can talk back to you or just move his thumbs up and down in reply.
Here are some things that you can say to the puppets.
"Do you see that red car?"
"Look at the beautiful trees."
"Red light stop, green light go."
Ask the puppets to join you in singing a familiar song like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."
Play for three to five minutes

Color Walk

This game will help your child recognize colors for visual and vocabulary development.

Take your toddler on a color walk through your house. Select a certain color toy and take it with you.
Find one or two objects in each room that are the same color as the toy you are carrying.
Talk about what you've found. For example, "Bobby's yellow shirt is the same color as your yellow ball," or "My blue blouse is the same color as your blue block."
Another variation of this game is to carry a laundry basket around, collecting toys and other objects of the same color.

Essential Ingredient in Infant Care

The most essential ingredient in infant care is a warm, responsive, and dependable adult caregiver. Try to spend lots of time holding, cuddling, and playing with the infants in your care. You will be richly rewarded with babbles, smiles, and squeals of laughter.

Here are are two games to play that help an infant’s neurons connect to parts of the brain that develop confidence and trust. Recommended for 3-6 month old infants.

Nuggle Nose

Hold your baby in the air and say, “Nose, nose, nuggle nose.”
On the word “nuggle,” bring him down and touch your nose to his.
Keep repeating this game touching noses on the word “nuggle.”
After you have played this a few times, say the word “nuggle” more than one time, always touching noses on the word “nuggle.”
For example, say “nuggle, nuggle, nuggle, nose.”

Gently touching your baby will make him feel secure and safe, enabling him to become confident and, eventually, independent.

Going Up the Escalator

Hold onto baby’s fingers and gently lift baby’s arms as you say the following rhyme:
Going up the escalator
Up, up, up.
Going down the escalator
Down, down, down.
Lift your baby’s legs and say the rhyme.
Continue lifting different parts of your baby’s body, saying the rhyme each time.
Try ending with lifting him up in the air and down.
Always give a kiss on the down part.

Loving attachments help babies develop trust.

Learning with Play

Here is a quick and easy activity you can do with your toddler to show them how household goods are used as you play!

Select several objects such as a toothbrush, a spoon, or a cup that your toddler is familiar with and uses on a regular basis.
Sit on the floor and put the objects in front of you.
Pick up one object, such as the toothbrush, and pretend to brush your teeth.
Pick up each object and pretend to use it.
Ask your toddler to pick up one of the objects and show you how he would use it.
This is a great game to develop your toddler’s thinking skills and help him imagine other things to do with the same object, such as using a cup to drink from and for pouring.

Clap Your Hands!

Here is a simple activity to try with your infant or toddler as they learn about the speed and rhythm of music!

Sing this familiar song very slowly to the tune of "Row, Row, Your Boat.”
Clap, clap, clap your hands
Slowly every day. (clap your hands slowly)
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, (keep clapping)
Then we shout, "Hooray." (Jump up and down and shout "hooray" slowly…..”hoooo ray”)

Sing again faster.
Clap, clap, clap your hands
Faster every day. (clap your hands faster)
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Then we shout, "Hooray."

Sing this song with different actions. Always do the actions slowly at first, then speed them up. When children do fast and slow actions, they begin to internalize the concepts.
Other actions to try are: roll your hands, shake your hands, wave your hands, stamp your feet, and shake your hips.
Before a child can process language, he can process music. Early music experiences increase and enhance spatial-temporal reasoning and the learning of mathematical concepts.

Infants are Hardwired for Language!

In an article from Psychology Today, titled "Infant Brains Are Hardwired for Language", author Faith Brynie states:

Brain activity in the left hemisphere language centers can be detected in infants as young as five days. Behavioral experiments have demonstrated that days- or weeks-old infants can distinguish the "melody" of their native language from the pitches and rhythms of other languages. They can assess the number of syllables in a word and perceive a change in speech sounds (such as ba versus ga), even when they hear different speakers.

Here is a game to develop this wiring.

Talking Together

Infants make lots of sounds. Mimic the sounds that your baby makes. These sounds will later turn into words.
Take the words such as “ba ba” or “ma ma,” and turn them into sentences. “Ma ma loves you.” “Ba ba says the sheep.”
The more you repeat the baby’s sounds, the more she will be encouraged to make more sounds.
This is truly the beginning of a conversation between the two of you.

Connect With Conversation

Start a conversation with your baby. Say a short sentence like, “It is a beautiful day today.”
When your baby responds with some babble, stop talking and look into his eyes.
As your baby talks, respond with a nod of your head or a smile.
This indicates to your baby that you are listening to and enjoying his sounds.
Continue with another sentence. Always stop and listen to your baby’s response.
The number of words an infant hears each day dramatically influences his or her future intelligence, and scholastic achievements.

Develop and Stimulate Sight!

Neurons for vision begin forming the first few months of life. Activities that stimulate a baby’s sight will insure good visual acuity.

Pretty Light

When infants look at moving objects, a neuron from his retina makes a connection to another neuron in his visual part of the brain. He is literally wiring his vision.

Cover a flashlight with colored plastic wrap.
Hold your baby in your arms and turn on the flashlight.
Move it back and forth and watch as he follows the light.
Talk to him as you move the light
Pretty light
Pretty light
See the pretty, pretty, light.
Babies love to do this and they are making important connections in the brain.

Follow the Action

Babies love to look at faces, especially faces of people they love.
Try different facial expressions and sounds to develop your baby’s vision and hearing.
Here are some ideas:
Sing a song and use big movements with your mouth.
Blink your eyes.
Stick out your tongue.
Make contortions with your mouth.
Make lip sounds.
Cough or yawn.

Infant Rhythm

Newborns possess a natural response to music through their conditioning in the womb to rhythm, sound, and movement. Singing and rocking provide pleasure and security while rhythmical music encourages essential activities. Listening to songs and rhymes stimulates speech and concentration and the use of percussion instruments provides an emotional outlet and helps coordination.

Dance A Baby - 3-6 months

This is a variation of an old English rhyme called “Dance a Baby Diddy
Hold your baby under her arms and dance her on a soft surface.
Say the rhyme and do the actions.
Dance a baby diddy
What can I do widdy
Sit on a lap - put your baby on your lap
And give her a pat - gently pat her cheek
Dance a baby diddy, dance a baby diddy - go back to dancing
The connections of the rhythm, movement and bonding make for good brain wiring in the future.

Infant Development

Research has shown that the more an infant is cuddled, snuggled and held, he will be more secure and independent by the time he is two years old.

Even in utero, human babies begin to recognize the muffled voices of those who care for them. By 10 days of age, they can distinguish the smell of their mother's breast milk from that of another woman. Around 5 weeks, babies demonstrate a preference for their primary caretakers by smiling or vocalizing. They follow them intently, first with their eyes, then later on hands and knees. By 9 months, many infants scream when their parents try to leave, as if to say, "I can't bear being without you!"

And so it is that babies fall in love with their caregivers. Psychologists, of course, have a less romantic name for it: attachment.

Gently touching your baby will make him feel secure and safe. Here are some games that will build confidence, independence and grow the brain.

Snuggle Buggle - I Love You

Develops Bonding

Hold your baby in your arms and rock her back and forth.
As you rock, say the words “Snuggle, buggle, I love you.”
On the word “you” kiss a part of her body. ...head, nose, toes, etc.
Soon, your little one will be offering you parts of her body to kiss.

Babies respond to “parentese.” That’s the high pitched voice sound that you make when you are talking to your baby.

Baby Talk –

Develops Language

When you speak “parentese” to infants, you are communicating with them and encouraging vocal responses. This in turn develops language.
Say things like “you’re such a sweet baby” or “ look at those pretty little toes.”
As you speak sentences in parentese, hold the baby close to your face and look directly into her eyes.