Music and Movement

Just like exercise, young children need music every day. When adults turn on any kind of music or sing, young children naturally move and sing along. Latest research shows the links between music and reading-readiness in young children. Here are some suggestions to help you interact through music with your children and grandchildren the same way you do with language interactions.
Materials:
All kinds of music cardboard and plastic containers paper towel tubes small ball wooden spoons
What to do:
Music activities require neither specific skills nor special competence. Adults and children can enjoy peppy music in the morning and relaxing soft music at lunch, during car rides, before naps and bedtimes.
Marching Band and Exercise
John Phillip Sousa had it right! Sing a march and get moving. If you don’t have marching music, go to www.youtube.com, and search for your favorite college band. Once you have the music, make some instruments. Drums are most popular and easiest to make. Find boxes, plastic containers, and wooden spoons.
The largest box can be a big bass drum. Smaller ones can be snare drums. Listen to the beat and drum together. Drum soft, loud, fast and slow. Try a kazoo (about $1). You can make a homemade kazoo by folding a piece of wax paper over the tooth edge of a comb and humming through the paper. For a trumpet, cover one end of a paper towel roll with wax paper and secure it with a rubber band. Punch a row of holes along one side of the roll with a pen tip. Hum into the open end while covering and uncovering hole to produce different sounds. To make chimes, tie washers on to a ruler and play with a spoon.
Pick up the drums and pretend to be called onto the football field. Marching is great exercise. March right, left, backwards, and turn around. Stop by a football game to watch the band or catch a band practice. Many cities and schools have band concerts you can attend through the year. 

Illustration by Mark Nowicki

Change Activities Without a Fuss

Setting time limits with a timer helps them go from one activity to the next. They learn a sequence of activity, stop, and change to a new activity without a fuss. Even more importantly, giving children undivided time is very important. Choose an activity like playing with play dough which builds fine motor skills and imagination. All the while you are preparing young children for preschool and still getting some work done around the house. 
Listen to this activity online at the WNMU Podcasts 

Materials:

kitchen timer,  play dough,  kitchen drawer items

What to do: 
1. Choose a timer.
2. Choose an activity like making play dough. Set the timer for one hour and give your children 100% of your attention. Explain what you are going to do and play together until the timer rings.
3. Make the recipe to the right. With help, children can measure the ingredients, stir, and choose food coloring. Let the dough cool and knead it well.
4. While the dough cools in the refrigerator, collect a container of play dough toys: cookie cutters, measuring cups, spoons, plastic silverware, a cookie sheet to work on, muffin tin, and plates for serving pretend food. Find trucks to cart away play dough food and other materials to the grocery store in a play dough city you construct. Leave time to play.
5. Five minutes before the timer rings, remind children the timer will ring shortly and that means your playtime together is finished. When the timer rings, remind them they may continue playing while you do some work around the house.
6. Set the timer for the amount of time you need. Children may want to play with puzzles or art supplies instead of play dough. When the timer rings, it’s time to change the activity. They have been playing quietly so it’s time to run around and be active. (See large motor activities.)

How will this help my children?
Setting time limits with a timer helps them go from one activity to the next. They learn a sequence of activity, stop, and change to a new activity without a fuss. Playing with play dough builds fine motor skills and imagination.
NEVER FAIL PLAY DOUGH RECIPE

1cup flour
1⁄2 cup salt
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 cup water food coloring
Mix all ingredients together in a 3 qt. saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture begins to stick together. Remove from heat. Cool slightly. Begin kneading. Store in plastic bags.

Illustration: Mark Nowicki
For more fall activities to help your children succeed in school and have a life time of learning see the authors’ book Learning Through the Seasons in museums, bookstores, and in E-book form atSmashwords.com

Activities That Prepare Children to Read

Vigorous physical activity is a big part of each day to keep young children healthy, but adults need to plan for quiet activities too.   While some limited TV time is OK, what are some other quiet easily managed activities you can set up? For more fall activities to help your children succeed in school and have a life time of learning see the authors’ book Learning Through the Seasons in museums, bookstores, and in E-book form atSmashwords.com. 

Materials Needed:  magazines, paper, crayons, markers, scissors, paint set, Q’tips, yarn, water, small rocks, white glue, 

What To Do:

Reading

 The number one priority is reading, reading, and reading!  Read to children several times every day and visit the library to check out books and attend free library programs. Children’s non-fiction books, also known as “true books,” are filled with pictures, new vocabulary and fascinating facts. They prepare young children to become curious, enthusiastic readers and lifelong learners who continue the search for information. Listen to this WNMU Public Radio 90 Podcast to find out about your library resources and many other ideas and activities to use when reading non-fiction to help your children learn and prepare them for reading.

Painting with Water

   Take a science walk and collect rocks of various colors, sizes, and shapes. At home, set your children up with a waterproof area and provide a small paintbrush or Q’tip and a bowl of water to help build up the small muscles of their hands. These muscles must be strong to print letters.  Show how to “paint” the rocks with water and notice how the color shows up like magic.  

 Pet Rocks 

   Help children use permanent markers to draw a face on the surface of favorite large rocks. Help them glue on a little yarn to make hair. Teach a dot of glue does a lot. Teachers will love you. Can you think of a good name for each? Place the rock on your table, desk, bookcase, or garden.

Crayon Resist

  Use a crayon on paper to carefully print your young children’s names in big letters.   Use a capital for the first letter and lower case for the following letters.  Then use water with a little paint color to make a wash over the whole sheet.  The name will stand out and be a perfect door decoration or book cover for a whole series of pictures.  Use dots or dashes to outline names. Show children how to start at the top of each letter to correctly follow the dots to print their names. Praise what they can do. They’ll try their best.

 Favorite Pictures  

  Using old grocery fliers and magazines, help children choose and cut out pictures of favorite flowers, fruits, animals, vegetables, and toys.  Print each blank paper with a picture title, for example:” My Favorite Fruits.”  Let the kids cut, sort and paste the pictures.  Talk with children about choices and use a marker to print the name of each item. This is a good activity to practice letters and beginning sounds of each word.  Very young children should work on only one category at a time. All these activities encourage creativity, build vocabulary and make the connection between reading and writing.

Photos by: 

Hall, Donna. ddc598.jpg. May 2008. Pics4Learning. 14 Jan 2013 http://pics.tech4learning.com

Hall, Donna. ddc599.jpg. May 2008. Pics4Learning. 14 Jan 2013 http://pics.tech4learning.com

Hall, Donna. ddc567.jpg. May 2008. Pics4Learning. 14 Jan 2013 http://pics.tech4learning.com 

iPad Apps for Young Children

Exploring new electronic games and activities is very engaging and can be great learning tools for young children. Technology expert, Richard Byrne, has collected a recommended list of these apps on his web site: iPad Apps for School. Look in the pre-school section found at: http://ipadapps4school.com/category/pre-k/ to see this varied list of activity apps.

Richard includes apps for recognizing emotions, reading, writing practice, story creation, a virtual zoo, and many more. Many of these are free and some are available for both iPad and Android platforms.

Check these out on iTunes or through Richard's site. As always, make sure children vary their time with physical activities and other interactions.  Time on electronic devices should be a healthy balance with many other daily activities.

Enjoy!

Taking a Bus Trip

A city Bus Ride helps youngsters as they watch older children go to school and are sad to be left behind, or sometimes caregivers just need to get outside for daily activities, even in cold winter months. A city bus ride is inexpensive, makes children feel special, and can teach many skills.

Materials Needed:

 Bus schedule, city map, and change

What to do:

  In advance, call the bus station for the schedule, closest bus stop, cost, and rules for snacks. Many cities have all the information on-line. Public transportation is  a cheap way to explore.  Buses will often go by museums and other community stops, but you can ride just for the fun of it. Keep the trip short and give children the fare to pay themselves. Teach good bus safety habits like sitting and using a soft voice.

  Because objects might be zooming by, keep the activities simple.  Depending upon the children’s ages, search for objects of a certain color, count the number of white trucks, stop signs, traffic lights, or gas stations. Look for different shapes like squares, rectangles, rhombuses (diamonds), trapezoids, circles, octagons (stop signs) and triangles. You could also look for the alphabet.

   Teach simple economics by pointing out delivery trucks bringing goods to stores and people unloading boxes. Explain that it takes trucks, many people, and hard work to get food and merchandise in stores.

   Look for police cars, city workers, mail carriers, emergency vehicles, school buses, package delivery trucks, and explain what they are doing and that it takes many people working together to make a community.

  You can teach a little geography, too. Point out hills, rivers, highways, turns in the road, intersections, bridges, and other features. Use a route map to show children where you are and track your progress.

How will this help my child?

Children need carefree conversations that are more than directions to get dressed, eat their vegetables, brush their teeth, etc. These conversations with adults help build vocabulary to use in reading and writing.

  Conversation with young children takes a little practice, but it is absolutely essential for success in school. If adults ask children to look for things, listen for sounds, and describe what is going on, children will start asking questions and the conversation will flow.

What Other Activities Can We Do?

  Occasionally take the bus with young children to visit other places in your city like libraries, the credit union, bank, post office, museums, recycling center, public buildings, markets, religious buildings, and sport centers.

Illustration by: Mark Nowicki

For more winter activities to help your children succeed in school and have a life time of learning see the authors’ book Learning Through the Seasons in museums, bookstores, and in E-book form atSmashwords.com.