Home environment music making

What you need

• A few objects that make sound from your house. For example, a saucepan and wooden spoon to use as drums, 2 metal lids to bang together, a packet of pasta (you can put some in a box with a lid) to shake, keys to shake, a bottle of water to shake, your hands to clap.
• A box to place the ‘instruments’ in so they’re hidden during the game.

Benefits

• Sounds recognition, rhythm and coordination, fine and gross motor development.

The experience

The best part of this game is walking around the house with your child to find interesting instruments. As you go into each room, test different objects with your child’s help and find out if they make a sound.

When you have found a few, gather them together. As you both settle on the floor, describe them to your child, giving him/her the opportunity to explore them using his/her senses.

Together you can find out what movement makes interesting sounds? Shake? Drum? Roll?

How loud will you play? You can introduce the concept of rhythm: count ‘one...two’ as you shake the keys twice and repeat this a few times. Your child might imitate your movements.