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| Susan
Docherty (MacArthur Early Childhood Center) says that after reading
Eric Carle's The Very Busy Spider, the children used black markers
to draw spider webs on white paper. They then used red markers to draw
their own idea of what their spider caught in their web. The children dictated
what their spiders caught and Susan wrote it on their paper. The children
sang "spider" songs. Their favorite was "The Itsy Bitsy Spider, The Middle-Sized
Spider, and The Great Big Spider." The children played games with plastic
spider rings; naming body parts while placing the spider on various parts
of their body and playing "Spider, Spider, Who has the Spider?"
Andrea Zyvert (Rockfordís Children's Development Center) is working with several families that are Spanish speaking. She is planning to send home expressive art activity ideas and material packets, both in English and in Spanish, for families to enjoy with their children.
In the first two years of life, virtually all kinds of music are valuable for the child's later musical development. Let children hear any sort of music, from the masterpieces of western culture to folk music, bluegrass, country and western, gospel, rock and roll, so-called "kiddie" songs, and music from other cultures. Short pieces up to four minutes long are best. Take time to listen to this music with the children, and allow them to move to the rhythm (at this age youngsters can barely sit still). Don't forget to express your own enjoyment by smiling, singing along, or tapping time. |
Encourage
children to make and explore sounds: pot lids struck together (within limits),
bells, drums, whistles, rattles, even tones from partially empty soda bottles
are all interesting to small children. The key here is interaction. Children
learn best by doing, so make different sound sources available to them
and encourage their exploration. Music boxes or other toys that play prescribed
sets of notes preclude exploration and do little for a child's musical
learning.
Once you have created a musical environment in your classroom, stimulate interest and continue the process by trying the following.
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