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.”

1. March around the room and sing the song. Act out each part that says, “the little one stopped to...”

2. Substitute other actions for the word marching, as follows:

The ants go skipping . . .
The ants go hopping . . .
The ants go swimming . . .

3. Experiment with ant voices. Teeny, squeaky voices are lots of fun.

4. 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?”

Vary the musical sounds from high to low, loud to soft, and fast to slow.

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
The size of a toddler's vocabulary is strongly correlated with how much an adult talks to the child, reports Janellen Huttenlocher of the University of Chicago. At 20 months, children of chatty mothers averaged 131 more words than children of less talkative mothers; at 2 years, the gap had more than doubled to 295 words.

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.

Soon, a conversation will ensue and the language will flow.

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.