Five Plum Peas and The Salad Game

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 Toddlers

Five Plum Peas

A delightful action poem that uses fine motor skills and alliteration.

Five plum peas in a peapod pressed.
One grew, two grew, so did all the rest
They grew and they grew and they never stopped,
They grew so big that the peapod popped! 

Make fists with your hands and press the knuckles together.

On "one", straighten your thumbs and touch the tips together.

On "two", do the same with your index fingers. 

Continue with your middle fingers, ring fingers and pinkies on "so," "all," and "rest," respectively. 

Now you should have your hands palm to palm, with the finger tips touching. 

As you say "they grew and they grew" you start moving your hands apart, showing bigger and bigger . . . slow it down . . . stretch it out . . . by the time you get so big "that the peapod" you should be reaching as wide as possible then on "POPPED" you clap your hands together very fast and very loud.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence –“ Show me how you made the pea pods pop.”

For developing the idea –“ Can you say “pea pods pop” slowly? Now can you say it fast?”

For moving forward – “What other words start with the same sound as “pea pods”? (some ideas…pepper, potty, pickle)

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The Salad Game

You will need:

A chef’s hat

Pictures of foods that are in a salad.

Seat the children in a circle.

Talk about salads and the different ingredients that are in a salad.

If possible get a chef's hat to play this game. Choose one child to be the chef and she stands in the middle of the circle.

Each of the children sitting on the circle decide what food they would like to be if they were in a salad. Go around the circle and let each child tell you what food they are. If someone can't think of something, you can help them. It is okay for the children to repeat the same foods.

Say to the chef. "Chef, would you like some lettuce in your salad?" The chef answers, "Yes, I would like some lettuce in my salad." 

Whoever is the lettuce (it can be more than one person) gets up and goes into the middle of the circle and stands next to the chef.)

Continue on until every child is in the circle. Then say "Toss the salad!" and all the children jump up and down until you say, "Time to eat the salad."

Children really like this game.

Song: Fruits and Vegetables by Jackie Silberg. Can be found on award winning CD Touched By a Song.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence - What do you like to eat in your salad?

For developing the idea – If you were making salad, what would you put in it?

For moving forward – When you go to the super market, what are some of the salad vegetables that you see there?

Drum Songs and I Use My Brain

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.

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.



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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.

1. Clap the rhythm of the poem. Notice that the rhythm is the same every other line.

2.Clap two lines and speak two lines.

3. 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.

Products from Discount School Supply® that I recommend:
Indestructible™ Infant Books - Set of 6 (INDY)

Nursery Rhymes, Games and Songs - Set of 3 Board Books (FUNBK)

Bilibo® (BILIBO)

Babbles and In and Out

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

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.

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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.