Three Little Kittens / Clothes Conversation

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

 

Three Little Kittens

 

This wonderful poem is great for acting out. Choose someone to be the mother and three children for the kittens.

 

Three little kittens
They lost their mittens
And they began to cry,
Oh, mother dear, we sadly fear
Our mitten we have lost.
What! Lost your mittens,
You naughty kittens!
Then you shall have no pie.
Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow.
No, you shall have no pie.

 

The three little kittens
They found their mittens,
And they began to cry,
Oh, mother dear, see here, see here,
Our mittens we have found.
Put on your mittens,
You silly kittens,
And you shall have some pie.
Purr-r, purr-r, purr-r,
Oh, let us have some pie. 

    ~ Author Unknown

 

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Ask the children, "Have you ever lost something? How did it make you feel?"

 

For developing the idea – Ask the children, "Where could the kittens look for their mittens? Your hands!"

 

For moving forward - "Let’s say the poem again. You be the mother and I will be one of the kittens."

 

If you are in a classroom, say the poem together with all of the children and let them act out the various parts. They love to do the crying parts!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Clothes Conversation

Show the children three kinds of clothing. For example, a boot, a heavy jacket, and a hat. Try to select articles of clothing that the children wear and are familiar with.

 

Show one article of clothing at a time and talk about why people wear this kind of clothing. 

 

Make a list with the children of the different kinds of clothes that people wear.

 

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Ask the children, "Are you wearing any of the clothes that we talked about?"

 

For developing the idea – Ask the children, "Do you have boots? Where do you wear them?" Ask the same questions about other articles or clothing. If the child is wearing a sweater, then ask about the sweater.

 

For moving forward - Let’s look together at the magazines and you show me pictures of clothes to wear when it is cold. You can continue looking at magazines for clothes in different seasons, at different times of day, and at different places.

Head and Shoulders / Poetry in Rhythm

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



Head and Shoulders
Here is a new way to sing or say this popular song.
Head and shoulders baby, one, two, three
Head and shoulders baby, one, two, three
Head and shoulders
Head and shoulders
Head and shoulders baby, one, two three

Now say the words and do the actions.
Head and shoulders baby – touch your head and shoulders and clap on “baby.”
One – hold your right arm out straight to the side and clap once.
Two – hold your left arm out straight to the side and clap once.
Three – hold your right arm out straight to the side
Repeat Above
Next
Head and shoulders – do actions
Head and shoulders – do actions

Back to the Beginning

You can say this chant with any two body parts. Knees and ankles, nose and hips, etc.
Start slowly and go faster and faster.
 
Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence – "Let’s say the chant together and do the actions."

For developing the idea – "I’ll name a part of the body and you show me where it is."

For moving forward - "What are some other parts of the body that we could say in our chant?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Poetry in Rhythm
Music teaches the rhythm of language.

When you sing, you put vowels and consonants in a rhythmic pattern which enhances language.

Young children recognize words, sounds, rhythms, tones and pitches long before they talk, sing or dance. So, the more music your child has in her life, the better she will speak and read.

The following game develops rhythm through speech and develops wonderful listening skills.

Select a favorite poem or song.

I have chosen “Baa Baa Black Sheep” for this example.
Ask the children to “echo” what you say.

Adult - Baa, baa, black sheep
Children - Baa, baa, black sheep
Adult - Have you any wool?
Children - Have you any wool?
Adult - Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.
Children - Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.
Say each line and accent the first word.
BAA baa black sheep,
HAVE you any wool?

Now say two lines ..."Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool?"

Let the children say the next two lines, “Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full."

Think of interesting ways to say tor sing the words for the children to copy.

Speaking rhythmically is a wonderful pre-reading skill.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence – I’ll say some words and you copy what I say. (use the same or a different song.)

For developing the idea – This time I’m going to sing a song just using the word “la.” See if you can copy me.

For moving forward – You sing a song and I will copy you.

Products from Discount School Supply® that I recommend:
Multicultural Velour Soft Babies - set of 4 (ALL4BY)
Green Toys Pizza Parlor Set - 27 pieces (GRNPIZZA)
Musical Scarves Movement Set - 19 pieces (DANCESET)

To See and To Smell / Oh, My Goodness! Oh, My Gracious!

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

 

To See and To Smell

The current brain research says that what babies see and smell create brain connections. The external senses—vision, hearing, smell, and touch stimulate the neurons to connect with one another.

 

Exposing your baby to many different sensations will broaden his awareness of himself and the world.

 

Try gently rubbing your baby’s arms with different fabrics. Satin, silk, wool, and terrycloth are good fabrics to start with.

 

Use descriptive words as you rub the fabric on your baby’s arm. Some words that you can use are soft, silky, scratchy, cool, rough, and smooth.

 

Give your baby an opportunity to experience different smells. Go outside and smell the air, the flowers, the grass, and a leaf.

 

Cut in half a lemon, a lime, and an orange. Enjoy the smell of the freshly cut fruit.

 

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Repeat one of the activities for three consecutive days. 

 

For developing the idea – After three days, do the activity one time and then add a new activity. For example if you were rubbing a fabric on your baby’s arm, the new activity could be rubbing the same fabric on your baby’s cheek.

 

For moving forward – Give a fabric to your baby and let him rub it on your arm. Ask him to rub it on the parts of your body that you rubbed on him. 

 

Repeat the same idea by giving him a piece of fruit for you to smell. Respond with appropriate words.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Oh, My Goodness! Oh, My Gracious!

The newest brain research says that when children receive warm, responsive care, they are more likely to feel safe and secure and to be able to build attachments to others.

 

To encourage a sense of security and safe feelings, say the following to your child.

 

Oh, my goodness,

Oh, my gracious,

Look who’s here, look who’s here.

Oh, my goodness,

Oh, my gracious,

It’s my favorite (child’s name)

 

Hold your child close and give him a big hug.

 

Repeat the poem again and when you hug your child, hold him high in the air and then bring him down for a big kiss.

 

Try rocking him, slowly spinning him around, or any other loving motion.

 

Your little one will absolutely love this!

 

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Say the rhyme and leave out your child’s name for her to fill in. 

 

For developing the idea – Play the game using a stuffed animal and say the name of the stuffed toy. 

 

For moving forward – Clap your hands as you say the rhyme. When you come to the name at the end of the rhyme, hold your hands over your head and clap several times.