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.

Singing with Bells / Funky Sounds

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 for Infants and Toddlers

Singing with Bells

Place a jingle bell inside an empty film canister. Tape or glue the lid on securely. Shake the canister and sing familiar songs like "This Old Man," "A B C Song," and "One Elephant."

Play this game with the bell.

Sing to the tune of "If You’re Happy and You Know It."

Shake the bell in the air, in the air, (hold your hands over your head to shake the bell)
Shake the bell in the air, in the air,
Shake the bell in the air and hold it up right there,
Shake the bell in the air, in the air.
Shake the bell on the side, on the side, (hold hands to one side for shaking)
Shake the bell on the side, on the side,
Shake the bell on the side as you smile very wide,
Shake the bell on the side, on the side.
Shake the bell down below, down below, (shake the bell below your knees)
Shake the bell down below, down below.
Shake the bell down below and smile and say “hello,”
Shake the bell down below, down below.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence - “This jingle bell will make our singing sound beautiful.” Sing several familiar songs and shake the bells.

For developing the idea –“Which song did you like singing? Can you think of another song we could sing?”

For moving forward – “Do we have to shake our bells all through the song or could we shake them at certain times?” Try singing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and only shaking the bells on word “lamb.”

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

 

Funky Sounds

 

Brain research says that auditory discrimination of various types of sounds must be developed in order to be able to process letter sounds.

 

This activity is an important pre-reading experience.

Locate several types of containers with lids.

 

Fill each container with a different object such as sand, buttons, bells, stones, beads, birdseed, etc.

 

Securely attach the lid with super glue and/or tape. You can decorate the outside of the container if you like.

 

Give your child the opportunity to shake and make some noise with each filled container. You may even wish to leave one container empty just for novelty.

 

Talk to your child about the different types of sounds you hear when the container is shaken.

 

Choose familiar songs to sing as you shake the different containers. You might sing some of them loudly or softly, in a high or a low voice. Let the sound help you decide what to do with your voice.

 

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Shake each container and talk about how it sounds. Is it loud or soft? Is it light or heavy? Is it tinkley or thundering?

 

For developing the idea - Select a container and ask your child to select one also. Choose a familiar song and sing and shake together.

 

For moving for forward – Go outside with your child. Listen to the different sounds. Airplanes, birds, the wind and cars.

 

Products from Discount School Supply® that I recommend:

Wooden Wind Chimes - set of 12 (BREEZY)

Kitchen Bottle Collection - set of 5 (BOTTLES)

Big Mouth Animal Puppets - set of 8 (FUNPUP)

Brawny Tough Jingle Wrap - set of 10 (JBELLSET)

Gold Jingle Bells - 150 pieces (BELLS)

Cluster Bells (CLUS)

 

Outside Exploring / Seek and Ye Shall Find

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

 

Outside Exploring

 

Brain research says that early childhood experiences exert a dramatic and precise impact, physically determining how the intricate neural circuits of the brain are wired.

 

The brain takes in information through the senses (sight, smell, touch, taste, and sound) and translates that information into a response.

 

Playing outside on a lovely day is a wonderful way to experience all of the senses.

 

There are so many things to do.

 

Let your baby crawl in the grass while you crawl along with him.

 

Name each thing that your baby seems interested in.

 

Smell flowers, tickle with grass, look for bugs, etc.

 

Rolling over in the grass is fun to do and your baby will enjoy the light, prickly feel of it.

 

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence – Say to your baby, “We are having fun playing outside.”

 

For developing the idea – Do activities that use the senses. Look at flowers, smell the flowers, listen to the birds, touch the grass, and taste some herbs.

 

For moving forward – Repeat the same activities and use say the name of the body parts you are using. For example, “I see the flowers with my eyes.” or, “I smell the flowers with my nose.” Continue on with all of the senses.

 

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

 

Seek and Ye Shall Find

 

Brain research says that an infant’s brain can discern every possible sound in every language. By ten months, babies have learned to screen out foreign sounds and to focus on the sounds of their native language.

 

Listening for the source of a sound is a very good game for developing auditory awareness.

 

This kind of game needs to be played in the early years to strengthen brain connections for the future.

 

You will need a wind-up clock that makes a nice sound.

 

Hold the clock and sing a little tick, tock song with your baby.

Tick, tock, tick tock

Goes the clock,
Tick, tock

 

Now take the clock and put it under a pillow.

 

Ask your little one, “Where is the tick tock?”

 

Help guide him to the clock, using the sound to locate it. Once he understands how to play this game, he will want to do it again and again.

 

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence – Hide the clock in the same place several times so that your baby will know exactly where it is.

 

For developing the idea –Begin hiding the clock in different places while your baby is watching you.

 

For moving forward – Ask your little one “where shall we hide the clock?”

 

Recommended Products from Discount School Supply®:

Time Buddy (AP40015J)
 

 

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)

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

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?

Color Clothes

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.

FOR TODDLERS
Tell Me What it Says 

The brain likes novelty. By exploring and investigating new sounds, the brain seeks to connect the learning to an already existing pattern or begins the process of creating a new pattern for understanding.

You will need pictures of a baby, a clock, a bird, a drum, and water
The teacher asks the question and the children give the answer.
First, tell the child what the baby says. Then ask the question:
Tell me what the baby says.
Ma ma, ma, ma
Continue on telling the answer and then asking the question.

Tell me what the baby says
Da da da da
Tell me what the clock says
Tick, tock, tick, tock
Tell me what the birdie says
Tweet. Tweet, tweet, tweet
Tell me what the drum says
Boom, boom, boom, boom
Tell me what the water says
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, gurgle
Depending on the age of the baby, ask the appropriate number of questions.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:
For building confidence: Let’s make these sounds again.
For developing the idea: Let’s look through magazines and find pictures of things with other sounds
For moving forward: What are some things in our classroom that make sounds? (door, water running, footsteps)

~~~~~~~~

Color ClothesSit the children in a circle.
Ask them to look at their clothes carefully to see the different colors that they are wearing.
Tell them that you are going to ask them questions about the color of their clothes.
If a question applies to them, they should stand up.
Sometimes more than one child will be standing.
Make up questions about their clothes.

Who is wearing black shoes?
Who has a jacket on?
Who is wearing a belt?
It is fun for them to see which children are similar to one another.
Once you have played the game awhile, ask if anyone else would like to ask a question about someone’s clothing. You will find that your older toddlers will volunteer.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence: Tell me about the shoes that you are wearing. What color are they?
For developing the idea: Does anyone else have on shoes that look like your shoes?
For moving forward: Let’s look through some magazines and try to find a hat, a belt, brown shoes, and a dress.

Acting Out Sounds

Learning Objective – Acting out Sounds
Let the children act out sound words. Make up a sentence using a sound word.

Instead of saying the word, let the children make the sound and move accordingly. For example:

First there were small raindrops and there was loud ---------(thunder sounds)

I see a fire...here comes the ---------. (fire engine sounds)
The drummer was playing on the ------. (drum sounds)

Ideas that take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence - “Let’s make some like thunder sounds, some fire engine sounds and some drum sounds.

For developing the idea – What sounds do you make in the morning? (wash face, brush teeth, drink milk)

For moving forward - What are some of the sounds that you hear at your house?

Book Suggestion - Bow Wow! Meow! A First Book of Sounds (Little Golden Book)

=======================================

Learning Objective – Understanding Vocabulary
This rhyme helps toddlers understand and use vocabulary.

Say the following rhyme and point to each part of the body.

You are also saying words that begin with the same sound

I’ll touch my chin, my cheek, my chair
I’ll touch my head, my heels, my hair
I’ll touch my knees, my neck, my nose
Then I’ll bend and touch my toes.
Ideas that take this activity to the next level:
For building confidence -“Let’s name all the words in the rhyme that start with “nnn sound..”

For developing the idea – Where is your neck? Where are your knees?

For moving forward - Let’s look in this book and find someone’s neck, knees and nose.

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.

Nursery Rhymes

Nursery rhymes can play an important part in children’s lives. For many children, nursery rhymes are the first songs and stories that they hear.

I remember as a child learning and singing nursery rhymes at home and at school. Think about the ones that you know and teach them to your children.

Nursery rhymes stimulate memory, improve language skills, develop appreciation for music, enrich vocabulary, phonemic awareness, encourage thinking skills, and develop pre-reading skills….and best of all, they are fun!

LITTLE MISS MUFFET
Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider and sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

This is a lot of fun to role play. You will need a group of children.

The children take turns being Miss Muffet pretending to eat curds and whey. Another child pretends to sneak up behind her as the spider. Students are encouraged to scream a really good "eeek!"

I wrote an additional verse to Miss Muffet. It appears on the Sniggles, Squirrels, and Chickenpox CD and in the I Love Children Songbook.

Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet
Eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider and sat down beside her
And said “what a very nice day.”

WHO AM I?
Using nursery rhymes that your children are familiar with, play this game.

When the subject is identified, everyone says the nursery rhyme together.

Give clues to nursery rhyme characters. For example:
I am a girl.
I have an animal that follows me to school.

Mary Had a Little Lamb
Mary had a little lamb
Its fleece as white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went
That lamb was sure to go.


It followed her to school one day,
Which was against the rules,
It made the children laugh and play,
To see a lamb at school.

Clue: I am a mouse
I like to run up and down clocks

Hickory, Dickory, Dock
Hickory, dickory, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse did run,
Hickory, dickory, dock.

Clue: I am round.
I sat on a wall and fell down.

Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King's horses and all the King's men,
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

Nursery rhymes will help stimulate your child's memory, improve their language skills and develop their appreciation for music.