Age: approx. 6 months to 2 years
Materials: Cake tins of varying sizes/shapes, things for banging (wooden spoon, maraca etc.)
Set out some cake tins around baby and provide them with something to bang.
Let them explore themselves.
Let baby bang with their hands and various other materials to see the difference in sound
Baby is Learning:
- Fine motor skills
- Gross motor skills
- Gross motor skills
- Hand and eye coordination
- Cause and effect (ie. hitting the tin makes a sound)
- Expectation
- Expectation
- About sounds
- Different things make different sounds
- Beats and rhythm
- Different things make different sounds
- Beats and rhythm
- Emotions. Enjoyment & excitement.
- What to do
- Sensory. Feel of the metal, different textures on the tins, smoothness of the wood, sounds etc
Handy Tips:
- Simplify this activity by sitting baby on your lap and giving them something to bang on a tin
- Extend this activity for older babies by changing some of the metal tins for plastic. What's the difference in sound? See the different sounds made when the tin is empty or full. What happens when you hit the tin hard or soft? Does the size of the tin make a difference?
- Mix it up by encouraging baby to try hitting the tins with lots of different materials, from hard things to soft materials. So many different sounds can be made with the same tins.
- Repeat this activity as often as you like as babies (and children) need repetition in order to consolidate their learning and understanding
- Talk to your baby about what they are doing. This will help them begin to understand the physical and mental processes they are going through as well as helping develop their vocabulary. "Wow, that was a loud sound!" "Listen to the rhythm baby"
- Play with baby. Once they have explored on their own you can show them what hitting the tins in different ways can do and have rock band together! Just have fun!
- Supervise. Babies need constant supervision.
Happy playing,
Debs :)
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