By simply making art materials, music and dress up clothes available, you allow your children the freedom to explore and create. The arts connect all areas of learning and are fundamental to healthy growth. Sometimes you can create your own fine arts experiences at home, and other times, community events are the perfect setting for exploring new topics and sparking an interest.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Turn up the volume and play different types of music for your child. Have fun and move to the beat or rhythm. Don’t have your own collection of music? Visit your local library and borrow some CDs.
- Make your own musical instruments. Take paper towel tubes, oatmeal or Pringles containers and cereal boxes. Fill them with anything that will rattle (pebbles, rice, cereal etc.). Decorate them and start shaking and tapping.
- As you read a story like Jump, Frog, Jump by Robert Kalan, allow your child to be the frog and jump, or read Eric Carle’s From Head to Toe and have fun stomping, kicking and making monkey noises.
- Playing Dress Up is fun for little girls and boys. If you do not have pretend clothes, look in your own closet and borrow a few items. Children build imagination, vocabulary and cooperation skills while playing together in their pretend world. They also mimic what they see.
Did you know that singing songs and listening to nursery rhymes builds vocabulary and comprehension skills?
Children are listening, improving their memory and learning how sounds and rhymes work together for language and reading skills. Try acting out a nursery rhyme and doing movements together.
Would you like a new game idea?
Play “If I were a …” and start a sentence for your child to finish, this builds vocabulary, uses imagination and creativity and critical thinking skills. For example, “If I were an elephant wandering in Africa I would …” Let your child finish the sentence.
Have fun and do not forget to play along. Allow your child to make some suggestions that you act out or complete.