Activity 1- Matching sounds

 

Sit with your child. Provide a selection of percussion instruments if you have any or if not improvise with pans, jugs, spoons, a whisk etc. Start the game by playing an instrument. The instrument is then passed to your child and they must use it to make the same sound or pattern of sounds as you. Start with a single sound like a bang, and then gradually increase the difficulty by having a more complex sequence of sounds or different rhythms.

 

Look, listen and note how well your child:

■ Is able to remember and repeat a rhythm 

■ Discriminate and reproduce loud and quiet sounds

■ Is able to start and stop playing at the signal

 

 

Activity 2- Rhyming soup

 

Sit on the floor with your child so they can see a selection of rhyming objects (e.g. rat, hat, cat) placed on the floor. Use a bowl and spoon as props to act out the song. Invite your child to choose an object to put into the soup and place it in the bowl. After each turn, stir the soup and sing the following song to recite the growing list of things that end up in the soup.

Sing the first part of the song to the tune of ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’:

 

I’m making lots of silly soup

I’m making soup that’s silly

I’m going to cook it in the fridge To make it nice and chilly

In goes… a fox… a box… some socks…

 

Look, listen and note how well your child:

• name the objects they choose to add
• identifies that the objects rhyme or they may say that they sound the same