Category: Music play

Scarf Scuffle

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Scarf Scuffle (3)

Toddler’s love scarves, and of course you can always turn to go-to activities like dancing with them, or tossing them in the air to watch them float down, or crumpling them up into a tiny ball that pops open. But today, we headed outside with scarves to engage Veronika’s imagination a little, too!

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What could she be with her scarf? First up, we were fluttering birds and butterflies. She loved flapping and tweeting as she pranced around the patio this way.

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How about a flower growing? We pretended we were flowers stretching high towards the sun, the scarves rising up above our head. Pretending to be a leaf would work, too, fluttering down instead!

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Her favorite was when I wrapped one around her waist (this girl loves dress-up!), and told her she was a ballerina. She danced…

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…and twirled…

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…and went up on tippy-toe!

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What a wonderful way to imagine and play. Are there any favorite scarf games in your house? Please share in the comments!

Sprinkler Freeze Dance

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Sprinkler Freeze Dance (2)

This game is perfect for a summer day! You’ll have water to cool off, tunes to jam to, and a little bonding and learning thrown in.

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We changed into bathing suits and set up the sprinkler in the yard… so nothing was out of the ordinary yet. But this time, I cranked up the car stereo so the tunes were playing!

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If the music was on, we boogied. When the music paused, we showed Veronika how to freeze. Older siblings will love showing a toddler how to do this; big brother Travis threw in some fancy hip moves and footwork.

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Veronika started to catch on. And as soon as the music began again, her whole body bopped along.

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As an alternative version, make the freeze about the water speed, not the music. When the sprinkler turns off… Freeze! When it turns on again, bring back those dance moves.

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Veronika’s signature move was stomping in puddles.

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Here’s a quick clip of her moves. She’s got style!

You’ll definitely want to enlist the whole family for this one!

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Coffee Can Drum

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Coffee Can Drum (11)

We have several real drums that Veronika loves to bang on, but toddlers are even happier when things are sized just right for them. You can easily make a tot-sized drum that’s perfect for toddler hands with a few upcycled items.

To make the drum, clean out a coffee can and remove any outer labels. From there, Veronika was in charge of decoration! I gave her paper and markers and she was so proud drawing.

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I love that she’ll tell me what she’s drawing (“triangles”, “ten little buses”), even if the resemblance between her words and her scribbles isn’t apparent.

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I then adhered her artwork to the can using contact paper.

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Use hot glue to attach the lid of the can. If you have a spare lid from a second can, you could add it to the bottom for a two-sided drum.

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We actually preferred leaving the bottom metal, because this meant she could alternate the volume of her drumming; soft on the plastic lid, loud and pingy on the metal. There was even a third alternative, at mid-volume, if she drummed on the middle of the can!

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For an at-home mallet, I used hot glue to insert the lead end of a pencil into a wooden craft spool. Again, just the right size for toddler hands.

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And it turned out that leftover spools were excellent for stacking!

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Veronika was clearly so proud of her little drum.

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We put on music and got jamming.

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Not a coffee drinker? Simply use an empty oatmeal container instead. Don’t have spools and pencils? Just use an empty toilet paper tube!

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Just Dance

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Just Dance (6)

We had some great musical fun today, starting with this prompt: what mood was Travis in, and what music food that mood. In other words, what was his current theme song? Though I might have hoped the answer was something joyful and bouncy (I’m always up for rocking out to Can’t Stop the Feeling) I was not at all surprised that Travis picked Duel of the Fates from Star Wars. Hey, it fit his mood!

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So we got the music going and I challenged Travis to come up with two dance moves, one using just his hands, and one using just his feet. We soon had a little arm roll followed by a kick for 4 beats.

I encouraged him to think of the next steps. We talked about the term “choreography”, and soon had a routine involving twirls, waving feather boas in the air… and then improvising!

As the final touch, we raided the dress-up bin. Costumes would be a must!

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From here, the “dance” turned more into acting out this movie scene, too. What followed was half-acting, half-interpretive dance, and little sister joined in.

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With light saber props, of course!

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There are so many ways to elaborate on this activity. Have your child pick a song as their “theme” of the moment… or write their own song! Vary the costumes each time, or add props. Make it more of a dance routine, or more of a play as you act out a story to music.

I would love to hear about your dance fun in the comments, so please share! Without any further ado, here is The Travis:

Tiny Tambourine

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Tiny Tambourine (7)

Veronika’s online gym class always starts with shaking along instruments to the welcome song. I thought it would be fun to make at-home tambourines to shake along today!

You can use mini aluminum tart pans for this craft, but I decided to use mini paper plates instead so that Veronika could decorate them first. This girl loves using her markers!

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Once we had covered the plates in scribbles and shapes, I placed two plates together. I chose too different options for inside. Dried rice went into the first (which made a softer sound, more like a maraca)…

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…and pennies went into the second for a more jangly tambourine sound.

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Use a stapler to staple all around the edges. I recommend making sure your staples are right up against each other so none of the filling slips through the cracks.

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Time to shake along and start class!

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Veronika looked so proud of her homemade instrument.

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Paper Bag Shaker

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Paper Bag Shaker (6)

I came home from the grocery store with a few small paper bags today, the kind that’s just right for produce. Veronika immediately wanted to play with them, so we turned them into easy shakers!

First up was decorating with markers. Whenever she colors now, she names the color of each marker with such pride. “Black! Green! Yellow cap!”

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After this narrated decorating was through, I filled the bags with a little bit of unpopped corn kernels. (Dried beans or rice would work well, too). Secure with a rubber band. I added a ribbon on the first bag for a decorative touch, but she was more distracted by the ribbon than anything else, so we stuck to rubber bands on subsequent bags.

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We also learned by trial and error not to fill the bags too heavy with the popcorn. Lighter was much easier for her to shake.

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She got the hang of holding on to the top part (above the rubber band) for the best sound.

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And then there was just lots of exuberant shaking.

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I thought we might put on music, but I didn’t even get a chance! She just loved the cha cha cha noise these made. “Loud!” she said happily, and resumed shaking, often with one in each hand.

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Dance and Fall Down

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Sometimes the simplest activities are the best, and sometimes you just need to have a Saturday morning dance party. So there’s nothing more to this idea than that!

With Veronika a little aimless this morning, I put on some music. To make her laugh, we twirled and danced but then I said, “Fall down!” and showed her how to plop to the ground.

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The first few times, we sat down together.

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But then she got the hang of it. Twirl, and twirl, and twirl, and…

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…fall! This game will get giggles every time. Silly props like scarves and hats are not required of course, but certainly add to the fun.

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Funny Song

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Funny Song (2)

No doubt your toddler has firm opinions about favorite songs; Veronika certainly does! It’s amazing how quickly kids pick up on lyrics, not just when they are correct, but also when they are slightly off. One great trick for brain development is to sing a familiar song, but make one or two words different and silly. Then see if your child notices!

So today we didn’t have wheels on the bus. We had wheels on the… plane? This got giggles. Definitely use props for added laughs. For example, “Sun, sun go away” was silly to sing when she had the rain umbrella out.

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Did Old MacDonald have a farm… or a castle?

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Did the farmer have a dog named Bingo… or a cat instead?

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Veronika enjoyed most of the silly verses, but sometimes she wanted a song to stay true to the original. Twinkle twinkle little… cookie?

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This actually earned Veronika’s grumpy face! She loves stars so much that she wasn’t ready to hear a change to the lyrics. So we quickly went back to the original.

Coffee Can Games, Two Ways

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Jingle Bell Roller (5)

I had an empty coffee can in the house, and knew better than to recycle it; it would make a perfect prop for Veronika’s play. To wit, we found two great ways to use it today.

First up was a combination of art and musical play. To decorate the coffee can, I wrapped a piece of contact paper around it, sticky side out. I gave Veronika pieces of old gift wrap and old postcards so she could adorn the outside.

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Once it was decorated perfectly according to her toddler standards, I wrapped a second piece of contact paper on top, sticky side in, to seal her design.

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I then put small jingle bells inside the coffee can and secured the lid.

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Shake shake shake! We sang along (admittedly to unseasonable songs like Jingle Bells!) and she had a huge grin on her face.

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Then she discovered that she could roll the can along the floor and make it jingle. She chased it all around the house this way.

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The drawback to this game was that she wanted to open the lid and get at the bells inside, but I worried about them as a choking hazard. So we repurposed the coffee can! I cut a slit in the top with an X-acto knife and then rounded the corners slightly so she wouldn’t cut her fingers.

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Now she could post (a.k.a. push) pom poms through. “Where did green go?” I asked, popping down the first one as a demonstration.

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She mimicked my words perfectly and talked her way through the entire pile, mostly getting her colors right. “Where did blue go?” “Where did yellow go?”

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When they were all inside, we opened the lid for the big reveal and dumped them out. And then she wanted to do it again! What a great way to keep busy.

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What would you do with an empty coffee can? Please share in the comments!

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Row, Row, Row Your Boat

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Row Your Boat (3)

Row Your Boat is currently one of Veronika’s favorite songs, and I’ve always been partial to it myself. Part nursery rhyme and part song, it extends itself easily to movement play and more.

To start, I simply sang the song. If you need a reminder, here are the simple lyrics:

Row, row, row your boat,

Gently down the stream.

Merrily merrily merrily merrily.

Life is but a dream.

After singing, we added actions!

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I sat so that Veronika and I were facing each other and took her hands. As we sang, first I pulled her forward, then I leaned toward her so she leaned back. It was magical to watch the siblings giggle and row together!

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To reinforce the concept of a “boat” (which is not something we see daily around here!) I pulled out a few floating toys. Veronika loved playing with them in a shallow basin.

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You can always check out animated versions of the song online, too. You’ll likely encounter silly verses. An elephant wearing jeans? A lion eating green beans? Then see if you can make up your own, which is guaranteed to make your toddler laugh!

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