Observing our surroundings, being able to listen, and discern the sounds around us are skills that take time. Children need to know what is going on around them and be observant, especially in this day and age. As technology creeps and ours heads bow so often toward a screen in our hand, we lose what is going on around us and that is when we are in danger.
This week we dove into how “Animals Keep Babies Safe” in our Baby Animals theme box from Experience Early Learning. Some animals make specific sounds to warn others of danger, and so do we. Our Circle Time started with the question, “What noises might you hear if someone were in danger?” My girl responded with “crying or yelling for help.” I told her animals make different calls and sounds when they are in danger too.
We then explored all sorts of musical instruments and which ones would be good for warning sounds. “Momma, these bells would be good! Listen to how loud it is…” Insert extremely loud ringing in my ears…
The teacher guide suggested filling plastic eggs (which EEL supplied in our daily discovery bag) with small items to create a Match That Sound Game. The kids looooove egg shakers and both my 5 and 2 year old enjoyed matching the sounds. You can see our 1 minute video below.
I then read The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter which was the suggested story in my teacher guide. This is my 2 year old son’s favorite story! He knows all about “Magregga” and points to the gate throughout the book. Infact, for Christmas this year we gave him the Complete Collection of Beatrix Potter tales and I painted two peg doll bunnies, one Peter and one Benjamin, for him to play with. Both my kiddos enjoyed holding up their rabbit when I said the word “Peter” which was suggested in the teacher guide.
All of a sudden they were pretending to be rabbits. So I went with it and made them a rabbit den but it was too dark so I strung Christmas lights on it which gave just enough light for their little bunny bodies to tunnel. We listened to a variety of classical music- listening carefully for any “scary” or loud parts that would remind the bunnies of danger. When they heard that part of the music, they burrowed into their tunnel.
Our bunny fun didn’t end there though. Experience Early Learning sent us a game called “Be Careful, Bunny” where the child had to create a safe path from the baby bunny to its mother. If a danger card was pulled, a new path would have to be created.
My daughter enjoyed playing this game completely by herself, creating paths to get the bunny to safety during our Quiet Time while brother napped.
I loved how we explored a “scary” topic (Danger Calls) by really studying sound and through skittish animals such as bunnies. We are down to our last week with Baby Animals and then will be into Nursery Rhymes! Be sure to check it out and follow us on Facebook and Pinterest!