Recommended Age: 2 and ½ to 4 years
Level of Parent Involvement: Medium, the adult must assist the child to make the shakers, younger children will need more assistance then older children
Prerequisites
- None
Materials
- 4 small transparent bottles (travel sets are a great option for this activity as they usually have 3-4 small bottles prefect for small hands to creat shakers)
- Super glue
- Small funnel
- ½ cup of dry cous cous
- ½ cup of rice
- ½ cup of macaroni
- ½ cup of dried lentils
- A child sized jug
Preparation
- Place each of the 4 dried ingredients into small bowls
- Set up the remaining materials at the table where you will be working with the child
Steps
- Invite the child letting them know that today you will be making musical shakers
- Take the child to the materials set up at the table
- Sit to the right of the child, name each of the materials with the child “this is rice, this is macaroni, this is cous cous, these are lentils” “this is a funnel” etc
- Show the child the empty bottles, invite the child to take the lids off the bottles, providing assistance if necessary
- Ask the child which ingredient they would like to put in their first shaker
- The child may tip the ingredient from the bowl into the jug
- Show the child how to place the funnel in the top of the empty bottle
- Using the jug, invite the child to pour the ingredient into the funnel to the bottle
- Once the child has finished pouring, screw the lid onto the bottle tight
- Invite the child to shake the bottle, together noticing the sound it creates
- Repeat as above to make another shaker with the next ingredient, invite the child to shake
- Ask the child “does that sound the same or different to the first one?”
- Once all shakers have been made, invite the child to compare the shakers 2 at a time, noticing whether they sound the same or different, you may introduce terms such as “louder” and “softer”
- Leave the child to independently explore the shakers while you put the bowls and jug away
- When the child has finished exploring the shakers, ensure you glue the lids of the shakers on with the superglue, to avoid the temptation of the child opening the shakers and pouring out the ingredients (also to make safer for younger children who are still placing things in their mouths)
Variations
- For an older child you may make two sets of musical shakers and have the child pair the shakers which make the same sound
