This is a guest post for Learn with Play at home written by the lovely Amie from Triple T Mum. Enjoy, Debs :)

I have been following LWP@H since Debs first started blogging and I am so proud of all that she has accomplished in this time. I just love how her activities are easily prepared and are quick to apply in the home setting. It is such a pleasure to be here today on LWP@H guest posting.

I am Amie from Triple T Mum (tttmum). I am a busy mum of four kids, ranging from a teen, to a preschooler and toddler twins. This equates to 3 children under the age of 4. Life at times can be intense, it can be full on, it can be crazy! I love to share our family life, activities with the kids and ideas for making the mayhem seem less overwhelming. I also love to craft and whenever that 'spare' bit of time pops up, you'll find me creating something for the loves of my life.

My teen, Gamer, recently put on a live music show for us all in the back yard, which inspired the littlest ones to make music. Not one to miss a crafting opportunity I put together a Castanet Craft Kit for the kids to create our own musical instrument.

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This activity lets your child experiment with sound in a super fun and engaging way.

You'll need any musical instruments you have and a favourite television show (that's sure to get them interested).

Spread out the musical instruments so they can be easily seen and accessed by your child and have them make all the sound effects for a favourite show/scene etc.

(The slide whistle was a favourite effect!)

Some tips:

- If you don't have any musical instruments, use things like pots, pans, wooden spoons, containers of rice etc.

- Turn the TV on mute so that your child can be responsible for ALL the sound associated with the program

- Talk with your child about which sounds are the most appropriate. Which instruments make sounds that are close to what the real sound would be?

- Mix up the activity by choosing silly sounds. Find the sounds that are the most UNLIKE what the real sound would be. This provides lots of laughs.

-Extend this activity by discussing emotions etc. and the types of sounds that your child would associate with various emotions.

-Simplify this activity by selecting a particular scene in a show (ie- an elephant walking) and just focus on trying all the different sounds until you find the one that your child agrees would be the most like the real sound. (ie. probably closer to a banging drum sound than some jingly bells)

- Replay the show or scene with the sound on and see how close the sounds were that you chose.


Debs :)

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