Sounds Around
Sit quietly and listen. What do you hear? A clock ticking? Birds singing? Children laughing? Sounds surround us every day, some we actively listen to, such a song on the radio, other sounds we “tune out”, like the ticking of a clock. Nature is full of sounds, birds calling, leaves rustling in trees, small animals scurrying through the underbrush. For this activity you will be encouraging children to use their sense of hearing.
Take children outside to a natural area near your school. You are going to make sound maps of the noises you hear. Provide each child with a paper plate, and a pen, or pencil. Have them make a dot (or draw a person) to be themselves in the center. Instruct them to make a dot each time they hear each noise (during the quiet listening time). For example, if they hear a dog somewhere behind them, the dot would go behind them on their sound map. When everyone is ready with their prepared sound maps sit quietly for a few minutes and listen. After you are done listening discuss what you heard. Ask children: What did you hear? Where was the sound coming from? What do you think was making the sound? How was it making the sound? Can you make the same sound?
Have prepared paper cups with the bottoms cut off, show children how to hold them up to their ears. Sit quietly and listen again. Can you hear any better with your cup ears? Why do you think that is? How are your cup ears like animal ears? What are some animals that can hear really well? Why? Talk about animal hearing.
Now it’s time to make sounds of your own. Allow the children time to explore their surroundings to find natural objects to make sounds with. For example, the crunch of dry leaves, banging rocks together, sliding rocks against each other, drumming with sticks on a tree stump, etc…Record the sounds with a voice recorder so you can listen to them together later. Bring the natural “instruments” into the classroom and set up a learning center with them. Play recordings of the sounds they made for children to listen to.
Make and decorate rainsticks:
You will need - cardboard tubes, film canisters or pill bottles, beads, rice or beans, tape, and craft supplies (markers, stickers, paint etc…)
Seal one end of each tube using tape. Fill the tubes with the “sound bouncers”, the film canisters or pill bottles. Add the “noisemakers”, the beads, rice, and beans. Temporarily seal the other end, test the sounds. Experiment with more/less bouncers and noisemakers until children are satisfied with their rainstick’s sound. Permanently seal the other end when they are done. Allow each child to decorate their own rainstick. Listen to all the sounds together and individually.
Play “Sound Bingo”. Make cards/sheets for each child with images of different animals, sounds etc. Play corresponding sound. If the children have the corresponding image for the sound they put a game piece (acorn, pebble, bead, bean) on the image. The first child to fill in row or card yells “Bingo!”.
For this and other great activities use PLT’s Environmental Experiences for Early Childhood “Sounds Around”.
Book List
Baylor, B. and P. Parnall. 1997. The Other Way to Listen. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.
Becker, B. and B. Huang. 1995. The Quiet Way Home. Holt, Henry, and Company
Bouchard, D. and R. Parker. 1996. Voices from the Wild: An Animal Sensagoria. Chronicle Books LLC.
Carle, E. and Jr. Martin, B. 1997. Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? Henry Holt and Co.
Guillain, C. 2009. What is Sound? Heinemann-Raintree.
Graff, N.P. and G.B. Karas. 1998. In the Hush of the Evening. HarperCollins Publishers.
Hickman, P. 2006. How Animals Use Their Senses. Kids Can Press, Limited.
Kaner, E. 1999. Animal Senses: How Animals See, Hear, Taste, Smell and Feel. Kids Can Press, Limited.
Kindermusik. 2010. Sound Bingo. Chronicle Books LLC.
Martin, Jr., B. and J. Endicott. 1988. Listen to the Rain. Henry Holt & Company, Incorporated.
Pfeffer, W., and H. Keller. 1998. Sounds All Around (Lets-Read-and-Find-Out Science 1). Collins.
Rosinsky, N. M., and M. John. 2002. Sound: Loud, Soft, High, and Low. Coughlan Publishing.
Seuss, Dr. 1954. Horton Hears a Who. Random House Children's Books.
Showers, P. and Aliki. 1993. The Listening Walk. HarperCollins Children's Books.
Stephen, D. 2011. Letter Sound Yoga. Tate Publishing & Enterprise, LLC.
Links
Wikipedia: Sound
Naturesongs: Nature Recordings and Photos
Soundboard: Sound clips in over 20 different categories
