Rhythm Sticks

I introduced Travis to rhythm sticks, and he loved it!

Have you ever played with rhythm sticks with your kids?

You should...it's fun!

They are simple wooden sticks painted in fun colors that are used to drum out rhythms and to tap together.

They are great for teaching/developing:

Hand/Eye coordination

Gross and Fine motor skills

Crossing the midline of the body

Spacial awareness

Directionality

Following directions(when older)

Movement exploration

And really alot more that I can't think of right now:)

 Here he is trying to figure out what the heck to do with these things.

How does a 13 month old discover the world around him?

He puts things in his mouth! :)

Then he discovered the sound that it makes when the two sticks make contact. Yay! He loves playing with the rhythm sticks:)

At this point I am not trying to direct his play...I watch him play and then I talk about what he is doing: "Travis is hitting the floor with a red stick!", "You are tasting a yellow stick!"

Telling your baby/toddler what they are doing gives them the words to go with their actions and helps to build up their vocabulary.

As I say the color of the stick I also make the sign for the color to teach him a little sign language.

Right now he can tap the sticks together and loves to take them out of the bin and then put them back in. He also hands one to me and then takes it back from me. 

As he gets older we will be doing more structured playtime with the sticks.

I bought my sticks, but you could easily make some of your own with some dowels and some food grade paint.


Here are some blog parties I link up to:)