Wednesday, November 10, 2010

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:)

3 comments:

Jenna said...

Your little boy is just so cute! Thanks for following me :)

Unknown said...

I love these! I have a 14m old and she would love these :) I'll be getting back with you on the pattern testing you emailed me about. Thanks for following me! I'm your newest follower...
Julie
www.vibrant-designs.net

Michelle @ Delicate Construction said...

I featured you this week, come check it out!
Michelle
www.delicateconstruction.blogspot.com

The most important thing she’d learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one."
~Jill Churchill