Everything Music

Venture outside and tune in to the symphony of your child’s world. Careful listening to ambient sounds in the open-air helps develop a preschooler's environmental awareness, social and audio perception skills.

MATERIALS

1. Imagination only.

HOW TO

1. Skilly Spark: Let your child know: We’re going to go outside and hear everything possible that we can.
2. Go outside with your child, ask them be quiet-- you can’t listen when you’re talking-- and simply listen to the sounds of their environment.
3. Ask your child: “What do you hear?” More questions you might ask could be:
   • What are all the sounds they hear?
   • Do they hear sounds made by animals?
   • What do the leaves in the trees sound like? How do trees without leaves sound?
   • How do noises made by cars differ from noises made by trucks?
   • How do they feel if there is a lot of noise? Or very little?
4. When you’ve answered all the questions or their interest has waned, then that’s the natural conclusion of the activity.

Keep the fun going

• Grab some crayons, markers or paint and draw a picture of the sounds they've heard, or even how it made your child feel to be quiet outside.
• Make up and sing a song with all or some of the sounds you've heard.
• Take a quick a video while listening to the sounds outside.  Play the video and encourage your child to move like the sounds make them feel.

+Inspiration/thanks goes to the birds, like Black Skimmers, American Oystercatchers, Common Terns and Willets who gather at the south end of Wrightsville Beach to find mates and raise their young.