Love music?
Week of the Young Child (WOYC) takes place in April, and communities in Arizona celebrate typically with a variety of activities to spotlight early learning and the educators who support the positive development of young children.
Our efforts at the museum this year are virtual, and we hope you join us. The activities we share hopefully will bring some joy, and at the same time the fun your child is having will help him/her develop language and early literacy skils, get active and move!
Today is Music Monday. Our suggestions:
Start with a story!
Books we love about music and rhythm:
- Play This Book by Jessica Young
- Tanka Tanka Skunk by Steve Webb
If you don’t have these, we recommend checking out YouTube for some read alongs. But there’s also many children’s books about making music. Here’s five more suggestions from our friends at Mesa Public Library:
- Sweet Music in Harlem by Debbie Taylor and illustrated by Frank Morrison
- Barnyard Boogie by Tim McCanna and illustrated by Allison Black
- Dream Songs Night Songs from Mali to Louisiana by Patrik Lacoursiere and illustrated by Sylvie Bourbonniere
- The Fabulous Song by Don Gillmor and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay
- Rock ‘n’ Roll Soul by Susan Verde and illustrated by Matthew Cordell
Get crafty!
Making instruments with household items: Collect materials from around your house to create an instrument. Challenge your child to think outside of the box to use the materials to make sound. Some object you could use include: pots, recyclable items, rubber bands, wooden sticks, combs, straws, aluminum cans, rocks, rice, etc.
Check out some suggestions for making musical instruments from our Gallery Educators.
Listen to & make music!
Listen to some music. Can you play your homemade instruments (from the activity above) to your favorite song? Take a video of you singing and playing along and share it with us!
Our friends at Mesa Public Library suggest finding some songs at Libraries Rock! Kid-Friendly Songs playlist (stream free on Freegal).
Play musical games. Several websites offer fun ways to play. We like the games from Sesame Street.
Write a song together. Using your favorite popular songs such as “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands” or “Old McDonald had a farm.” Change the words to create a song of your own!