Activities

Add clean soil and a small amount of water to a clean plate or pan for the infant to experience the feeling of mud. Place the infant at the table, and encourage the infant to explore with his/her hands.

Place colored paper in the bottom of each cup of a muffin tin. Give the children large pom-poms of the same color. Encourage the children to place the pom-poms in the matching cups.

You will need a six-cup muffin pan and a container filled with foam letters and numbers. Assist the children in sorting in a variety of ways such as by color, shape, letter or number. To challenge the children, have them sort on their own.

Label each tin with a different numeral, zero through 10, and provide manipulatives for the children to place the correct number in the corresponding tin.

Write numerals, in order, on the bottom of muffin tins and again on the inside and place them in the math center. A one-dozen tin will be numbered one to 12.

Supply the dramatic play area with multicultural dolls and clothing.

Provide dress-up clothing, in the dramatic play area, based on world cultures. Include books and pictures. Invite families from different backgrounds to come in and share with the children.

Inside the dramatic play area display pictures of homes and communities from various cultures.

Provide a clear cup of multi-flavored jelly beans. Have the children taste one or two and describe them using words such as “sweet,” “hard” or “sour.” Have the children sort the remaining flavors into a second set of clear cups.

Play a variety of music from various cultures. While the music is playing, ask the children to describe what they are hearing.

Place your classroom instruments in a large circle on the floor. Each child will sit behind an instrument, facing inward, but not yet touching the instrument.

During large group, place your classroom instruments in a large circle on the floor. Each child will sit behind an instrument, facing inward, but not yet touching the instrument.

Make rhythm instruments with the children to use during music time. Add beans or rice to water bottle shakers or roll up newspapers and tape them with colorful masking tape to make rhythm sticks.

Make shakers from small plastic bottles or plastic eggs (closed tightly and sealed with packaging tape or hot glue). Fill them with small pebbles, aquarium gravel or pennies. Compare the sounds as the children shake and move them.

Include one or two infants in a music activity. Sing a song, such as “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” or “The Itsy Bitsy Spider,” and add motions. Gently bounce the infant on your knee, sway to the beat or use simple hand motions.

Tune: “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”
(Child's name) sing, sing with me.

Sing out loud and clear

To tell the children everywhere

That music time is here.

Suspend old pots and pans from a fence or create a PVC structure to hold them.  Leave large spoons out so the children can create various sounds using the pots and pans.

Cover a table with butcher paper or blank newsprint. Give each child a marker and begin playing music.

Set up a table covered with paper. Give each child a small cup of different colored paint and a small brush. Play music and have the children paint in their space. Stop the music and have them move to the next space and add to that painting.

Set up a table covered with paper. Give each child a small cup of different colored paint and a small brush. Play music and have the children paint in their space. Stop the music and have them move to the next space and add to that painting.