Enabling environments birth to Threes - speaking and listening

WHAT YOU NEED

A range of items that can be used to create a sound, such as maracas, shaker, slinky, animal tub, horn, wand; a toy animal, car or other such object that makes a noise in real life

POSSIBLE LEARNING OUTCOMES

- Encourage concentration

- Stimulate listening and responding

- Develop vocabulary

Playing the game

- Attract the children's attention by hiding one of the sound makers in your pocket or up your sleeve and making a noise with it, without alerting them to where the noise came from. Engage with their response to the strange sound.

- Repeat the sound and encourage them to find where the noise is coming from.

- When they have located the object, encourage the children explore how to use it.

- Sit in a comfortable area and ask the children if they would like to hear some different sounds. You could present the objects in a basket. Alternatively, hide them in a bag or box, around the area where you are sitting or on your person.

- Invite the children to find each of the sound makers, use them and, if possible, talk about them.

- Challenge the children to use the various objects quietly, loudly, quickly, slowly and so on.

- Ask questions about each of the objects: can the children name the items, identify what they are for, and say where they might be found?

EXTENSION IDEAS

- Gather together a range of everyday objects that can be used to make a sound, such as a large sheet of card, crinkle paper, two pot scourers, pots and spoons.

- Demonstrate how they can be used to make a noise and encourage the children to join in. Observe the children as they play, allowing them plenty of time for free exploration and the freedom to make lots of noise.

- Introduce a noise to signal when they should stop their explorations. Giving a quiet and continuous signal is more effective than a quick, loud one.

ON THE MAT

WHAT YOU NEED

A sucker mat for each child (Tesco stocks a range of soap mats, including ones in the shape of a duck and a frog, while Argos has a bath mat with suckers); objects small enough to fit on the suckers and that ideally, relate to the picture on the mat (for example, small shells for mats with a seaside theme); egg-timer; dice (or number cards)

POSSIBLE LEARNING OUTCOMES
- Encourage concentration
- Encourage co-operation and turn-taking
- Develop fine motor skills

PLAYING THE GAME

- This game can be played in a competitive or non-competitive way and can be adapted with ease for very young children.

- Start the game by encouraging the children to fit the small objects on the mats.

- Introduce the egg-timer and measure how long it takes children to fill one, two or three sucker mats.

- You could also ask them to see how many objects they can fit on the mat in, say, ten or 20 seconds.

- Play a game where each child has a sucker mat. The children can then take it in turns to throw the dice (or choose a number card) and place the thrown number of items on the mat. The winner is the first to cover the whole mat. Alternatively, all the players can cover their mats with the number thrown until everyone's mat is full.

Alice Sharp is managing director of training centre Experiential Play (www.experientialplay.com) and director of resource company Wonderbox, specialising in interactive products for use with children under three (www.wonderbox.co.uk; e-mail: info@wonderbox.co.uk).