Keeping Rountine Activities Fresh
KEEPING ROUTINE ACTIVITIES FRESH AND EXCITING
One of our greatest challenges as childcare providers is keeping children interested and engaged in activity. In order to keep children interested in everyday activities it is important to make an effort to add a new dimension. One simple example of this is adding visual stimulation to nursery rhyme / song time.
Children love to have the important job of choosing which nursery rhyme or song to sing next, but very young children will not always be able to choose a song and often repeat the one that they have just heard. By offering them props that represent each song that you sing as a group each child will get to choose a song for all to sing.
What you will need:
- Old box such as a shoe box.
- Selection of props or soft toys for each nursery rhyme or song.
- Two little Dicky Birds – two toy birds.
- Incey Wincey Spider – plastic spider.
- Five little Ducks – plastic ducks.
- Row, row, row your boat – toy boat.
- Baa, baa black sheep -a toy sheep .
- The wheels on the bus – a toy bus.
- Polly, put the Kettle on – a toy kettle / teapot.
- Twinkle, twinkle little star – a star.
Use the nursery rhyme box as part of your daily routine. Check that all the props are there daily and also that you have enough for each child to choose a song / rhyme.
Let each of the children in turn choose a prop to decide which song they want to sing. Talk to them about the chosen props – do they know what it is? Can they name the colour? If they know which song it represents? Then the group can sing the song together.
If you do this every day the children will become used to the routine and naturally join in. Add props regularly for each new song you sing. This will help to keep the session interesting and encourage the children to think about what song the new prop represents.
Another variation on this exercise is to use a ‘lucky dip’ method. Put all the props in a box with a hole in the lid or in a bag with a tie-string top. Allow each child to come forward in turn and put their hand through the opening and pull out a prop. Then either that child or the group (decide in advance) can guess which song it represents and the group can sing the song. This element of surprise can really enthral young children and the group will often begin bouncing on their hunkers in anticipation, waiting to see what is going to emerge form the box. This is where changing the props adds great delight. A silver star this week and a red one next week. See if the children can still associate the new item with the appropriate song. If it doesn’t happen immediately give little hints and encourage the children to guess. If they still fail to guess the correct song it is probably because the new item is too different from the original for the children to make the connection.
As the older children become familiar with the props over a long period of time, try making another nursery rhyme box containing pictures of the song with the name written below. This will encourage them to use their imagination to link the picture and words to their favourite songs. Change the pictures regularly so that they do not become boring for the children.
Written by
Ireland's leading Early Years education Magazine
