Exploring Sounds Kids Can Make With Shakers

Hello, everyone! I’m excited to introduce Heather from Preschool Toolkit, with an awesome way for kids to explore new sounds.

This hands-on activity provides lots of ways to engage kids in fine motor and sensory experiences. Have fun experimenting with different sounds while recycling plastic water bottles.

These colorful discovery bottles are easy to make and combine fine motor skills with a listening activity. Kids will have as much fun dropping the items into the bottles as they will shaking the bottles after they are filled.

Shown clockwise:
Pompoms – broken crayons – cotton swabs – foam letters – feathers – wooden pegs – craft eyes – marker tops.

Experiment with a variety of materials to produce loud and soft sounds, a clunk, a thump or a rattle.

Kids can help sort the items, then add them to the bottles. Listen to the sounds as the materials are dropped into the bottles.

Secure the tops firmly. Shake well!

Small group activities:

1. Use the sound shakers as instruments in a marching band.

2. Hide several bottles behind a screen. Have one child shake a bottle while others try to guess which material is in the bottle being shaken.

Heather blogs at Preschool Toolkit, a website offering early learning resources to teachers and parents of early learners. Follow her on facebook and pinterest as well!