New Year’s Eve is coming with more holiday excitement! While noisemakers are traditional, did you know for kids they stimulate all kinds of brain connections?
To welcome in the new year, kids can make their own. There are many different ideas for noise makers, but small objects such as beans and dried peas can be a concern and tend to fall out if all edges aren’t sealed. Here’s one that uses something much bigger, made from recycled items. To make this noise maker, use 2 aluminum pie plates the same size. Put two or three plastic spoons in one of the pie plates, put the other on top, and staple or tape in a few spots. Kids can decorate the pie plate with stickers, ribbon streamers, or markers. Surprisingly, plastic spoons inside 2 pie plates make lots of noise!
Kids usually don’t need encouragement to make noise and they do it with their voices, bodies, and whatever they can find. As kids explore and play with noise, they are also discovering rhythm. Rhythmic activities are important for brain development and create brain pathways and connections used to learn language. Rhythm is part of life; just think of breathing and heartbeats. Many of our activities, such as walking and running, are rhythmic. As kids create noise and rhythm, they discover loud and soft, fast and slow, and other basic concepts. If you and your child each have a noisemaker, you can play a simple rhythm and let your child try and copy it. This encourages careful listening and memory. Or, you can clap a pattern, and your child can echo it with the noisemaker. Your child can have a turn and make one for you to tap or clap. Now, it’s your turn to listen and play back.
A simple noisemaker can be part of both fun and learning. Isn’t that something to celebrate?