Musical Instruments

Fun4Babies Book Available at iBook, Amazon, Nook and others

"Row, Row, Row the Boat"

    The children listened as I sang this song to them. I gently rocked them back and forth on my lap as well as in a little boat. Even the 3 month old infant looked at me and smiled. The older infants moved their body back and forth trying to get me to continue rocking after I stopped. They used their early logic, language and large motor skills. They all smiled at me too!

9 Month Old Painting With a Brush

    A nine month old child sat in the high chair to explore painting. I gave her a piece of white paper and a paint brush covered in red paint. She used her small motor and hand eye coordination to bang the paint brush on the paper. Then I gave her another paint brush covered in blue paint. She smiled and looked at me as I told her the names of the colors and said " bang, bang" to encourage her to paint. She used her sensory and early logic as she moved the brush back and forth and up and down on the paper. Even though the paint is non toxic, once she decided to put the paint brush into her mouth, she was done painting!

Day in the Life of a 14 month old Infant

   My day as an infant teacher is full and busy. We are constantly teaching the children through play as well as through our behavior. The children can learn about others, objects and the world around them through independent play as well as teacher directed play. The infant classroom that I work in has children from 2 1/2 months up to 14 months old. We can have infants start as young as 6 weeks. This little boy will be moving up to a toddler room soon, so I want to walk you through his day.
    Today he arrived a little later than usual at almost 9am. Usually he comes earlier since his mother works at the center too. He had not eaten much breakfast, so when he came in, he sat down at the little table to have some milk, cherrios and bananas. After he ate, he had his diaper changed then explored the puppets with me. He said, "Moo" when I showed him the cow puppet. He played independently while I gave some other children bottles. He kept kissing the one baby girl's foot as I fed her. His face lights up when he sees her. We sang the "ABC's", and he explored red play dough as he sat at the table. The lunch of cheese ravioli, bread, cauliflower and mandarin oranges was delivered around 11:30. He sat at the table and had milk with it. He played independently and explored some puzzles in the classroom after eating. He went to sleep around 12:50 and woke at 2:45. Today was his first day sleeping on a cot in order to get ready for going to the toddler unit. I was off work at 3:30, but he was going to play independently and with the other teachers until he was picked up. In the afternoon sometime, he also will go out to the large motor area outside of the class to run around and climb.

Fun4Babies on Bright Horizons Foundation page

BH Foundation Page

Musical Instruments

     The children watched as we shook and banged the various musical instruments in the classroom. We have some maraccas, a xylophone, a little piano and various other noise makers. The infants smiled and reached for the instruments too. Some of the older infants clapped when we sang and played with them while they were making music. During the day, as music played in the class, we watched them shake and bang some more. We also encouraged them to bounce and dance along!

Reading- What Do You Say?

    The children sat on my lap as I read What Do You Say?  I read the words as they looked at the pages. I encouraged them to touch the pages and help turn them. I also pointed to the different animals on the pages and made the animal sound. I let them explore the book and let them look at me as I made the different animal sounds again. The older infants repeated some of the animal sounds.

Fun4Babies article

     

                                        An article about my job and my book Fun4 Babies :)

      I am donating $1.00 per paperback book sale of Fun4Babies to BH Foundation/Bright Spaces!
                                     Look for Fundraiser/Book Signing soon :)

Puzzle Play

I showed the infants a simple 3 piece puzzle with handles on the pieces. They watched me as I showed them how to pick up the puzzle piece and put it back in the puzzle. They used their small motor and early logic skills as they picked up the puzzle piece with their hand. They all explored the pieces and most tried to put it into their mouth to explore. Some older children also banged the pieces together and onto the puzzle too.