Danny is starting to gain all sorts of awareness of himself and his body. He seems to be spending a lot of time lately discovering what he has, and what he can do with it. His hands are prime examples; there are times he will just stop and watch as he opens and closes his hand, or points and crinks one finger. He also loves to play games and sing songs that have actions!
Of course, I’m pumping up the language to go with all this new discovery! We play lots of song games – he loves to open and his close hands for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and to clap and pat his lap for Open Shut Them, and will do both if we just sing the song without any gestures on our part! If I tell him “PEEK-a-boo, Danny!” he will first bring his hands together like a clap, then hesitate and end up covering his ears. He still needs a little help getting them over his eyes the first time.
Songs and games like this are great language learning tools! The inflection teaches babies about different patterns of speech; the repetitiveness and stress on key words helps them learn the words; the actions help them learn to model actions (which, in turn, leads to modeling sounds and words as well). Once they can recognize the song, there is always the opportunity to pause and prompt them to vocalize or sing along. Most importantly, though, they’re fun fun fun, and kids learn what they enjoy!
Cashing in on his interest in all things body, we’re working on identifying body parts too. I talk to him about how he’s clapping his hands, how we take his shoes off his feet, how I’m going to “get” his nose and tickle his tummy. He came up to me the other day and tugged my shirt up to rub my tummy, so I talk to him about Mommy’s tummy and then pull his shirt up and tell him about Danny’s tummy. Down the shirt goes. “Where’s Danny’s tummy?” Up the shirt goes. “There’s Danny’s tummy! Ha ha! Tickle Danny’s tummy!”
Yesterday, I asked at a random moment, “Where’s Danny’s tummy?” His hands moved, he paused thoughtfully, then he tried to pull up the bottom of his shirt. He missed and ended up tugging on the waist band of his CI harness instead, but hey, he was still right!
Danny is starting to gain all sorts of awareness of himself and his body. He seems to be spending a lot of time lately discovering what he has, and what he can do with it. His hands are prime examples; there are times he will just stop and watch as he opens and closes his hand, or points and crinks one finger. He also loves to play games and sing songs that have actions!
Of course, I’m pumping up the language to go with all this new discovery! We play lots of song games – he loves to open and his close hands for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and to clap and pat his lap for Open Shut Them, and will do both if we just sing the song without any gestures on our part! If I tell him “PEEK-a-boo, Danny!” he will first bring his hands together like a clap, then hesitate and end up covering his ears. He still needs a little help getting them over his eyes the first time.
Songs and games like this are great language learning tools! The inflection teaches babies about different patterns of speech; the repetitiveness and stress on key words helps them learn the words; the actions help them learn to model actions (which, in turn, leads to modeling sounds and words as well). Once they can recognize the song, there is always the opportunity to pause and prompt them to vocalize or sing along. Most importantly, though, they’re fun fun fun, and kids learn what they enjoy!
Cashing in on his interest in all things body, we’re working on identifying body parts too. I talk to him about how he’s clapping his hands, how we take his shoes off his feet, how I’m going to “get” his nose and tickle his tummy. He came up to me the other day and tugged my shirt up to rub my tummy, so I talk to him about Mommy’s tummy and then pull his shirt up and tell him about Danny’s tummy. Down the shirt goes. “Where’s Danny’s tummy?” Up the shirt goes. “There’s Danny’s tummy! Ha ha! Tickle Danny’s tummy!”
Yesterday, I asked at a random moment, “Where’s Danny’s tummy?” His hands moved, he paused thoughtfully, then he tried to pull up the bottom of his shirt. He missed and ended up tugging on the waist band of his CI harness instead, but hey, he was still right!