Early Childhood Resources- Discovery Table
Goals:
1. Listen to natural sounds made by living and nonliving things
2. Imitate sounds heard
3. “Match” sounds
Part 1 – Match the sounds
Shake the plastic eggs filled with naturally “noisy” items. Find the matching sounds.
Keep your matches together using the egg cartons.
Use additional eggs to experiment with the sounds you can make using the materials provided. Do your egg shakers sound like any of the pre-made eggs?
What do you think is inside the eggs? Have you heard that sound before? How would you use this activity in your classroom? How many eggs would you supply? What changes would you make?
Part 2 – Making instruments
Most anything can become an instrument if played correctly. Experiment with the materials in the box.
Decide what your new instrument is called and describe it to your friends.
Label the new instrument with a note-card that says who discovered it, what it is called, what sound it makes, and how to play it.
Instruments could be displayed at the discovery table for children to experiment or throughout the room. Try forming a band with your group and playing a song!
When finished, “disassemble” the instruments and return the materials to the box for the next group.
Materials:
Plastic eggs filled with assorted “noisy” materials (rice, peppercorns, acorns, money, rocks, etc)
Empty plastic eggs
Egg cartons
Materials to put in eggs
Box with assorted “band” instruments (sticks, plastic and metal cups, pinecones, coffee cans, brass pan, wooden spoon, etc.)