Teaching through sound is powerful for young children.
White Noise Ambience Lite is a free app by Logicworks. It is wonderful app for listening exercises and games in Preschool and Kindergarten. I originally just intended to use the app with our infants for white noise sounds, but our preschoolers LOVE it, too!
Sound Games for large or small groups - SOUND CARDS
1. Have the children close their eyes (we use the following chant to do listening exercises/games):
“Close your eyes and open your ears,
Listen carefully…see what SOUNDS you can HEAR!”
2. Play the sounds from the White Noise App one at a time. See if the children know WHAT is making the sound or WHERE the sound is being made.
3. Print, laminate, and cut apart the sound cards (linked above). Show the children the cards and play the sounds again. Choose a child to pick out the card that MATCHES the sound being made (this activity can be done in small groups, too.)
4. The children can also draw one sound card. Play the sounds for the children and have the child with the matching sound card HOLD UP that card.
The app also has a paid upgrade for additional sounds.
iPhone Ringtone Sound Games
If you have an iPhone, you already have many sounds that children can listen to….RINGTONES. For very young children, we play only 3 ringtones. Have the children listen to the different sounds and then choose a number that corresponds to each ringtone played (numbers 1-3). Play the 3 chosen ringtones several times for the children. Have the children close their eyes (using the chant above). Play one of the 3 ringtones to see if the children can remember which number was assigned to that particular ringtone. The children like hearing the different sounds! The variety of ringtones makes it a FUN game for listening skills practice!
We hope YOUR children enjoy playing with technology and SOUND as much as our kids do!!
