Bouncing to the Beat . . . and More!
Musical Ball-play Suggestions
In the Summer 2011 family e-newsletter, we asked parents to share
some of their favorite ways to incorporate balls into music making at home.
Here are some great ideas—we hope you’ll try one or two. Thanks to everyone
who sent us an idea! If you’d like to share yours with the Music Together
community, why not post it to our Facebook Page?
When my son I play with balls we sing to the sound. We come up with other funny sounds to add to our already funny song and it becomes a game. We run around the kitchen and listen to the noise the ball makes on the ceramic floor, then we hop to the living room and bounce the ball on the hardwood floor listening to the different sounds. All around the house bouncing, rolling, singing it is truly funny and silly fun!
—Lisa Q.
My 23-month-old little girl and I pull on the knobs on the ball with the beat, instead of tapping the ball to the beat. The whole ball shakes and she can feel it in her lap.
—Jayne J.
We use balls to bounce to the beat. We also use balls and other objects while in the tub to see the splash/beat when they take a bath.
—Ashley W.
Just getting balls out to play with while singing makes things more fun and interesting. Bouncing or passing the ball on the beat or certain words is fun too. Or throwing a ball while creating your own song. Also while holding a ball in each hand and extending your arms you can make human music notes. Your kids can too!
—Rachel T.
We love using balls with Toby (21 months) while playing the Music Together CD or singing at home. Daddy and I sit on the floor roll the ball to each other on beat and then roll it to Toby as well who gets a turn to practice "seeing the music'. We also use the ball like a drum and pat it with our hands to the music. Sometimes we use just one hand, and then when the music shifts or there's a different beat, we use our other hand to pat the ball.
—Vicky L.
We often use balls to help our children "see the music" by bouncing them to the beat of a song. I have my girls grab a ball and have then tap the ball on the floor to the beat of the song. We also pass the ball back and forth as we sit across from each other.
—Trish W.
My 15 month year old loves Music Together class as well as BALLS! We have a variety of sizes and colors in our home. We use them often to capture the rhythm of a song by tapping them together, putting them in larger containers one-by-one or many more for different sounds, and using them in our playgroup to pass from child to child to the beat of the music.
—Darcie N.
We really enjoy playing music and playing ball on the stairs. We stand at the bottom of the stairs and toss the ball up, and then it rolls down to us. We sing the entire time and throw the ball to the music—although it rolls down of its own accord. It’s fun and always makes my 17 month old laugh and laugh!
—Lara K.
From the time my daughter was an infant, I would sit on a large exercise ball and bounce to the beat while we sang our songs and made up new ones. Now that she's 4, it's a little harder to hold her on my lap, but she loves to sit on her own ball and bounce and dance to the music, even picking the ball up and incorporating it into her dance routines.
—Amy F.
We do several things with balls and music. My 5 year old will line up her balls by size while singing the scale. My 2 year old will sing “1,2,3,4,5. . .” in the tune of the music scale while I bounce a ball. If I bounce it faster, we sing faster and vice versa. Both love it!
—Bridgette R.
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