Over the last few weeks the infants have been exploring and banging different materials around the classrooms. They have been using their hands and different toys to bang on shelves, tables and doors. Their dancing to the beat of this drumming was an indicator that they enjoyed the sounds.
To expand on this interest, the educators brainstormed different materials and places that could be used as drums in the classroom. Educators Kiva and Lorie gathered different pots and pans. Lorie fastened all of them to one of our shelf’s in the middle of the classroom. Then she found different large serving spoons and tied them to the shelf as well. In the morning, all of the infants were very excited to see how the shelf was set up. They took turns using the different spoons to bang on the pots and pans. Aydriel found a plastic tube and decided to use that. He smiled when he heard the sound that the tube made on the large round pan. Nora chose a long plastic spoon and tested what each pot and pan sounded like. Then she tried the plastic spatula. This made a bit of a lower pitch sound. The infants and educators noticed that some of the pots and pans sounded louder than the others. The infants tried to repeat words like, “rhythm, beat, pitch and drum.” The shelf was left like this for the entire week. Every day the infants spent time playing the drums. They sang, “clang, clang rattle bang bang, gonna make my noise all day!” There was lots of laughter as they danced to each other’s music.
To expand on the interest of drumming, we may borrow some drums from another class. To expand upon on the interest of banging, we may do some painting with fly swatters or the spoons that we used for this activity. We can’t wait to see where else this interest takes us!
