After the
accidental success of "Peter and the Wolf" and subsequent ideas from friends, we bought a children's CD player (very rugged so preschoolers won't damage it). The idea is to give John some independence to play music and books on CD.
In the last few days, I introduced two items to the kids: One was "Carnival of the Animals," given to us at Christmas (thanks again, Lynn!) when John was on the cusp of being old enough. He is interested now! The first time I played it, John sat very quietly, which I mistook for perhaps a lack of interest, but I should have remembered that John is a quiet and observant fellow. He then asked to listen to it a second time and this time was jubilantly identifying the animals with the music!
I also introduced the book "Caps for Sale." This CD has a chime which rings when the child is supposed to turn the page. After teaching John for a few pages to do that, he got the hang of it and was
so proud of himself. That story, too, has been a winner. Little Mary stands nearby and says (and signs), "hat! hat! hat!"
In the last few days, I introduced two items to the kids: One was "Carnival of the Animals," given to us at Christmas (thanks again, Lynn!) when John was on the cusp of being old enough. He is interested now! The first time I played it, John sat very quietly, which I mistook for perhaps a lack of interest, but I should have remembered that John is a quiet and observant fellow. He then asked to listen to it a second time and this time was jubilantly identifying the animals with the music!
I also introduced the book "Caps for Sale." This CD has a chime which rings when the child is supposed to turn the page. After teaching John for a few pages to do that, he got the hang of it and was so proud of himself. That story, too, has been a winner. Little Mary stands nearby and says (and signs), "hat! hat! hat!"
Glad that's working so well! Please share where you found the CD player! We have most of our CDs on a small ipod now, but I like the child-safe look of yours.
ReplyDeleteCourtney: On a recommendation, we bought the CD player at www.lakeshorelearning.com. And it's funny because the friend who recommended it lives across the country, but Lakeshore Learning turns out to have its actual storefront here in Charlotte, so we bought it at the store instead of online. The player is lightweight and rugged, and my friend testifies that it has so far survived her four children (7? and under).
ReplyDeleteCourtney: I meant to add, it is designed for classroom use by many preschoolers or kindergarteners. You can see online that one can plug in up to four headphones if mama doesn't want to hear the story playing.
ReplyDeleteI thought it looked like the old cassette players we had at school! I just ordered from Lakeshore in the past few weeks, but I'm filing this idea away for futures ideas! I'm jealous you have a store near you. :-)
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