Take a Walk and Observe What Sounds Surround You

It's fun to take a listening walk with children! You can walk around the block and listen, or you can walk around the garden and listen.What can you hear when you're out for a walk? The tap of your shoes, an airplane in the sky, the chirping of birds? Here is a charming book called "The Listening Walk" written by Paul Showers and illustrated by Aliki that introduces the idea of a listening walk to children. Check out the short read-aloud in this link that children will enjoy, and then go for a walk! The book does an excellent job of introducing what you find if you take the time to be quiet and listen to what is going on around you.

Activity: You might want to make a "listening scavenger hunt" checklist before starting out. You can print out this one for pre-readers here, or make your own, or better yet, simply have your child list the sounds they hear on their own by drawing and labeling pictures if they want to bring a notebook and pencil along.