Songmaker
Directions:
Kids love to sing, but you don't need to carry around a songbook to keep them in tune. Some of the favorite songs in our family are the ones we made up ourselves.
Kids as young as five can help create songs if you borrow the tune from a song they already know. Once you have a tune, suggest a theme that your child is interested in.
A theme that works great for us is dinosaurs. We have songs about a Stegosaurus sleeping in the bed, a duckbill hiding in the tree, even a tyrannosaurus who is growling in the yard. Whatever your kids are interested in, from trains to dolls, can be used to make the song.
Older kids will enjoy trying out different lyrics and rhymes to get the song just right. Take turns making up verses and working with the other singers to build an entire song.
When you get home, you can write your songs down and illustrate them. If you have a tape player, record the finished songs—then you can play them in the car while traveling (and you won't forget the tune).
© 2005 by Steve and Ruth Bennett. Excerpted from 365 Unplugged Family Fun Activities with permission of its publisher, Perseus Books Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
To order this book visit perseusbooksgroup.com.
