Fine motor development
Toddlers practice how to shake and stop shaking a bell.
[Sit on the floor with several toddlers. Display and gently ring a bell. Stop ringing the bell, put the bell in your lap, and point to one of your ears.]
Our ears can hear a ring-ring sound when I shake a bell with my hand. Let’s listen again.
[Again display and gently ring a bell.]
My hand is shaking a bell. The bell is making a ring-ring sound.
Each of us can hold a bell and shake it with our hand. We will hear a lot of ring-ring sounds when all of us shake our bells!
[Give each toddler a bell. Shake your bell.]
Let’s all shake our bells.
[Encourage toddlers to shake the bells for about 10–20 seconds. Then prominently hold your bell with both hands to show toddlers you have stopped shaking your bell.]
I am holding my bell with two hands. Now my bell stops making a ring-ring sound.
Let’s all hold our bells with two hands.
[Point to your ear.]
I cannot hear any bells. We are all holding our bells quiet. We made our bells stop ringing.
Do you want to shake our bells again?
I will sing a song that tells us when to shake our bells and when to stop shaking our bells.
Let’s shake our bells together.
[Sing the following song as you and toddlers shake the bells. Hold your bell with both hands when you reach the “going to stop” phrase.]
Ring Our Bells
(Tune: “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”)
Ring, ring, ring our bells.
Ring, and ring our bells.
Ring, ring, ring our bells,
[pause]
And now we’re going to stop.
[Recognize the toddlers’ efforts. Example: “We made a nice sound with our bells.”
Repeat bell ringing if toddlers are interested.]
We used our hands to shake a bell. We used our hands to hold our bells quiet. Our bells did not make any sound when we held them quiet with our hands.
Toddlers at this age generally enjoy producing sound and will be eager to make sound with a bell. Be flexible about how toddlers grasp and manipulate the bell. Toddlers are learning how to hold things that require movement and may use either hand to grasp and shake the bell. As suggested in the activity description, look for ways to strengthen toddlers’ awareness that we move our hand to make a sound with the bell. We also use our hands to make our bell quiet. We do not hear sounds when we stop shaking our bell.
Some toddlers may have difficulty holding their bell with both hands as a way to stop shaking the bell. Accept all efforts. Also, be flexible about toddlers’ adherence to the stop requests in shaking the bell. The primary aim of the activity is to support toddlers’ awareness of how our hands make and stop making sounds with the bell. It may take some toddlers a bit of time to manage the self-regulation aspects of starting and stopping on request. See the Extra Support tip about relaxing or eliminating the start and stop elements of the activity. Ringing bells together should be fun for toddlers.
If a toddler is not engaged in exploring bell sounds, encourage him/her to watch the activity or to feel free to go to another play area. Be aware of how the bell sound may be annoying to some toddlers, including toddlers who do not have the language skills to tell you.
When toddlers enjoy an activity, they may say “Do it again!” or wave both hands to signal you. Repeat the song if toddlers enjoy it!
Extra support
Enrichment
Fine motor development
Toddlers practice how to stop shaking a bell in response to words in a song.
This activity option uses a song about a farmer ringing his bell to support toddlers’ practice in stopping shaking a bell. The song involves word changes that some toddlers will find to be humorous.
Open the session by explaining that we need to listen carefully to our song. A farmer is shaking a bell in our song. The song will tell us when to start shaking our bells and when to stop shaking our bells. Demonstrate how to stop shaking your bell by using both of your hands to keep your bell quiet. Invite toddlers to repeat your demonstration as you describe key actions. Also, explain with a demonstration that ring and shake mean the same thing.
Emphasize the words rang and stop when you sing the song. Demonstrate all actions. Note that the request to stop shaking a bell is said, not sung, in an effort to help toddlers notice the request.
Provide a brief pause after toddlers stop shaking their bells. Then offer a clue that soon we will start shaking our bell. Example: “Are you ready to start shaking your bell? Here comes the next part of the song!”
The Farmer Rang His Bell
(Tune: “The Farmer in the Dell”)
The farmer rang his bell. The farmer rang his bell.
Hi-ho the Derry-o, the farmer rang his bell.
[say] The children said “Stop.”
[Stop your bell by grasping it with the opposite hand.]
The cow rang a bell. The cow rang a bell.
Hi-ho the Derry-o, the cow rang a bell.
[say] And the mommy said “Stop.”
[Stop your bell by grasping it with the opposite hand.]
The duck rang a bell. The duck rang a bell.
Hi-ho the Derry-o, the duck rang a bell.
[say] And the daddy said “Stop.”
[Stop your bell by grasping it with the opposite hand.]
The horse rang a bell. The horse rang a bell.
Hi-ho the Derry-o, the horse rang a bell.
[say quietly] And the baby said “Stop.”
[Stop your bell by grasping it with the opposite hand.]
This option builds on prior ELM activities aimed at helping toddlers stop an action in response to a verbal request, including the Self-Regulation activity with a pretend butterfly in this block. The use of a song in the current activity offers an important practice variation, although the stop requests are to be said rather than sung. Stopping an action upon request, even when the request is anticipated, is a self-control skill that takes time to master. See the Extra Support tips and accept different types of participation.
Toddlers may differ in their readiness to use a hand (versus an arm) to shake the bell. They also may differ in their ability to hold the bell with both hands as a way to stop shaking the bell, as noted in Option 1.
Watch for possible confusion in toddlers’ understandings of the words “ring” and “shake”; they mean the same thing in the activity. You may wish to change the words of the song to “shake, shake our bells.” The activity can contribute to vocabulary knowledge with repeated use of words such as “bell,” “ring,” “shake,” and “sound.”
Extra support
Enrichment
Fine motor development
Toddlers practice contrasting ways to shake a bell.
Invite several toddlers to join you in ringing our bells in different ways. Each of the bulleted suggestions below involves two contrasting types of bell shaking. Demonstrate each action first and then encourage toddlers join you in doing the action as you describe their efforts. Pause between each contrasting type of shake. Example: Shake the bell slowly. Pause. Shake the bell fast. Use as many of the following contrasting pairs as time and toddler interest permit:
The pairs of contrasting approaches to shaking a bell can support toddlers’ awareness of how hand (including fingers) and arm contribute to making a sound with a bell. Watch for chances to point out sound differences, such as the louder sound of a bell shaken fast compared to the softer sound of a bell shaken slowly. This helps support toddlers’ emerging awareness of cause-effect connections. Look also for actions that may benefit from your verbal or gentle, hands-on support, such as transferring a bell from one hand to the other hand. Because toddlers will differ in their fine motor skills, some of the contrasting actions will not be implemented as intended. Example: Some toddlers may not readily shake a bell with a hand versus an arm. Enthusiastically acknowledge toddlers’ efforts.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: basket of bells, I Hear by Helen Oxenbury
Provide a basket of bells on a low table so toddlers may continue exploration of how to shake a bell, including how to stop and start a bell. Sit with toddlers to talk about how they start shaking a bell and how they stop the bell ringing. On another day, share the I Hear book to emphasize the importance of listening. During play periods, draw attention to objects that move and then stop.
Materials Needed: bells
Invite children in your setting to pretend they are a team of “bell horses.” Explain that a team of “bell horses” carried heavy loads before there were big trucks. When a team of horses arrived in a village pulling a wagon with supplies, children and adults would hear the bells and come out to greet them.
Older infants and toddlers will enjoy ringing bells. Preschool-age and older children may enjoy galloping while ringing their bells and also talking about the types of supplies village children and parents may have received from the wagons pulled by bell horses.
© 2024 The Trustees of Purdue University | All Rights Reserved