Big Box, Little Box Drums

What you need

• a big cardboard box and a small cardboard box
• a plastic tub with a lid
• two wooden spoons
• masking tape for the lid

How to do it

1. Turn the boxes and the tub upside down in a row on the floor, tape the tub lid on, and give your child the wooden spoons.
2. Tap the big box, then the small one. Which sounds deep and which sounds high? Try loud and then soft on each.
3. Drum each family name, one tap for every beat: Dad-dy on the big box, Grand-ma on the tub, their own name on the small box.
4. Let them play a beat for you to copy, then swap.

Why it matters

Big boxes boom and little ones tap, so they can hear the size, and drumming a name beat by beat is listening to the parts of a word.

What they're learning

Loud and soft

The same box played hard and then gently.

Beats in a word

One tap for every part of a name.

Big and small sounds

The big box booms, the small one taps.

What to look for

Notice them choosing a box to match a name, like the big box for the longest one.

A tip

Drumming gets loud, so a cushion under a box softens it if you need a quieter go.

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