Did you know that children learn concepts best in opposites? It’s why in your Kindermusik class, you’ll learn fast/slow, smooth/bumpy, high/low, among many other pairs. It’s why in school, addition and subtraction are taught back to back. It’s why when you begin to drive, your teacher makes sure you know where both the brake and the gas pedals are!
Learning opposites enhances vocabulary and word association, encourages sensory and motor development, develops discrimination and classification skills, and provides plenty of opportunity for fun games. The farther apart the opposite (black and white, hard and soft), the easier it is for children to master the concept. When you add an interactive approach, this learning becomes highly enjoyable.
Here’s a few “opposite” activities:
When doing these, be sure to label the opposite words. (It’s pretty easy to forget to do that, as we adults already know the vocabulary!)
· Try tasting some opposite things like sweet sugar and sour lemon.
· Sort round cans and square boxes when putting away the groceries.
· Music is full of opposites. Put on your favorite piece of Kindermusik (or music with pitch or tempo variation), and move high and low, or fast and slow.
Sing a song silly! (High and then low, or fast and then slow.)
· Move. Go and stop. Take big steps, and little steps. Go under, go over.
· Open and shut the doors. Or cupboards. Cause seriously, if they don’t learn both opening and shutting in a pair now, your fridge is going to constantly be left open when they are a bit older!
· Identify back or front. Left or right. Short and tall. Boy or girl. Young or old. Dirty or clean. Empty or full.
· Feel the objects around you. Hard or soft? Rough or smooth? Hot or cold?
· Read some opposite books, and talk about what you see. Here’s some favorites: “Dinosaur Roar,” by Paul and Henrietta Stickland. “Big Dog, Little Dog,” by P.D. Eastman. “The Foot Book,” by Dr. Seuss.
Even babies learn opposites. Talk to your baby as you go throughout the day, and emphasize the opposite words with your vocal inflection. “I’m going to pick you up.” “We are going down the stairs.”Really, the possibilities are endless. Just have fun with it!
-posted by Miss Analiisa, whose two oldest children are oil and water.
Special thanks to Analiisa Reichlin for allowing us to share such this post from the Studio 3 Music Blog. Analiisa is Director of Studio 3 Music in Seattle, Washington, the world’s largest Kindermusik program.