There are certain tasks that are fairly simple but when you throw kids into the mix, it can be downright miserable… especially when that task is to simply wait.
Take getting an oil change, for example. Today we were quite lucky to only have to wait about 45 minutes, but there have been times where it has gone longer than the estimated time.
After about 2 minutes of everyone, including my toddler, cooing at my smiley 10 month old, we were already searching for a new game. Here is when I invented Buggy Xylophone (patent pending).
I pulled several items out of the diaper bag and we brushed each of them against the metal rungs of the basket.
Auditory Learning / Music skills
Mommy Teacher: “Does the pen make a HIGH pitched sounds or a LOW pitched sound?” (Make your voice go HIGH and LOW when saying those words.)
Mommy Teacher: “Does the wallet make a LOUD or a QUIET noise on the basket?” (Make your voice go LOUD and QUIET when saying those words.)
Mommy Teacher: “Let’s change the tempo. Can you move the pen fast across the rungs of the basket? That is a fast tempo. Now move the pen slow. That is a slow tempo.”
Listening Skills / Following Directions / Counting / Rhythm
Mommy Teacher: “I can tap 3 times tap tap tap. Now you tap 3 times.”
Mommy Teacher: “Repeat after me tap pause tap tap.”
Compare/Contrast
Mommy Teacher: “Which object is loudest?” “Which has the highest pitch?”
Grouping Like Objects (Science and Math)
Mommy Teacher: “The spoon and the pen are both hard and are both LOUD. The wallet and the purse are both soft and are both QUIET.”
Predicting (Science Skill)
Mommy Teacher: “Do you think the spoon is going to be LOUD or QUIET?”
Opposites
Mommy Teacher: “The pen is LOUD. The wallet is the opposite of LOUD which is what?”
Vocabulary
Loud, quiet, high pitch, low pitch, opposite, tempo, fast, slow
And that, my friends, is how you annoy the other patrons at Walmart… OR that is a great way to entertain your kids while waiting for your car to be ready. I prefer the latter.
