Music
Music & Movement
From birth (or before), pick up your child and dance--"Let the music weave a spell, Whirl away your worries..." Move to a variety of musical genres. Waltzes are a lot of fun, but so are many other kinds of music. Boys as well as girls need to have a sense of position, rhythm, etc. that comes from dancing. Even football players learn ballet for the skills, balance, flexibility, and strength it builds.
Kid Songs &
Folk Songs
Have fun learning, singing, going through the motions of action and finger plays, children's songs, holiday and folk songs.
Make Music &
Listen to Sound
Acquire and/or make instruments of sound. Experiment with all kinds of materials and techniques. Practice listening in every setting.
Broaden Your Background
Play a variety of music in the background, to help develop an ear and appreciation of different genres of music. If you can't afford to build a library of music, borrow from the public library, or just tune into the radio (or internet)--different stations specialize in different styles of music.
Art
Experiment with all kinds of media
Get ready for messy. Cover clothes and surfaces, but have fun! Crayons, chalk, paint, sand, glitter, clay/dough, stickers, stamps, stencils--rock, paper, scissors . . .
Access to Art
Get great Art. Picture books are often works of art, calendars . . . Many museums offer opportunities to walk the exhibits for reduced rates at certain days/times. Galleries generally don't charge to look.
Practice Seeing
Look for shapes, colors, textures, patterns, all around you--wherever you go, look up, look down, look all around . . . and when you look at art/pictures.
Get a Clue
Watch others create. Watch and talk about ideas, techniques, styles, colors . . . Creativity is not ex nihilo--it is taking elements of what you know and putting them together in a new way. Every artist (and other creative folks) has (have) a background and experiences s/he/they draw(s) upon. It's ok to show a kid some idea of how to portray a 3-D item on paper, for instance. ("Keep Looking Up" by Olivia Gragg, age 11)
Literature
Read Fun and Interesting Language
Rhyming, alliteration, silly stuff, real stuff---not too lengthy or involved, "just right" for the attention level of the learner . . .
Make Connections
Literature is not in its own little box, separate and detached from all else. Connect it with other forms of art, science, math, social and personal experience . . .
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Be Dramatic!
Read like you mean it! Play up every part! ​​Inject some inflection to infect the reading with exceptional direction.
Make a point of every Word
Point to each word as you read it. Be an example of a reader--vocalize your thought process as you read the story or information. Let it be seen that you are a reader, and enjoy it.​​
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Build a Home Library
Library and school book sales; rummage, yard, and estate sales; 2nd hand stores and hand-me-downs, can all help build a decent library. I started mine as a teen--note 3/$1 and $.39 Golden Books :-). Lots of great "Discards".
