Hide and Sound

The Guide

1. Make sounds: Start off with an invitation for kids to join you in making as many sounds as you can. Grab a stick and start drumming, beating, rubbing and messing around to make sounds of your own. Your kids will undoubtedly follow on, making their own music.
2. Pick “your” sound: Pick a sound to be “yours” or your favorite. Ask kids what is their special, favorite sound. Circle up and share your sounds.
3. Go on a sound parade: Start moving around making your signature sounds. Try to make them as quietly as you can. Try to make them as loudly as you can.
4. Suggest a game: “Hey, let’s play hide-and-seek and use our sounds!” Kids 4-7 typically love hide-and-seek and will be game to experiment with adding sound to the beloved game. If they are younger than 4, adding sounds to hide-and-seek will likely be too hard to coordinate and sustain. This ends up pretty fun for all ages, you just have to make the hiding spots extra challenging as kids get older.
5. Play: You hide first, trying to make the spot harder than you normally would given your kids’ age(s). Once you are in your spot and your child has counted, make your sound every 20 seconds or so.
6. Try it without sight: Grab some cloth or a bandana to use as a blindfold and head to an open space (the woods are too full of roots, logs, etc for this to be safe or fun). Try to play with the seeker blindfolded. Once unable to rely on sight, a seeker has to listen all the more intently, making the experience that much more intense and the learning more powerful. Note: In this version, another adult or the hider should watch out for the seeker, ready to shout a warning if he or she is wandering off too far or heading for a tree, etc.