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Home » Toddler

Audio Memory – Fun Kid’s Do It Yourself Game, but…

Submitted by on Friday, 14 November 2008One Comment

Love Buns had a brilliant idea for a kid’s game that can be made at home with every day objects, called Audio Memory.

It works like this:  you have pairs of small opaque containers, each pair containing something that makes a sound when you shake the container.  First you arrange them all in random order on the table, and take turns picking up random pairs.  You shake them.  If they sound the same, you get to keep them.  If they sound different, you put them back, trying to remember which sound you put back where.  You do this until all the matching pairs have been found.  The person who has found the most matching pairs wins.  Basically, it is like visual memory, just with sounds instead of pictures.

That yellow container inside the Kinder Surprise Egg can be used to play Audio Memory
That yellow container inside the Kinder Surprise Egg can be used to play Audio Memory

Love Buns made ours using the little toy containers that you find inside “Kinder Surprise” eggs.  She filled three pairs of containers, using dried chick peas for one pair, rice for the second pair and oat flakes for the third pair.

It is a great idea on paper (or on your computer screen).  In practice, it takes a bit of work, depending on how old your kids are.  It can be a difficult concept to grasp if the kids are too young.

Here is how it went for Love Buns when she tried it out with our 2.5 yr old Smarty Pants (roughly translated from the German original – Love Buns speaks German to Smarty Pants, I speak English to him):

Love Buns: (carrying large bowl containing the Audio Memory containers, to Smarty Pants) “Let’s play a game, come look!”

Smarty Pants: (approaching Love Buns with interest) “Okay”

Love Buns: (picking up two containers) “Look, each of these containers makes a different sound when you shake it.  You will need to pick out the two that make the same sound.”

Smarty Pants: (picks up two containers and extends his arm to me) “Papa, do you want one?”

Me:  “No, that is for the game you are playing with your mama.”

Love Buns: (to Smarty Pants) “You need to shake them and see if they make the same sound, and if not, you put both back in the bowl.  If they make the same sound, you can keep them.”

Smarty Pants: (shaking containers)

Love Buns: “And, do they make the same sound?”

Smarty Pants: (picking at one of the containers) “Can I open it?”

Love Buns: “First try and listen if they make the same sound.”

Smarty Pants: (pointing to the container and then to the bowl) “Can I empty them out?”

Love Buns: “No, we should keep them in the containers, because we are playing a game, and the stuff needs to stay inside the containers for this game.”

Smarty Pants: “Can I open it?”

Love Buns: “Okay, we can open it so you can see what is inside, then we will close it again and play the game.”  (Opening container) “See, there are chick peas inside” (closing it and opening another one) “And in this one there are oat flakes” (closing it, shaking them) “When I shake them, they make different sounds.  Now you need to find the two that make the same sound.  If they make the same sound, you can keep them, if not, you put them back in the bowl.”

Smarty Pants: (turning the bowl upside down, emptying the containers out) “Tara can play!” (throwing one of the containers at our cat, Tara).

Well, it was a good try and I love Love Buns for trying.  We had a lot of fun and got some good laughs out of this experience.

Love Buns really does a great job of trying to engage the kids in interactive and interesting games that make them think.  Smarty Pants will get it eventually I’m sure.  She tried this with a four year old and he picked up on the idea quickly.

I really like the idea behind this game.  It puts an interesting twist on the game of Memory and helps to hone the child’s sense of sound.  It would also be interesting to try “Smell Memory” or even “Touch Memory”  … “Taste Memory,” on the other hand, probably wouldn’t work… especially if one of the tastes is chocolate or candy!

Do you have any other ideas for games that you can make at home with every day objects, and what were your experiences playing them with your kids?  Join the jam and let us know by leaving a comment!

Flickr photo courtesy of cocoinzel

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