Listening to Outdoor Sounds
An open window, two minutes of quiet, and the world starts talking.
Listening to Outdoor Sounds is a Montessori activity for a child aged 18 to 24 months. Area: Science and Nature. Time: 5 min.
What the activity builds
Isolate hearing, practice listening on purpose, and connect a sound to the thing that made it.
The materials
- A window that opens, or a bench outside
- A place where you can both sit
- Nothing else, and especially no screen on in the room
How to do it, step by step
- Sit down with your child near the open window.
- Put a finger to your lips, smile, and go quiet.
- Hold still for as long as they can manage, often thirty seconds at first.
- At the first sound that passes, point in its direction, without talking.
- When you close the window, name what you heard, one or two things: "the car," "the bird."
- Try again another day, at a different time: morning sounds aren't the same as evening ones.
The parent's role
Show once, then step back. The quiet IS the activity, not something to get through before it starts. You set the example by going quiet first. If your child talks, don't shush them, just close the window and offer something else, you'll try again tomorrow.
Safety
A window open at child height is a hazard: only open it if it's secured, stay right next to your child the whole time, and close it before leaving the room. Skip especially loud street days, they make listening unpleasant.
You remain the sole judge of what is right for your child. These activities are offered for educational and recreational purposes: they do not replace medical advice or the guidance of an early childhood professional.
Ways to adapt the activity
- Easier: the window cracked open for thirty seconds, no more.
- Harder: ask them to point to where a sound came from before you name it.
- Extension: at the park, eyes closed, count the different sounds on one hand.
Up next
More activities for a 18 to 24 months child.
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