Like cars on a road, boats on a bay use color and sound to find their way around. These activities let students explore their own skills of watching and listening, and practice some of the sound words they hear every day.

• Red Light/Green Light
• Sound Words Challenge

• This classic game can be played indoors or outside. The object is for students to respond to your signal—"red light" means stop, and "green light" means go. If you have lots of space, students can walk or run toward you when you say "green light". If you’re indoors, you can have students march in place and stop when you say "red light". You can also play the game by holding up red and green construction paper as visual cues for "stop" and "go".

• Find more ideas for Red Light/Green Light here.

Have students write these five words on index cards:

• clap
• whistle
• tap
• snap
• stomp

When you’re ready to play, ask students to cover their eyes while you make one of these sounds. Then have students open their eyes, decide which sound they heard, and hold up the card they think has the correct word on it. If there’s disagreement, make the sound again with students watching, and ask them if they want to change their guess.

In this game, each student gets a cup that make noise when shaken. By listening carefully to each other’s cups, each student can find their sound partner — the person with the cup that makes the same sound as theirs. When everyone has found their sound partner, they can peek inside to see what’s been making the noise.

Here’s how to prepare for this activity:

1. Collect small objects that make distinctive sounds when shaken in a cup. (Some possible objects: dried beans, rice, paper clips, pennies, salt, dry pasta, erasers.)
2. Set out as many cups as you have students. If you have an odd number of students, add a cup for yourself.
   
3. Make cups in pairs: two cups with paper clips in them, two with rice, and so on.
   
4. Cover each cup with a piece of aluminum foil, held in place with a rubber band.