Some general ideas...

Well, just to get everyone thinking about different ideas for basic music playtime with any age, I thought I would put on some generic activities.

These activities are for listening and responding.

• Play music on the radio or a cd and dance with your kids. Try listening to different styles and beats of music and dance more gracefully or crazy depending on the mood. It will show them that music affects our mood and can make us to feel happy, relaxed, excited, sad, silly, etc. Ask them how they feel when you play certain songs. Get them thinking while they're playing! This is also just a great thing to do to get to know your kids better and spend time with them. (you can use this activity for any age and just adapt)
• For a quiet time activity turn on some music and have your kids draw what they see or how they feel when they are listening to it. Like I said before, try different styles: classical, rock, country, funk, jazz, blues, etc. Suggest using shapes, squiggles, landscapes, or any other drawing method.
  
• Play some music and have the children take turns telling you a story about what is happening...a knight is trying to save a princess and the ogre is chasing him! He's running as fast as he can...it can be any story. They will have fun using their imaginations.
• As you're watching a movie and talk about how the music changes when different things are going on-having fun, running, feeling sad, or big dramatic moments. Again, this teaches them how music can affect the way we feel.

These are hands-on activities.

• Fill different size containers with beans, rice, sand, rocks, or anything you can find to make instruments. Discuss how they all have unique sounds. Let the children experiment with them. Have them sing a familiar song (Twinkle Twinkle or Mary Had a Little Lamb) and hit or shake their new instrument on every word. For more advanced kids, they could tap the beat.
  
• This is a fun rhythm game. Pick a theme (or don't, it's your choice) and have the kids think of words that go along with it. We'll use food since I love food -eggs, waffles, pancakes, toast- eggs becomes: 1 quarter note, waffles: 2 eighth notes, pancakes: 2 eighth notes, toast: 1 quarter note. Tap a steady beat and then say the words. If this is confusing, I'll post a video of myself doing it. Continue picking different words. Work up to 3 or 4 syllable words (3=triplets, 4=quadruplets).
  

Well, that's going to be it for now, but I will be posting new ideas regularly. As I said before, any suggestions are welcome and encouraged. Keep music alive in our homes!