What are your favorite sounds?

I was cutting a piece of fabric at a friend’s house and commented on how I like the sound of cutting out fabric on a wooden table. It has a sound that is so unique. That started my mind thinking of some of the sounds that give me warm fuzzy feelings… Sounds like rain on a canvas tent roof, or water lapping against a boat drifting downstream, or the sound of a woodpecker in the woods.

I asked my friends on Facebook to share their favorite sounds. Some of their replies were rain on a tin roof, the sound of coffee perking, birds chirping in the early morning, a baby’s first laugh, the sound of a baby breathing while asleep, a crackling fire, and guinea pigs purring. Most of my Facebook friends are adults. I wonder what kind of answers I might have gotten if children were writing them. I can imagine they might think of things like music of an ice cream or candy truck, Mommy singing, or Daddy coming home. Then again, they would probably think of things I wouldn’t think about.

The Listening Walk by Paul Showers and illustrated by Aliki is a children’s book that focuses on the sounds a child might hear as he went for a walk. I would encourage my young parent readers to share this book with their children and then take a listening walk. When the walk is over talk about the sounds they heard while walking. Encourage them to share other sound that make them feel good.

I have enjoyed thinking about comforting sounds over the past couple of days and in doing so have let some of the tensions of life slide off my shoulders and out the door.

What are some of your favorite sounds? Ask your children to tell their favorite sounds and then share them in a comment below.