Take This Tone
Singing to your baby helped lay a foundation for literacy. Keep building it as your child grows! Singing and sharing music encourages kids’ creativity and promotes careful listening. From learning how an instrument works, to memorizing the words to a song, to making up a new dance, music benefits your child’s development. And it’s fun!
- Singing helps kids understand how sounds come together to form words and reinforces what they know about those sounds. Learn songs to sing together so your child learns new words and new sounds too!
- The ability to pick out sounds that rhyme and to distinguish beginning sounds is a very important skill for children learning how to read. Tune your child’s ear with songs filled with different sound patterns, rhymes, and alliteration.
- Your singing can be a comfort to your child. Singing together can help make your child feel more connected and have a more positive attitude.
- Kids can learn through lyrics. Go beyond the Alphabet Song! You can share songs that help your child learn about everything from his faith and culture, to his country and history, to hygiene and health.
- Don’t limit your child to children’s music—play your own music collection and sing your favorite songs for your child. But also try to introduce different types of music, as well. The public library can be a good resource for CDs of classical, jazz, country, pop, folk and other types music.
- Music gets kids moving. Improved gross and fine motor skills are the benefit, so share music and songs on a daily basis!