In the early years, a child’s brain is growing and developing important new connections. Singing is a way that you can enrich the language your child hears, by sharing familiar vocal routines, and linking them to actions.
You can sing with children of any age!
When your little one is learning how to make the sounds of language, singing is a great way to help them discover a familiar pattern of sounds, and start guessing what will come next. As their vocal skills develop, they can start to join in with the rhythm of the song, and remembering the sequence of actions.
It takes some time before children have control over the muscles they need to use for speaking and singing. Songs provide a chance to exercise those muscles in a familiar routine, helping to build up strength and precision.
With their growing word knowledge, toddlers can connect some of the words in the songs to actions and objects they are familiar with. This can help to build strong memories for words and their meanings, all in a fun activity.
Children’s understanding of complexity continues to grow, and they can start to pick apart individual words in song lyrics. This helps children learn more complicated sentence types.
Goals. Singing is a great way to provide your child with familiar verbal routines they can learn from, and opportunities to join in with their own voice. Learning and practice are all wrapped up in a single fun activity.
How does it work? Even when little-ones don’t know the meanings of the words in a song, they can still learn important information about language. Verbal routines like singing help young children to learn about how speech sounds have a particular order, and help them learn to make predictions about what comes next. Simple songs encourage children to join in with their voices, so they practise their speaking skills, and build up strength in their speaking muscles. Songs with actions also help little ones form connections between words and the world.
Key point. You don’t have to have a professional singing voice to enjoy singing with your little one. If you are having fun then they will enjoy it too! Singing also provides familiar examples of how language works, and a chance for your child to join in.
Multilingual insights. You can sing in any language! Since different languages have different sounds and different speech patterns, singing in different languages can help your child discover some of these differences.
Youtube song examples:
Here are some song suggestions in multiple languages that can be accompanied by fun actions using different body parts!
- English: Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, Itsy bitsy spider (link), I’m a little teapot (link), If you’re happy and you know it
- Mandarin: Three little tigers (link), head shoulders knees and toes (link)
Read more about singing
https://theconversation.com/learning-music-early-can-make-your-child-a-better-reader-106066
Read the science:
Ma et al (2020) Ma, W., Fiveash, A., Margulis, E. H., Behrend, D., & Thompson, W. F. (2020). Song and infant-directed speech facilitate word learning. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 73(7), 1036-1054. FREE ACCESS LINK: