Music & Your Toddler’s Development: How Singing Boosts Language & Early Literacy Development
Does singing with your toddler come naturally to you? When we chat with our mom friends, most of them tell us they aren’t super comfortable with it. And, we get it! Singing with kids and trying new songs outside of the classics like ‘Wheels on the Bus’ is a little bit awkward if you’ve never done it before! Here’s the thing, though: children typically realllllly love it. And, it’s great for their language development. So we always encourage you to give it a try by making it as easy on you as possible!
In today’s post, we’ll share some of the main ways music supports your toddler’s development. We’ll get into the benefits of singing for your toddler AND for you. And we’ve even got a free song video you can watch with your child—you know, to take the pressure off YOU and your singing voice!
It will be fun. And worth it. We promise. Let’s jump in!
How Music & Singing Supports Toddler Development
Music is SUPER beneficial for toddler development. Songs and rhymes help foster both language and early literacy skills. Here’s how:
Music Helps Toddlers Learn Language
Singing slooooows language right down, which helps our kids learn it! Why you ask? Well, try saying “the wheels on the bus” normally. Now, try singing the words “the wheels on the bus” out loud. Big difference though, right?!
That difference in pacing allows our children to hear every sound and makes trying it out for themselves feel so much more doable. Plus, music is fun, and fun can take some speaking pressure off!
Beyond just slowing things down, music also:
Helps your child cue into your voice
Emphasize keywords (how many times do they hear “round and round” in that song?!)
Provides opportunities to practice connecting words together
So you can see why, as speech therapists, we’re so big on incorporating songs and rhymes into your day-to-day life!
Songs Introduce New Vocabulary & Concepts
Toddlers are learning to understand and say new words at a very rapid pace. During toddlerhood, they become familiar with language-based concepts like location words, colors, and describing words. Songs help with this understanding!
Music Provides Opportunities For Imitation
Learning to use gestures, words, and sounds are all important for communication development. And because songs and rhymes often incorporate gestures, they can help these new words come to life!
Some examples of songs with gestures are:
Slippery Fish
Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes
Itsy Bitsy Spider
...but there are SO many more!
And, because toddlers can imitate gestures before they can imitate sounds and words, learning these “moves” can help them communicate with you before they can speak! For example, they might be able to open and close their arms like a chomping alligator BEFORE they can say “chomp chomp” or “alligator”.
Repetition Supports Language Development
You know how children’s songs and rhymes seem to repeat things over and over and over (and over)? There’s a reason for that—and we swear it’s not to punish you for something you did in a past life! Simply put, repetition helps toddlers learn language.
If you think about how YOU would learn a new skill, it probably involves a lot of repetition, right? Whenever we want to really master something, we practice, practice, practice. We might even go through the motions if it’s something complicated, like learning how to drive or perform CPR.
When kids are learning something new, they need to do the same kinds of things.
Repeating new words and phrases gives them time to practice, understand, and “apply” what they’re learning, even if they aren’t speaking just yet.
Action Tip: Try repeating new words your child learns from songs and rhymes in different contexts, to help them leverage their learning! Take the word out of the song and apply it across a variety of real-life situations throughout your daily routines.
5 Ways Music, Songs & Rhymes Benefit Parents
#1 Fun & Play
Have you ever thought to yourself, “What the heck am I gonna do with my toddler all day?!” Especially as toddler parents, it’s true what they say: the years are short but the days are LONG.
Singing songs and rhymes is a fun, playful way to spend some time together. It provides your toddler with a multisensory experience, which is perfect because toddlers play and learn by using all five of their senses.
#2 No Setup Required
Parenting hack! You can whip out a song or rhyme anytime, anywhere, in zero minutes flat. They don’t require any setup, supplies, or materials, so you get started on them faster than your toddler can say “NOOOOOOO WAY!!”
We also love that they’re highly educational, development-supporting activities you can do without spending money or acquiring more stuff. Any other minimal moms out there that feel us on this?
#3 Connection & Bonding
Do you ever have days when you’re caught up in the go-go-go of parenting? Days where hours go by without feeling like you really connected with your little one? Well, by giving us little moments of the day to connect and have fun with our toddlers, songs and rhymes can really help.
Toddlers have a strong need to connect with us. And your toddler will learn best when their connection with you is strong and well established. Singing songs and rhymes together can help facilitate this connection. As a result, they’ll be able to more easily learn the concepts taught in songs and rhymes—because they already feel that connection.
Also, because singing together releases endorphins, songs and rhymes can help you get out of tricky situations, avoid fights and arguments, become calmer yourself, and add playfulness to difficult routines. They just switch up the whole vibe of the day for the better! So, while having a song or rhyme that makes you smile isn’t a cure-all, it can make a big difference. You can pull it out of your back pocket whenever one, or both of you, needs it.
On those days when things feel particularly hard, if you think a little bonding would help, we’d encourage you to see if you can put everything else down and even just spend 5 minutes reconnecting to your toddler through a song! It can help restore your perspective and makes everything else feel a little less heavy for a second.
#4 Waiting Made Easy (Or At Least Easier!)
Songs and rhymes are a busy parent’s best friend. When you have a few memorized, ones that you and your child both like to sing together, you can use them to make just about any situation more tolerable!
Of course, this doesn’t work every time. Sometimes they’re properly over it and the only thing that helps is getting the heck out of the car! But, it’s worth a try. Even if you can buy yourself a few minutes, some days, that’s a game-changer.
Songs & Rhymes Can Help You:
On long car rides
Sitting on the bus or train
At the doctor or dentist
In line at the grocery store
While waiting for a meal
#5 Making Routines Easier
Songs and rhymes help our kids make sense of many parts of their worlds, including their daily routines. And, using them during daily routines accomplishes multiple goals at once, like:
Teaching them about their world
Letting them know what’s coming next
Helping them learn vocabulary
Providing opportunities to practice and repeat
Plus, it can be a big parenting win because it can diffuse the tension during difficult routines or awkward transitions!
For Parents Who Aren’t Big On Songs & Rhymes (Yet!)
If you’re not doing a lot of songs and rhymes with your child right now, that’s okay! We get it and we want to help make it feel more comfortable for you! That’s why we’ve developed an extensive library of songs, rhymes, and story times your toddler is sure to love inside of our Songs + Stories membership.
Songs+Stories is great for YOU for all the reasons listed above: it’s something fun to do with your little one and it can buy you time and a moment alone! (It’s also a high-quality screen time option.) But, it’s also incredibly beneficial for your toddler’s language development!
Wanna peek inside Songs+Stories to see what it’s like? We thought you might! Click the link below to get a free song and story time video for your toddler or preschooler.
References:
Apel, K. (2012). Beyond Baby Talk. New York: Three Rivers.
Suskind, D. (2016). Thirty Million Words: Building a Child’s Brain. Dutton.
Zerotothree. 2019. Early Development. Available at: https://www.zerotothree.org/early-development.