Why do children love to sing?
Babies love to listen to singing and they love to sing themselves. They are born sensitive to different notes and sounds—and actually prefer listening to Mommy singing than talking. Baby Tad's singing is similar in tempo and pitch to a parent's singing.
Music is certainly about sound and emotion, but it's also about speech and language. Speech has a rhythm and we can see in this video that it's possible to learn a song without knowing what all the words mean! The structure of the melody helps hold the order of the sounds in memory. Listening to music helps children develop their memory and listening skills. This toddler has learned a sequence of sounds, but more importantly learned how some sounds blend together to make words and that the intonation conveys as much meaning as the words themselves.
How does singing help their development?
Music is a great way to get babies started on all kinds of skills. First up, they love performing for their friends and family. This helps develop self-esteem and gives them the confidence to learn. Second, music—whether it's singing, playing or just dancing along—helps develop social and communication skills because it can be a shared activity. Third, music can underpin abstract thought. Counting to the rhythm of music can help children learn number and pattern concepts; rhyming songs teach children about the rhythm and structure of language; and, of course, dancing to music helps infants develop movement and balance skills.
What’s next?
When children make music, whether it’s singing or playing musical instruments, they develop a number of different areas in the brain including sensory, motor, memory and language systems. In fact, it is thought that stepping up a child's exposure to music can promote physical development.
Learn and Groove musical toys help your child develop a sense of rhythm from an early age using rhymes and songs.
