Research shows that music is a fundamental part of our babies’ mental, physical and social development, helping our children to develop their speech and improve their co-ordination.
Parenting on Female First
Here, Caroline Crabbe, General Manager at Jo Jingles, which provides music, singing and movement experience classes for babies and pre-school children, shares her top tips on how to bring music into your home and aid your baby's development.
1. Sing to your child regularly. It can be useful to incorporate music into your daily routine - lots of children love singing at bath time, or enjoy a favourite song at nappy change time.
Don’t worry if you are not the world’s most competent singer. You’re not appearing on the X Factor and your child will not criticise you if you are out of tune! Just be enthusiastic and they will love it.
2. Make music active. It’s not enough simply to put on a CD of nursery rhymes, unless you join in and interact with your child - it won’t have the same level of impact.
3. Very young children respond best to very simple songs and traditional nursery rhymes. Some CDs available in the shops have complicated rhythms more suited to a nightclub rather than a nursery, so try to avoid these.
4. Songs using simple actions are great fun and will help improve your child’s co-ordination. Try to incorporate movement or dance around the room while the song plays.
5. Invest in some percussion instruments - rainmakers, bells, maracas, tambourines, castanets, etc, are all available from local toy shops. Or you could improvise - for example, bang yoghurt pots together, fill a shampoo bottle with dried peas (and fasten securely) to make a shaker, use two saucepan lids to make a fantastic pair of cymbals!
6. Props are also a fun element of music making. Why not hide behind scarves whilst singing a peekaboo song, use soft farmyard toys for “Old McDonald” or liven up “The Wheels on the Bus” by using streamers with the actions.
Try showing your child pictures to accompany the songs they are singing, so they understand the concepts more quickly.
7. Help develop listening skills by exploring different styles of music together and see how your child reacts?
8. If you haven’t sung a nursery rhyme for 20 years and have forgotten all the words, there are lots of ways of reminding yourself.
Apart from buying a tape or CD, you could try out a toddler group. Most have a 5-10 minute “sing song” at the end and this will help you to remember some of the more popular tunes.
For more information, visit www.jojingles.com