Listen, Sing, and Dance to Music

Wonderful things happen through music! You can imagine by the time you’ve heard the same children’s song on repeat, for what seems like years, children are learning more and more with each exposure. Check out this study about how the pathways that process language and music overlap! >>>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4321131/<<<

When listening to songs, you can draw attention to your mouth by pointing, or exaggerating your facial expressions when the target sounds/words come up. This draws the child’s attention to your mouth, giving them a super clear model of what that sound looks and sounds like!

Some additional benefits of engaging with music is that you can provide your child with alternative vocabulary and gestures help them get their thoughts across while they develop more expressive language. For example, it is less likely that a child will say “cow” before they say “moo”. But, if they look at you and say “moo”, you know just what they are telling you about! To the same note, your child may be able to let you know if they need help opening something by gesturing the way you might do while singing “The Wheels On The Bus”.

It may be easiest to pick one or two target sounds/words to work on at a time. Keeping it simple and digestible is the way to go!

Check out these recommendations for the early speech sounds /p, b, m, t, d, k, g, h, f, v/. Example words to focus on will be added in parenthesis. The suggestions are certainly not exhaustive, and the rules are not hard and fast. Do what works for you and your child.

  • Pat-a-cake

    • Words; “pat-a-cake”, “bakers man”, “mark with a “B”””, baby and me”

    • Gestures; use your hands to clap, roll and point for “baby and me”

  • Wheels on The Bus

    • Words; bus, town, wipers, blink, beep, mommy, daddy, babies, up, down

    • Gestures; could include American Sign Language for open/shut, up/down, and hand gestures for “round and round”, “beep beep”, “blink blink”, “swish swish”.

  • Old MacDonald Had A Farm

    • Words; MacDonald, farm, moo, cow, neigh, horse, pig, baa, duck, dog, woof, cat, meow

    • Gestures; could include American Sign Language for animals on the farm

  • Five Little Ducks

    • Words; five, ducks, day, pond, mother, came, back

    • Gestures; pretend to take hand over, hold up fingers for each number of ducks

  • Itsy Bitsy Spider

    • Words; bitsy, up, water, down, came, washed

    • Gestures; use finger movements to indicate a spider, use American Sign Language for “water”, “down”, and “up”.

  • Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

    • Words; twinkle, what, up, high

    • Gestures; holding your hand above your head, open and close it to indicate “star”, use your hands and arms to draw a big circle for “world”

  • Row Your Boat

    • Words; boat, down, merrily, dream

    • Gestures; pretend to row boat

  • The Muffin Man

    • Words; know, muffin, man, we

    • Gestures; use a sign or gesture for “eat”

  • If You’re Happy And You Know It

    • Words; happy, clap, hands, feet, hooray

    • Gestures; could use American Sign Language for “happy”, clap hands, stomp feet, put hands in air

  • Head, Shoulders, Knees And Toes

    • Words; head, knees, toes, mouth, nose

    • Gestures; point to each body part as it is being said

  • I like To Eat Apples And Bananas

    • Words; eat, apples, bananas

    • Gestures; sign or gesture “eat”

No, go have some fun acting silly with that little one while you listen to some new (or very old) songs!