Enjoying music with the youngest children is easier than you may think. Alice Sharp offers simple age-appropriate activities
0-1 year
A baby's sense of sound is stimulated even before birth. A child in the womb can hear your voice, the music you play and many other sounds.
Once born, a child will use his sense of sound - in partnership with sight - to develop an understanding of space and an ability to focus on where sounds are coming from.
The sounds we create will also present a sense of security for a baby. When we sing to him, play music to him and imitate his chatter we can introduce a very real sense of intimacy and enjoyment.
Babies react positively to gentle surprises. While lying or sitting closely with them, quietly begin singing or humming, then sit back and watch their smiles. Hand them a rattle or shaker and allow them to explore the sounds they can make and listen to them chuckle in response.
Presenting them with a variety of opportunities to relate to sounds and music will bring much fun and endless stimulation.
Activities
Paper play
- Collect various types of paper - aluminium foil, tissue, crepe, newspaper.
- Sit baby beside you on the floor and crumple a piece of paper in your hand.
- Give her another piece of the same paper and help her crumple it.
- Crinkle it beside her ear, then your ear and encourage her to crinkle the paper beside her ear.
- Repeat with other paper types.
Sing-song time
- Hold baby closely and sing familiar songs such as 'Twinkle, Twinkle', 'Rock-a-Bye-Baby', 'Hush Little Baby'.
- Sing the song in different voices, sometimes high, sometimes low.
- Whisper the song quietly beside her ears, then withdraw so she has to really listen to hear the quiet tones.
- Sing familiar songs loudly and softly, slowly and quickly - sing two lines loudly, the next two softly, two lines slowly, the next two quickly.
Face the music
- Wind up a music box or musical toy and hide it somewhere near baby.
- Ask the baby to help you find the music. Crawl with baby to one or two places asking, 'Is it here? No. Is it here? No.' On the third try, go to the correct place and allow baby to find the music, saying, 'Hooray, we found it.'.
- Hide the music in the same place a few times, then try somewhere new.
Magical music
- Play different kinds of music for baby. Hold baby and dance around to fast music, then to a slow beat.
- Rock or bounce in time to soft, slow music or slightly faster tunes.
- March around to a strong beat.
- Sway with baby to floating music or exuberant music. The following selection could all be used: Vivaldi, 'Four Seasons'; Holst, 'The Planets'; Mendelssohn, 'Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream'.
1 - 2 years
A toddler spends more time awake than a young baby and becomes more interested in and eager to explore the world around her. Movement and sounds intrigue a child if offered in an attractive and exciting way.
One of the first things infants learn is to recognise sounds, so helping a toddler differentiate the sounds she hears will further her development.
Singing familiar songs will reassure a young child and music can be a wonderful stimulant, as well as a relaxing experience. Adults should appreciate the value and importance of music and music making, and always keep it non-competitive.
Activities
Musical bodies
- Sit opposite the toddler and clap your hands. Help her clap her hands together by gently placing your own hands outside hers and pushing them to clap.
- As you clap, say a familiar rhyme or sing a simple tune.
- Use your hands to tap your legs and gently tap the toddler's legs too. While doing this, repeat the song or rhyme again.
- Tap your hands on your shoulders, then on the toddler's shoulders. Encourage her to copy you. Again tap in time to a song or rhyme, creating a sense of rhythm.
The sound game
- Gather several film canisters and place a variety of items inside which will make sounds - for example a coin, a button, a clothes peg, rice, lentils and so on.
- Make sure that the lids are securely fastened.
- Allow the toddler to explore the sounds that each canister makes.
- Encourage her to shake the canisters slowly, then quickly. Use the vocabulary 'slow' and 'quick'. Remember, however, that although the child can listen to you shaking and to what you are saying, you are not expecting her to follow directions.
- Invite the child to choose a loud sound or a quiet one. Use the words 'noisy' and 'quiet'.
Bags of noise
- With the toddler, make paper bag shakers.
- Decorate the bags using crayons or pens.
- Invite the toddler to fill the bags with rice, dried beans or lentils.
- Tie two of the bags securely with string and give them to the toddler.
- Shake two bags and suggest that she does too.
- Sing a few favourite songs while using the shakers.
- Play music with a variety of tempos and styles, such as marches, waltzes, rock music, and piano ragtime.
Music garden
- When outside with toddlers, encourage them to listen to all the sounds around them.
- Invite them to choose some large stones - about five - with you and place them in a line.
- Encourage the children to watch as you gently tap each stone with a small stick.
- Sing a short familiar rhyme while you carry this out.
- Offer the stick to the toddlers giving clear safety instructions.
- Put out three trays - one with water, one with leaves and one with sand. Allow them to play with the stick in each tray.
- Call their attention to the gentle sounds they will hear.
- Then encourage them to drop each stone into the trays again and call their attention to the very contrasting sounds they will hear.
2 - 3 years
At two years old, most children will begin to join in with nursery rhymes and songs. They should be presented with as many opportunities as possible to explore and respond to environmental sounds, vocal sounds and instrumental sounds.
We know that young children love to listen to and join in with familiar songs and tunes, but they need to be offered a wide variety of new and exciting songs, music and rhymes as well. Ensure that they are encouraged to explore contrasts between beat, volume and pitch.
Children this age should be invited to invent instruments and make choices about how to use them, they should also be given a chance to explore 'real' instruments such as the guitar, piano, violin, flute and so on.
Opportunities for listening to music and reflecting on feelings evoked by sounds should be set up.
Activities
Speaking in rhyme
- Rhyme and rhythm go hand in hand. Create little rhymes for the children to say to gentle rhythms - for example, 'very cherry', 'dapple apple', 'a plum in my tum', 'tooty fruity beauty'.
- While you say the rhyme, clap the rhythm. Encourage the children to join in if they are able, but remember the aim of this can just be to encourage listening and discrimination between sounds. The children do not always need to participate actively to have fun.
- Give the toddlers an instrument to bash out the rhythm if you feel it is appropriate.
What do we hear?
- Encourage the children to lie quietly - in an open space if possible.
- Project gentle images on to the ceiling. These could be leaves, flowers, works of art, shapes or shadows.
- Play sounds of the sea or wind, jungle noises or short extracts of music, to complement the visual stimulus.
- This will encourage relaxation and probably have a therapeutic effect.
Water music
- Fill plastic bottles with coloured water or liquid to use for shaking.
- Fill a set of glass beakers which have lids with liquids at different levels. Encourage the children to listen to the sound differences between the bottles and the different beakers.
- Give the children the chance to gently tap each beaker with a soft beater.
Banding together
- Create an orchestra with as wide a selection of instruments as possible. Include real instruments, toy instruments and home-made instruments.
- Allow the children to explore and experiment with them.
- Suggest that half of them sing while the others play, then swap.
- Tape record the session and play it back to the children a few times
