Introduction to singing with your baby

Children are born ready, able and eager to learn and interact with other people, and in the world around them. Singing with your young child or baby is a great way of connecting with them and aiding their cognitive, language, and emotional development. Babies and young children love nursery rhymes, and the rhythm of songs and rhymes helps with the development of their language. Songs with actions in them are especially good because babies can join in with them by moving their body or doing the actions with their hands, long before they can sing along. Your child will be able to start with simple actions like clapping, or opening and closing their hands, and gradually learn to do more complicated actions as they grow and develop. Find out more from Dr Jacqueline Harding about how singing with your baby can help in five key areas of their development. 

Language development 

Singing songs with your child Old Macdonald and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes helps their anguage skills as they learn new words to help widen their vocabulary. It can also help them get into the rhythm of the sentence, learning comprehension and phonics which all helps towards getting them ready for th such as their educational journey.

Social emotional wellbeing

Singing with your child can help your child's emotional and social development. They learn so much from the rhymes about life in general, how we feel and how we connect with others which will help them develop a more happy and balanced approach as they grow. If You're Happy is a great song to sing. 

Movements 

Singing actions songs such as Row Your Boat, Animals, etc. can help a young child with their physical development. It can aid your child in their fine and gross motor skills as they are using different parts of their body.

Mathemetical development

Singing rhymes can help with your child's numeracy which can help them become ready for school. Using finger or counting songs can be a great way of introducing maths by counting the beats or using fingers. Incy Wincy or Pat a Cake are a good choice of songs to use. 

World around them

Singing songs with your child can help them learn about the world around them. Whether it is about nature, animals, communities or culture, singing songs can introduce them to their world. Singing rhymes such as Wheels on the Bus, Ghanaian Song or Ainsi Font Font Font can help with their learning.   

But what if I can't sing?

The beauty of singing with your baby is that it doesn't matter if you have singing ability or not as your baby doesn't mind! They will just love the fact you are singing rhymes and songs with actions . They will get very excited when they know it is singing time as it will be that special quality one to one time that will create a stronger bond between you both. 

And remember...

• Singing with your child is not age restrictive, it doesn't matter how old or young they are, you can sing with your child at any age.
• Help your baby move with actions songs, such as 'happy if you know it, clap your hands'. Even if your baby is too young to do actions themselves, you can help them my taking their hands in yours and clapping for example.
• If you don't know any songs to sing with your baby, don't worry you can make them up! It can be about anything whether it is their favorite toy, nap time or even when the postman posts your letters. It doesn't matter as long as you are having fun with your baby. 

Our videos are a useful tool in helping you and your baby or child sing songs and learn new songs. They are also subtitled in other languages including Polish, Bengali, Punjabi, Arabic and Turkish.

This project has been funded by the Froebel Trust. The Trust promotes the continuing value in the 21st century of Froebelian principles for the education and learning of children. For more information about their work and ideas for play, please click here.