READING–What’s is this thing called reading all about? The goal of reading is comprehension, creating meaning from print! Sounds easy enough—wish it were so. The reading process is a challenge for the young brain. 

The brain is designed to understand and speak thousands of languages at birth. However, by the end of a baby’s sixth month the brain has narrowed its focus down to learning the native language spoken consistently within their environment. The baby brain thrives on learning language production as evidenced all throughout the first three years of a child’s growth and development. For a young toddler learning to speak and understand word meanings becomes one of their first priorities. It’s a natural process predesigned within the brain. Reading is not a natural preprogrammed process and must be taught, since its recent evolution began with tablets in Mesopotamia circa 3,400 BCE.

What is literacy in relationship to language and reading? Literacy is defined as the ability to read and write. Acquiring oral language in order to communicate and understand ones surrounding happens first and continues throughout a lifetime. As the young brain takes on the challenge of learning to speak and increase their listening skills, it gains an awareness of reading and writing. 

Reading and writing have a reciprocal relationship the two processes are deeply interconnected. One must have words in order to read anything written AND one writes words to have them read. The writing process will be discussed in more detail in future posts. First, let’s take a closer look at the various aspects which contribute to learning to read.

Road to Reading

Any long journey needs a map to get to ones’ destination successfully. The road to reading has four main stages of development starting at birth and continuing to age twelve and beyond. A child gains a variety of different skills within every stage, with each stage building and expanding upon the other. The learning reader has many challenges along the way in obtaining their end goal of becoming a fluent life-long reader, thereby, solving the mystery of reading.

Although this section of Reading Time will address the first stage – Emergent Readers – birth to five years of age (focusing on one to three), an overview of the other three stages are shown on the visuals that follow. The two visuals show the four stages with some of the key elements found within each stage. However, each individual item listed is not of equal difficulty. Learning to Read is the main goal for stages one and two, while Reading to Learn is the main focus for the third and fourth stages. This does not mean very young children are not working on understanding the content of what they are reading. No, it’s just the main priority is basic beginning reading skills to unlock the alphabetic code (phonemic code). Comprehension skills are introduced as the reader progresses.

A big shift in expectations does occur for the transitional reader, they are required to comprehend longer more complex print concepts or digital text found in multiple subject areas and literary genres. Also, vocabulary comprehension expectations are expanded to the study of morphology. Morphology is the study of the form and structure of words, for example: prefixes, root words, and suffixes.

A conceptual skill may be introduced in the emergent stage and continue to be targeted in the following stages. For example: a comprehension skill may be introduced in a simpler manner in kindergarten—”main idea” and be a part of the curriculum objectives for the following grades too. The content to be read by the child will increase in difficulty from grade to grade along with increasing the depth of  comprehension skills. Schools have a set continuum of reading skills or standards to be mastered by the end of each grade level which is usually shown on a child’s report card.

The reading stages provide a directional map, starting from one point and getting to the end point. Since no two children are the same, these concepts are acquired at their own rate. This means some children will need additional help to complete their general reading skills while other students may master them at a quicker pace.

What’s exciting is that all children start on the road to reading in the emergent stage of birth to five years of age. How they progress on the road to reading depends on so many factors. An overview of the four Developmental Stages of Reading is presented in the two visuals below. This information is a guide and shows the sequence of skills that are needed to become a successful reader. There are other educational resources that include additional stages, some have divided the first stage into two parts and others have added a fifth or sixth stage, some have renamed the stages. The progression of skills to be obtained starts off and ends basically the same, always with the goal of creating a life-long reader.

The road to reading is a metaphor for a readers’ journey. Children move through the four stages of reading to become successful readers. True, but remember it is fluid movement, a back and forth between the stages at times. Each child travels on the road to reading as an individual who is impacted by many variables.

When I taught reading skills to young children and was able to see a child’s confidence shine because they realized they had done it—read! My heart jumped for joy! Watching their first steps towards becoming fluent readers was and still is amazing.

Happy days to you,

Kylene

Resources & References

Collins, Molly F., Schickedanz, Judith A., (2024), So Much More Than The ABCs, National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

ELT Buzz English,(2024), From ABCs to Fluency: Navigating the Stages of Reading Development,  A Guide to Student Literacy, https://youtu.be/KJck9BkCT2Q?si=mqcJqAMGvHxzMAEJ

Kharbach, Med,Phd(20240,The 5 Stages of Reading Development, Educators Technology, https://www.educatorstechnology.com/2023/04/the-5-stages-of-reading-development.html

Language on the Move, (2020), Who Invented Writing?, https://www.languageonthemove.com/who-invented-writing/

Reading Rockets, Stages of Reading Development, Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/about-reading/articles/stages-reading-development

Otto Beverly, (2019), Literacy Development in Early Childhood, 2nd edition, Waveland Press, Inc.

The post The Reading Mystery appeared first on Early Literacy Learning.

Teaching reading is important that’s for sure. It is and will always be a concern for parents, caregivers and teachers. How best to help a child become a proficient reader is always a priority. Parents lay the underpinning by expansive oral language experiences and introducing their children to print and MORE! Once a young child attends school, reading instruction becomes a major emphasis. 

Here are some significant influential pieces to consider regarding reading:

In 2000 The National Reading Panel reported out their findings regarding how to teach children to learn to read. Within that report they identified five essential components for developing successful readers: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. These five concepts are sometimes called the five pillars of reading.  The panel further stated in their report, “Finally, it is important to emphasize that systematic phonics instruction should be integrated with other reading instruction to create a balanced reading program. Phonics instruction is never a total reading program. In 1st grade, teachers can provide controlled vocabulary texts that allow students to practice decoding, and they can also read quality literature to students to build a sense of story and to develop vocabulary and comprehension. Phonics should not become the dominant component in a reading program, neither in the amount of time devoted to it nor in the significance attached. It is important to evaluate children’s reading competence in many ways, not only by their phonics skills but also by their interest in books and their ability to understand information that is read to them. By emphasizing all of the processes that contribute to growth in reading, teachers will have the best chance of making every child a reader.”

In 2001 The Reading Rope was created by Dr. Hollis Scarbough as a visualization of how these two key areas word recognition and language comprehension are woven together to create a skilled reader. There are five threads of focus in the language comprehension strand and three threads in the word recognition strand. Her visual shows how the various threads or subskills are intertwined together as the skills become increasingly strategic and automatic, thereby, producing a fluent reader. The Reading Rope includes the five pillars of reading and additional concepts. This is another way to expand on the developmental stages of reading. It presents how the reading process starts. Beginning on the left side with the individual cognitive skill threads and moving towards the center where the two key areas come together and become tightened over time into a strong rope equaling a skilled fluent reader.

Reading is an overwhelming process that the brain must acquire through the building of new pathways that connect many different areas within the brain. There isn’t a built-in neural system connecting vison and speech at birth. There are three main parts of the brain that work together to acquire the ability to read and comprehend words as a child experiences language in the written form.

What is truly interesting is that the young brain realizes it does not have an established  process to learn how to read, causing it to utilize and adapt other regions located within its lobes. This process is known as neuroplasticity, where the brain adapts and changes in response to experience. For example, the temporal and occipital lobes which are used for facial and object recognition now develop new pathways. They are repurposed and become the place used for letter & word recognition called the the “letter box” area or visual word form area. The brain of a non-reader has not fully reshaped this area. Facial and object recognition are not hindered with the formation of the ”letter box”. Instead, the brain-facial recognition function relocates to the right side of the brain. The well-known neuroscientist Professor Dehaene Stanislas explained, “The brain circuitry inherited from our primate evolution is co-opted to the task of recognizing printed words – the brain’s existing neural networks are “recycled” for reading. Because of something called brain plasticity, during brain development a range of brain circuits can adapt for new uses. When we learn a new skill such as reading, we recycle some of our old brain circuits.”  Each brain physically makes changes in order to develop the ability to read and make meaning of print.

The Brain and Reading visual shows the primary regions of the brain that are involved in the reading process. Network pathways do link them together and are not shown on this visual. There are additional areas within these regions that have been identified through brain mapping by neuroscientists which also contribute to the complex process of reading. Neuroscientists are continuing to discover other aspects of how the brain functions when reading. Stay tuned!

The Brain Reading visual below shows the main sequence used when reading a word. This process in a fluent reader takes milliseconds! One must consider the brain is doing this process very rapidly as it’s reading complete sentences containing numerous words while constructing their meaning.

The operation of the brain for each child is unique to them. There are always life influencers that impact how an individual brain will succeed at the challenge of learning to read. Basic information on how the brain functions and where those regions are located in the brain helps to understand the complexity of taking the natural skill of speaking and connecting it to the unnatural process of reading and writing. The brain is in the construction business, reshaping and linking its networks to develop early literacy learning.

It’s so amazing how the young brain begins changing itself to create a process for changing speech sounds in an oral language to learn the literacy skills of reading and writing. More information to follow on how to help your toddler develop those pre-reading readiness skills!

Happy days to you,

Kylene

Resources & References

Dehaene, Stanislas, Dr.,( 2017), The Brain Prize Presents: Stanislas Dehaene, https://youtu.be/wlYZBi_07vk?si=80gZMTiUFfj-Ctrd

Dehaene, Stanislas, Dr., (2010), Reading In The Brain: The New Science of How We Read, PenguinBooks 

Eden, Guinevere, D., (2019), What do we know about what’s different in the brain of a person with dyslexia, Reading Rockets, https://youtu.be/yRuHT0QUlJg?si=poSR5n5SNQ3R9ORp

Francois, Dr., Stella, (2022), Anatomical and neurophysiological basis of face recognition, Science Direct, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0035378721007645#:~:

Harvard Medical School, (2024), How We Learn to Read, https://youtu.be/LhILoStzOTM?si=Of3We3UpDF3Mm_r3

Hill Learning Center, (2022), The Reading Brain and How We Learn to Read, https://youtu.be/A2HHrKpjlYM?si=S1ABoCbnADeAKKgW

Hollowell, Malia, (2023), The Science of Reading in Action, TeacherGoals Publishing, LLC  

National Reading Panel, (2000), TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ, An Evidence-Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and Its Implications for Reading Instruction, (page 2-97) https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/nrp/Documents/report.pdf

RELAY/GSE, (2025), Science of Teaching Reading Resource, The Reading Brain, https://relay.libguides.com/science-of-teaching-reading-resource-guide/reading-brain

Sedia, Joan, ( 2020), How  the Brain Learns to Read, https://keystoliteracy.com/blog/how-the-brain-learns-to-read/

Wani, Pinaki D., PD, (2024), From Sound to Meaning: Navigating Wernicke’s Area in Language Processing, National Library of Medicine, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11491986/

Wallden, Krista, Creative Clips, clipart, https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Krista-Wallden-Creative-Clips

The post Reading Pieces appeared first on Early Literacy Learning.

The Getting Ready stage to read comes first, sometimes called pre-reading readiness in the Emergent Stage. Toddlers are non-readers who are “wanabees”. In other words, each young toddlers’ brain has a huge want to investigate and learn how this reading thing works.

The visual below shows the key areas that contribute to their literacy transformation, changing a non-reader/writer to a pre-reader/writer. The purple oval within the teal circle contains the elements that a toddler is beginning to internalize within the process of making language connections. These oral language elements lead to their absorbing information about written print. Specific details will follow about each of the areas along with ways parents, caregivers and teachers may work together with toddlers to acquire these essential pre-literacy skills. 

The whole visual circle is called EMERGENT LITERACY all the pieces are interconnected. The larger sunburst component extends out to the other three key factors shown that are combined together to create a toddlers literacy foundation.

Emergent Literacy

The following four key elements shown in the visual are integrated throughout a toddler’s first years of language learning. The groundwork is being built for acquiring reading and writing skills through the use of listening & speaking, phonological awareness, vocabulary development, book & story concepts.

Phonological Awareness

Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in a spoken language, without PRINT. These are all auditory processing skills related to language development. It’s usually broken down into four main parts.

rhyming & alliteration, syllables, onset & rime AND phonemic awareness These skills are essential for “tuning the ear” to sounds, before starting the intensive phonics work of letter-print, or sound-phoneme correspondence.

Phonemic Awareness (a harder subskill of Phonological Awareness) Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate sounds or phonemes, without PRINT being involved at all. This is an advanced auditory processing skill and is broken down into four sub skills:

isolation, blending, segmentation, manipulation Phonemic awareness is the more difficult skill of phonological awareness. Researchers have discovered that, “It is essential for learning to read in an alphabetic writing system and is a strong predictor of early reading success. In other words, if a child can complete phonemic awareness tasks, they are more likely to be a good reader.” as stated by the National Center on Improving Literacy.

These oral language concepts tend to be more difficult for toddlers and will be targeted throughout pre-school, kindergarten and first grade.

Gaining these skills on the road to reading may seem to be over-whelming and challenging for all involved. This is the beginning stage that’s transpiring for the young toddler over these early years. Be sure to make it a fun and magical learning connection. Start slow and select a few items to work together on. Many of these items listed continue to be attained during ages three to five. 

It’s exciting to realize that multiple oral language elements may be addressed during one shared reading experience, for example: 

       …unknown words are introduced within the story—vocabulary development discussion

       …rhyming words are present throughout the book–phonological awareness interaction

       …turning the pages together—book handling practice 

All of this occurs when snuggled up close together during reading time. Jointly an enjoyable relationship is being created while the words flow during a read aloud or shared reading. The colorful pictures/photos that are viewed and or discussed contribute to their learning experience. What a fantastic way to develop those oral language connections!

Parts One, Two and Three of Reading Time posts have provided essential details—”the back story”—for beginning literacy learning. The Blog posts to follow will focus on what one can do to help their toddler learn these skills. Just remember attaining reading is a complicated process, consisting of many interconnecting pieces. Working and playing together throughout the day with language is what it’s all about.

Happy days to you,

Kylene

Resources & References

Bretz, Christina ,Dr., (2025), Emergent writing: 3 ways to plant seeds for lifelong literacy , eSchool News, https://www.eschoolnews.com/innovative-teaching/2025/08/04/emergent-writing-3-ways-to-plant-seeds-for-lifelong-literacy/#

Collins, Molly F., Schickedanz, Judith A., (2024), So Much More Than The ABCs, National Association for the Education of Young Children, (NAEYC)

Hannon, Claudina, Reinforcing Language Skills for Our Youngest Learners, NAEYC, National Association for Education of Young Children, https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/reinforcing-language-skills

National Center on Improving Literacy, Phonemic Awareness: What It Is and Why Is It Important?, https://www.improvingliteracy.org/resource/phonemic-awareness-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important

Reading Rockets, Stages of Writing, https://www.readingrockets.org/classroom/looking-writing/stages-writing

Zero to Three, (2016), Storytelling in the First Three Years, https://www.zerotothree.org/resource/storytelling-in-the-first-three-years/#: 

The post Getting Ready, Set, Go! appeared first on Early Literacy Learning.

Listening & Speaking

Listening & speaking are the first language skills that are introduced to a child on their quest for communication. In the middle of listening and speaking is understanding. A listener responds in words and non-verbal cues to the spoken language heard. 

Listening skills do begin in the womb and start to be “fine tuned” after birth. A babys’ brain works hard to produce the sounds that lead to speaking their first words around the age of one. Toddlers enjoy manipulating sounds throughout their day as new sounds and words are introduced. Their brain is learning how to follow conversations and join in the exchange the best they can depending on age and skill level. It’s important to consider that before a child can read or write print there is an abundance of pre-readiness skills that need to be tackled by the brain that require auditory processing skills. 

What is auditory processing? It’s a cognitive skill that occurs when the ears detect and transmit environmental and speech sounds heard by the brain. The brain identifies, interprets and organizes what is heard, decides what’s to be stored and/or provides a response. It’s a meaning making sound machine!

Dr. Norman Erber developed these four main levels of auditory processing called Auditory Hierarchy, sometimes referred to as the listening ladder : detection, discrimination, identification, and comprehension. The visual below shows how these levels are connected to each other and ascend in difficulty with each level providing some examples. 

Besides the auditory skills mentioned by Dr. Erber there are two other ones to reference which are important for toddlers. 

• Auditory attention figure-ground –the ability to focus on a specific sound called the “figure” while filtering out the background noises called the “ground”. For instance, a child learns to ignore surrounding background sounds of music when listening to what’s being said to them. 

• Auditory attention — closely connected to attention figure-ground except that this is how well one sustains their focus.  A two-year old average attention span is 4 to 6 minutes and a three-year old has a range 6 to 8 minutes. It does depend on the activity that the toddler is engaged with, as some toddlers may have an increased time span due to their prolonged involvement.

There are numerous activities that assist the development of a child’s auditory processing skills. Many were shared in previous sections on this website within Talking Time and Music Time. Also, other ideas and articles are listed below in the reference and resource section at the end of this blog post. 

Toddlers have been using auditory processing already every day all throughout their day, true. Since they are now in the emergent stage of literacy there are specific auditory processing skills that are essential for literacy development. These first auditory skills are learned without the emphasis on print. It’s the “sharping of hearing speech sounds” that will support their future intensive phonics work of learning how speech sounds-phonemes are connected to print-graphemes. One key element that the brain depends on is its complex auditory processing skills for phonological awareness development.

Phonological Awareness (phonological sensitivity)

Phonological awareness is one of the main concepts for a beginning literacy learner.  It’s the ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in a spoken language, without PRINT. The auditory processing skills are usually broken down into four main parts: rhyming & alliteration, syllables, onset & rime AND phonemic awareness. It’s all about the ears!

Rhyming & Alliteration (Sounds only-no print)

Rhyming activities help a young child learn to use their listening skills to hear matching ending sounds of words. These three rhyming words– bed   said   fed–visually do not have matching spelling parts, their ending sounds heard do match. The goal is to focus on hearing the ending sounds.

Alliteration activities assist children to learn about beginning sounds. It uses a series of words or a sentence containing multiple words that start with the same sound, for example: friendly frog,  teeny tiny turtles, A colorful cow cuddles. or Silly sheep sleep silently. The goal is to focus on the hearing the same beginning sounds.

Rhyming is an easier phonological skill to use when helping a young child focus on matching ending sounds. What’s exciting is rhyming words may be either real or nonsense words, samples of a few pairings are as follows: big wig OR big lig. FIRST the concept of rhyming needs to be introduced and practiced continuously in an engaging playful manner with the young toddler. Here are some ideas that are related to word play and reading & singing. The role of the parent-teacher is to begin first by being the sole reader who models how reading works called Modeled Reading. Other readings with the toddler may be a Shared Reading experience where the parent may say the words and the toddler may join in on memorized phrases or whole sentences.  Along with the back and forth discussions during reading time between the reader and the toddler, a copy cat-toddler appears and is ready for word play.

After lots of WORD PLAY and SHARED READING & SINGING experiences  and other rhyming activities, AND if the toddler shows an understanding of the concept “rhyming”– these learning games may be used with an older child. These games are at a higher level of rhyming knowledge, and a toddler may or may not be ready for them until after the age of three. No worries, just return later to these auditory skills when the child has a deeper understanding of rhyming and could successfully complete these tasks. Remember there are many more rhyming activities for older children that assist in readying them for reading as they become pre-schoolers.

Alliteration

Alliteration is a listening skill targeting initial sounds (beginning sounds) in a string of two or more words or even a complete sentence. This phonological skill helps ready a child to hear the same beginning sounds over and over that are presented in a sequential manner. Hearing stories and poems with silly phrases is a delightful addition to a toddlers’ sound learning. Toddlers enjoy hearing alliteration at reading time and throughout the day. Expect delightful giggling as they hear the spoken words/sentences shared. 

Alliteration is preparing toddlers’ for future reading and writing skills through sound discovery. Their role is to experience and enjoy the alliteration of repetitive sounds spoken. There are no expectations for them to reproduce alliteration examples at this age.

Syllables

Syllables are parts of a word that contain one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants. Word recognition skills may be introduced to an older toddler in a playful manner with physical movements of clapping, tapping or stomping. Familiar words are said or sung as the toddler produces movements to acknowledge each syllable—the rhythm of the words. 

Onset & Rime

Onset & rime refers to the two parts within a word. The onset is the initial consonant or the consonant blend at the beginning of first syllable, while rime is the vowel and any consonants following it. For example:

                           cat             c=onset   at=rime

                           stamp       st=onset  amp=rime

Phonemic Awareness (Phoneme Awareness)

Phonemic awareness is the hardest skill to learn within phonological awareness. It is the ability to identify and manipulate sounds or phonemes, without PRINT. The four main aspects are as follows: isolation, blending, segmentation & manipulation. The manipulation skills are the most complex sound/word work of the four. Making sound placement changes is always an auditory processing challenge for the cognitive brain. The brains’ working memory is essential for acquiring these skills.

Phonemic awareness helps a child to know that words are made up of sound parts. This knowledge leads to understanding how word coding (phonics), spelling, writing and reading are related. 

Note: Speech sounds or phonemes are bracketed by diagonal lines (  /  /  ) .

The oral language concepts highlighted in teal are too difficult for the majority of toddlers and will be targeted for mastery throughout pre-school, kindergarten and first grade. However, phonological awareness is part of the key components needed for emergent literacy development and age-appropriate phonological skills start in those very beginning years.

Further research regarding the idea to ONLY teach phonemic awareness orally before phonics has been studied. Many leading authorities in the field of reading are suggesting that phonemic awareness may be taught within phonics instruction—adding print (letter knowledge-graphemes) with phonemic awareness (sounds) to assist in the teaching of reading. “When a child demonstrates awareness of a phoneme (for example, being able to isolate and pronounce an initial phoneme), this can be followed by introducing the letter or combination of letters that represents that phoneme. This sequence builds an understanding of the alphabetic principle, as noted earlier. The value of incorporating graphemes when building phoneme awareness (for example, in a spelling activity) has been verified both for beginning readers in kindergarten and students who have deficits in reading at any age who have phoneme awareness weaknesses. Further, this sequential pairing facilitates the links between phonemes and letters needed for orthographic mapping of words (storing the spellings of words in memory).” as stated in an article by International Dyslexia Association.

I purposely added within this post information on skills that are too hard for toddlers. I believe it’s important to know the other elements that will be needed for a literacy learner. Additionally, always remember that a toddler moves at their own pace AND may need less or more time to acquire the important skills targeted between the age of one and three. At this age one is introducing an abundance of skills which contribute to their future literacy skills. Have fun with sounds—start early and enjoy these learning experiences!

Happy days to you,

Kylene

Resources & References

Bassard, Sydney, MSP,CCC-SLP,(2024), Erber’s Auditory Hierarchy, https://youtu.be/mgjK5CmPwf4?si=xNEUv9-mBIOFUHYt

CNLD Neuropsychology, How Long Should a Child’s Attention Span Be?, https://www.cnld.org/how-long-should-a-childs-attention-span-be

Cognitive Development Learning Centre, (2019), The Benefits of Nursery Rhymes for Children, https://cognitive.com.sg/the-benefits-of-nursery-rhymes-for-children

Collins, Molly F., Schickedanz, Judith A., (2024), So Much More Than The ABCs, National Association for the Education of Young Children, (NAEYC)

International Dyslexia Association, (2022), Building Phoneme Awareness: Know What Matters, https://dyslexiaida.org/building-phoneme-awareness-know-what-matters/

National Association for Child Development,  Auditory Processing- What Is It?, NACD Journal, https://www.nacd.org/auditory-processing-what-is-it-hearing-vs-processing/

Noyce, Abigail L., Kwasa, Jasmine A C, Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara G.,(2022), Defining attention from an auditory perspective, National Library of Medicine, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9712589/

The post Sounds Good! appeared first on Early Literacy Learning.

Music fills the air and the brain goes–Yippee! The brain does a dance of its own when musical sounds are heard and felt. What an internal dance! Yes, the neurons located within both sides of the brain fire up together. A crosstalk between the left and the right hemispheres of ones’ brain is ignited!—Party on! This brain activity is doing a welcomed dance. Tania Miller an artistic director and conductor of the National Academy Orchestra of Canada stated that “Music is extraordinary for children because it engages and develops a myriad of simultaneous connections and engages many areas of the brain, allowing these areas of the brain to be strengthened. Music requires kids to make and perceive patterns, experience and understand relationships, and to generate connections between their physical, mental, creative and psychological selves.”

Music is empowering. It’s known to be represented within all cultures around the world. Profound new advances in science have produced new knowledge about the benefits of music on the growth and development of the brain in younger children. There has always been an awareness of the joy music brings into a child’s life, as evidenced by their physical movements or with their engaging vocal sounds. Now scientists have discovered through their research that the brains’ connectivity to music is important in the early years of a child’s brain development. Below is a chart showing some of the many benefits of music within the developmental domains of a toddler.

Scientists Pino, Giancola, D’Amico stated, “Our findings revealed that musical properties, such as rhythm and melody, could affect language acquisition in semantic processing and grammar, including syntactic aspects and phonological awareness.” They went on to further state that “complex mechanisms involving the music-language link, highlighting that music plays a central role in the comprehension of language development from the early stages of life.” 

Music and children go together—always have and always will! The brain and body love to listen to it, make it and move to a range of different sounds. Oh, adults do too! That is one of the best things about this—it’s for everyone and comes in a variety of genres: rhythm & blues, jazz, rap, rock & roll, pop, country, hip-hop, folk, gospel, reggae, and lots MORE!

Currently, there are over 200 million songs streaming world-wide for one to select from. All for ones listening, playing, singing and dancing pleasure! Truly amazing how the world is literally filled and surrounded with music. 

Happy days to you,

Kylene

Resources & References

Baby Sparks, (2022), Learn about the profound effects of music in early childhood, https://youtu.be/xn6xp68-cZs?si=aqLLTAtOR3qVxoyl

Collins Anita, PH D., (2015), What if every child had access to music education from birth?, https://youtu.be/ueqgenARzlE?si=wKkh1jzNc9Z8xWio

Levitin, J., Daniel, Dr., Neuroscientist, (2024), Can Music Transform Your Brain?, Museum of Science, https://youtu.be/2bJMTtAgpb4?si=2FU7g4NXgRvJwS47

Miller, Tania, Conductor, THE IMPACT OF MUSIC ON CHILDRENS BRAINS, https://taniamiller.com/the-impact-of-music-on-childrens-brains-2/#

Pino MC, Giancola M, D’Amico S., (2023), The Association between Music and Language in Children: A State-of-the-Art Review, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10216937/

Sharma, Amata R. MD,MPH, Silbersweig, David, MD, (2018), Setting the Stage: Neurobiological Effects of Music on the Brain, Brigham and Women’s  Hospital, Harvard Medical School, https://remix.berklee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=mh-exchange-music-medicine

The post The Musical Brain appeared first on Early Literacy Learning.

Musical connections may start in the womb as parents introduce soothing sounds of recorded music and songs sung or instrumentals played by their parents. At the beginning an infant is a receptive listener and enjoys hearing music, later an older baby will become an interactive participant with music by swaying, smiling, shaking hands, kicking feet and making cooing sounds. Once a toddler has developed stronger muscles and has mobility, more opportunities arise for them to express themselves during music time.

The visual chart below shows the three areas of involvement with music, each engulfed by the other. The receptive newborn baby embraces music and becomes an interactive participant after three months. A toddler’s physical body and brain development leads to an expansion of their musical capabilities. Such talents are shown off by dancing, shaking, clapping, stomping, or singing some words as the song is played or sung.

If a young child is persistent in the development of their musical talents over a period of time, and chooses to share their skills by performing, they’ve moved into the performance area. A performer who demonstrates their skill is not only talented, but also has over time created and strengthen a variety of neuron pathways in multiple parts of the brain. Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin has stated, “We’ve learned that musical ability is actually not one ability but a set of abilities, a dozen or more. Through brain damage, you can lose one component and not necessarily lose the others. You can lose rhythm and retain pitch, for example, that kind of thing.”

Music — Receptive When an infant/baby listens to recorded music played on a device or to a singing parent, their musical world has expanded immensely from their time in the womb. The baby’s brain is internalizing and trying to make sense of the sounds heard. The infant/baby’s auditory perception changes with their growth and development.

Music — Interactive A baby/child actively participating with music played and/or sung by a parent is shown through their engagement with each musical selection. Body movements, vocal sounds, facial expressions and/or instrumental music-making communicates active involvement. Both receptive and interactive aspects are working together.   

Music — Performance A child performs musical selections after continuous practice and instruction from a music teacher or knowledgeable musician using a musical instrument and/or their voice. Additionally, acquiring the skills to sing, write and/or play music may be self-taught. In some instances, their musical talent starts to appear at a very young age. Performing music requires practice and dedication from a child, all leading to their appearances before an audience. Their talent might be showcased in multiple places: at home, a recital, community events, or even on a large stage. All may be presented to a live audiences and/or shared via social media sources.

Music and people go together like peanut butter and jam. Music is something that has been noted by historians to date back to over 43,000 years ago. Natural objects were altered to make music. Scientists have discovered rocks, shells, bones, sticks that were designed for musical purposes by numerous groups of people. Recently in 2025, Dr. Taylor a biological anthropologist determined that some human bones dated back to the Late Prehistoric age (1300–1528 AD) in Southern Texas and were used as musical instruments. Some scientists have implied that they believe vocal sounds would have accompanied their musical gatherings. There are no recordings (of course) from that period of history; however, it’s still evident that music was part of their life.

Currently in the world today, the importance of music and its connections to a child’s life are known to provide positive influences to their over all development. Dr. G. Bierly and Analise Best of Indiana State University stated “Before a baby begins to speak, or in some cases before the baby is even born, exposing the infant to music helps speed up the speaking process and helps them develop language at an early time simply through exposure. Similarly to how an infant’s language development is impacted by music, a toddler that has a small vocabulary will be able to expand their range just through listening to music. They will either be able to put what they have heard into use through context clues or through asking questions.” 

Now for a closer look at what one can do with their toddler—there will be more activities and ideas  coming up in the following Posts. Oh, check out the section within this website–called Music Time pre-birth to 1 year, it has additional songs, materials and content that can be used with young toddlers also. 

Happy days to you,

Kylene

Resources & References

Andrews, Evan, (2015), What Is the Oldest Known Piece of Music?, History Channel, https://www.history.com/articles/what-is-the-oldest-known-piece-of-music

Best, Analise, Bierly, Greg, Ph.M. (2024), More Than Melody: The Impact of Music on Language Development, Indiana State University, https://scholars.indianastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=honorsp

Iversen, John, UCSD Neuroscientist, (2015), Does Music Change a Child’s Brain?, USCD Symphony Study, TED Talk, https://youtu.be/M2sqXbwlaWw?si=N7TiqahAPxrYghXx

Taub, Benjamin, (2025), Unknown Tribe Of Ancient Hunter-Gatherers In Texas Made Music Using Human Bones, IFL Science, https://www.iflscience.com/unknown-tribe-of-ancient-hunter-gatherers-in-texas-made-music-using-human-bones-78643

The post Making Musical Connections appeared first on Early Literacy Learning.

A musical partnership begins forming when music is first introduced to an unborn child. Yep, that’s where it all begins! It continues as parents realize that the soft sounds produced by their voices provide a calming effect. A newborn baby welcomes low whispers, warm tones, humming and lullabies. As the baby grows older, the receptive listener-watcher, changes into an interactive participant in their musical partnership.

A toddler explores their musical connections and movements by putting their whole body and mind into it, like the words say in the song The Hokey Pokey — and “shake it all about”! Their readiness to jump into music is exhilarating. The energy that shoots out from each toddlers’ body is overwhelming and somewhat challenging at times too—that’s for sure. 

Let’s grab hold of that energy in a positive way and create musical interactions throughout each week that will further generate a fantastic musical partnership. Don’t hold back, for everyone wants “to be a star”— this is the time to take center stage for an adoring audience of one. Won’t be too long after repeated parent performances the toddler will join in as best they can. 

Since a very young toddler is on their language learning journey joining in with ALL the words and actions—won’t be possible yet. However, this will not stop them from participating. Soon enough the time will come when their frequent requests will occur to sing the same songs over and over again together. Repetition is the name of this musical learning game. A toddler may start to even request a larger or new audience to show off their musical skills.

Remember the growing brain is making new connections during this process. If the learner continues to use the newly created skill and/or knowledge frequently, it will become “wired”, a stored memory and filed for retrieval within their brain. Language development is reinforced and expands as the toddler participates with the lyrics of a song. Early singing with movement activities are foundational skills for language production and reading readiness.

There are a variety of different ways to build a musical partnership with toddlers regarding singing and songs. Here are  some ways that it may occur—familiar songs, new songs, home-grown originals.

Familiar Songs/Nursery Rhymes

There are many nursery rhymes, chants, songs and poems that have repetitive verses and/or motions. Fingerplays and action songs use fingers, hands or other body movements to express key ideas of the song. What an exciting learning experience!

Parents are solo performers at first–true, while their toddler is the audience. No worries every toddler loves the sound of their parents’ voice! Toddlers are imitators too. During this phase they may wiggle and bounce away trying to mimic the body movements of their parents and create specialty dance steps of their own. Listed below are some popular public domain songs/nursery rhymes, many of these will be presented throughout MUSIC Time. 

Nursery Rhymes-Fingerplays
Hickory Dickory Dock
Humpty Dumpty Sat On A Wall
I’m A Little Teapot
It’s Bitsy Spider
Little Miss Muffet
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Open, Shut Them

Songs
Are You Sleeping?
Old McDonald Had A Farm
Pat A Cake
Wheels On The Bus

Countdown Songs
Five Little Ducks
Five Speckled Frogs

Parents are their child’s first teacher!

Teacher (Parent) + Learner (child) = Partnership Experience

Before continuing-on with music time, the concept ofthe teacher- learner experience is important to consider. The visual below specifically addresses a learning process which is divided into three main aspects. It shows how children learn different skills and/or knowledge by interacting with a parent/teacher who is providing them with Show & Tell, Togetherness, Independence, all with positive support and guidance. It’s not only applicable to music but to best practices for helping a child learn multiple skills.

Learning experiences are food for the brain that’s for sure, but how children learn is complex. The teacher-learner experience shifts the responsibility from the teacher to the learner. It can be applied to many different learning situations. The length of time to transition from one aspect to the another depends on the skill/task, it could take days or months.  

NOTE: The Teacher-Learner Experience visual was developed by the author of Early Literacy Learning using her educational expertise as well as other additional information and resources. The one shown on the left was designed to assist parents/teachers with their child’s early learning experiences. 

Many educators have designed other models based on The Gradual Release of Responsibility (GRR) that was first introduced by Pearson & Gallagher in 1983. Some of these may have three, four, five or six parts to it –depending on each authors perspective.

Familiar Nursery Rhyme Song—Itsy, Bitsy Spider

Itsy, Bitsy Spider is a wonderful song to add to a toddler’s “musical play” list. Use the same teacher-learner experience steps presented in the chart for this nursery rhyme. A condensed version is shown on the right of the singable poem using the teacher-learner experience.

The song below has the hand motions shown on the right side beside the actual poem words  Engaging the toddler with the tune and the hand motions does create more enjoyment.

Find FREE Downloads Here

Teacher-Learner Experience
The teacher (parent) and learner (child) are interacting throughout the learning-musical experience.

First the teacher SHOWS & TELLS while the learner VIEWS.
Second the teacher & learner engage TOGETHER.
Third the learner demonstrates their skill/knowledge by doing it.
INDEPENDENTLY with the teacher NEAR BY. (depending on age of child etc.)

NOTE: A younger toddler needs the support of a parent/teacher in memorizing songs and/or its motions. The third aspect “independently” may not be attained until the end of the toddler stage or even after turning three. A toddler may sing parts by themselves but not in totality due to their language and cognitive development.

To add even more excitement when doing a repeat performance  — add a hand puppet or stick puppet. There will be squeals galore! As the song is sung the puppet travels up ones’ –arm/spout and down again.  

Continuing with the spider theme—there’s another fun song to do with your toddler called There’s a Spider on the Floor by Raffi. This song teaches body parts leg, stomach, neck, face, head AND other key vocabulary words.

One has no need to buy a hand puppet. It’s possible to make one using 2 black socks: one for the body and second one is cut up for the eight legs, add the eyes—PRESTO-a homemade spider puppet appears. Click on the free download to get the words to both songs, along with directions for the Spider Stick Puppet craftivity and how to make the hand puppet. 

Find FREE Downloads Here

When introducing There’s a Spider on the Floor first place the spider (puppet) on the floor next to your body and move it up your own body, with the toddler watching as it travels to a body part. One could say the name of body part or “I am putting the spider on my leg.” “I am putting my spider on my stomach. “—Next begin singing the song as the spider puppet moves to the various locations. Once the toddler is comfortable and has no fear of the spider puppet, go ahead and place it on their body—(might need to be in short spans of time). They need to be relaxed about the puppet being on or near their body. 

Oh, this is a never-ending song—and could continue to be repeated over and over. If one does not have a puppet just make the motions of a wiggling spider with your fingers. Show it first by moving wiggly fingers  on your body and follow that up with moving your wiggly hands as shared in the song. Later after many repetitions of this song, they will be able to place their own fingers on the body part or place named.

(Resources and References lists a video that is available. One may listen and follow along as it is being played—while doing the actions.)

New Children’s Songs (new songs with original melodies and lyrics)

Talented musicians are creating new songs for children daily. Some lyrics help to teach about life’s necessities: eating, bathing, sleeping, etc. Other songs are designed to join the parent and baby together, sharing an emotional experience of love and caring. Many new songs contribute and strengthen a toddlers’ vocabulary development in a powerful way.

Musical selections may be viewed & heard on children’s TV programs, streaming media, websites, YouTube, apps or other social media platforms. Here are just a few top digital media musical choices to use with older toddlers: Ms. Rachel, Sesame Street, Blues Clues & You, Bluey, and Daniel’s Tiger Neighborhood.

“Home-Grown” Originals

What’s this all about? Let the songwriter hidden within — OUT! Creating a new melody is hard for many people. What seems to be an easier method to use is to start with an enjoyable known tune in that’s  found in the public domain and change the lyrics to match purpose of the song. When writing a “home-grown” original song remember there are no downsides, all songs will be accepted by the baby. The songs may be about what’s happening in the baby’s life or feelings of love held for the baby or informational (about family, animals etc.) or even silly giggly, wiggly nonsense tunes. One can mix in humming and la la la sounds, too. Just go for it!

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star is an excellent song to use for creating a “home-grown” original. Check out the free download which has a home-grown original called Hoppy Hoppy, a Happy Frog. Try it out! 

Let the fun continue! The following Posts will have an abundance of engaging songs and activities to use with your toddler, along with some new originals too! Music helps the brain tune into the world. Your musical partnership is a treasure filled with joy!

Happy days to you,

Kylene

Resources & References

Cognitive Development Learning Centre,(2019), The Benefits of Nursery Rhymes for Children, https://cognitive.com.sg/the-benefits-of-nursery-rhymes-for-children

Cox, Janelle, M.S., The Gradual Release of Responsibility Model in Action, Graduate Programs for Educators, https://www.graduateprogram.org/blog/the-gradual-release-of-responsibility-model-in-action/

Kurt, Serhat, Dr., (2020), Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development and Scaffolding, https://educationaltechnology.net/vygotskys-zone-of-proximal-development-and-scaffolding/

Pearson, P., David, Mcvee, Mary, Shanahan, Lynn, Hayden, Emily, Boyd, Fenice B., Reichenber, Jennifer, (2019), The Genesis of the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model, ResearchGate, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345618608_The_Genesis_of_the_Gradual_Release_of_Responsibility_Model

Raffi song, (1986), There’s a Spider on the Floor, written by Bill Russell, ℗ 1996 Rounder Records Manufactured and distributed by Concord Music Group, https://youtu.be/iWBkqDhDByY?si=nswvgznFXJedS7dy

Spider clipart: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/krista-wallden-creative-clips-clipart

NOTE: The internet has multiple examples of  the tune Itsy, Bitsy Spider and other familiar songs.

The post Musical Singing Partners appeared first on Early Literacy Learning.

Let’s keep building that musical partnership by introducing other engaging songs. A big favorite is Old MacDonald had a Farm. This traditional song has repeating verses and animal noises within its lyrics. Toddlers love to make these noises! This song teaches them the names of different farm animals and the sounds they use to communicate with each other and people.  The young brain is activated through its engagement with this song especially when it develops into a family’s sing-along time. 

This familiar song is in the public domain, meaning it’s not protected by copyright and may be used freely. Many musicians have altered the original words or added new verses. This is something anyone can do at home or in their car, too.

Guess what! A family sing-along turns into a karaoke session in the car—fun for all. Toddlers love to use microphones—have one available for them on those long rides. Real metal microphones can be harmful to their teeth, plastic toy ones with soft foam is recommended for those traveling singing adventures. Lisa Huisman Koops, a Professor of music education researched this topic and presented her findings in a study titled Songs From the Car Seat: Exploring Childhood Music-Making Place of the Family Vehicle. She discovered the following benefits when families participated in a shared musical car experience:

1. distraction free environment — focused music time was minus daily responsibilities or interruptions
2. freedom to experiment — less eye contact helped toddlers feel more comfortable
3. sibling interaction —  small confined space expanded positive singing interactions
4. increased family bonding —  joint music time activities brought closer relationships 

Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Old MacDonald had a farm,
Ee-I-Ee-I-Oh!
And on this farm, he had a duck,
Ee-I-Ee-I-Oh!
With a quack, quack here,
And a quack, quack there.

Here a quack, there a quack
Everywhere a quack, quack.
Old McDonald had a farm,
Ee-I-Ee-I-Oh!

Here are six photos of farm animals that one may refer to when singing this familiar song. 

Just continue singing the song by adding more verses of different farm animal names with their sounds. Here are more to add after the duck (quack, quack), –sheep (“baa, baa”). hen/chicken (“cluck, cluck”) cow (moo, moo”), pig (“oink, oink”) and horse (“neigh, neigh”). 

Later on, after many repetitions of these farm animals, one may add, or substitute these animals: dog (“woof, woof”), cat (“meow, meow”), turkey (“gobble, gobble”), goose (“honk, honk”), or  donkey – (hee-haw, hee-haw).

Sing it in the car—sing it everywhere!

Find FREE Downloads Here

NOTE: Enlarged animal photo cards are available in the FREE download for use when singing these verses. The photos will help to provide visual information for the toddler. (More supportive farm materials, activities, and songs are found with the photo cards, too.)

Old MacDonald had a Farm has been around for along long time. It’s been sung around the campfires, in buses, on field trips, family outings and continuously in homes. There are supporting books one can purchase presenting the song words & visuals within the book format. Other books are musical that present each of the animal noises for listening pleasure and imitation. Also, various videos, apps, and children’s programs are readily available to watch on a range of media selections. This leads to a hard question for parents – What is the role of screen time for a toddler?

Toddler Screen Time Considerations

There are many important questions regarding usage of screen time. What is the recommended amount of screen time for younger children? How should it be used on an on-going basis? What are the best age-appropriate screen time selections? What type of interaction occurs between the toddler and parent? 

Mayo Clinic, a top-rated hospital states, “The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages media use, except for video chatting, by children younger than 18 months. If you introduce digital media to children ages 18 to 24 months, make sure it’s high quality and avoid solo media use. For children ages 2 to 5, limit screen time to one hour a day of high-quality programming.” These virtual exceptions — Face Time, Zoom and Video Chats are beneficial. A toddler making visual connections and being part of a live conversation with family members and friends helps to broaden their understanding of loving interactions and assist with their language development. 

Toddlers want to copy what adults do, always. Here comes the – but—it’s up to each parent to decide how to guide their exposure to screens. Parenting is a demanding job which comes with tough decisions throughout their child’s early learning. Monitoring the actual amount of screen time viewed by a child was not a huge problem faced by previous generations—certainly not as it is today.

Technology is expanding daily! Mobile phones, tablets, desktop computers, television viewing along with streaming, podcasts, YouTubes, apps etc. are readily available. Plus, there’s an increase of more devices and social network extensions being created at a rapid pace— incredible! In other words, by SCREENS are everywhere! Requiring a parent to manage and assist in their toddlers’ brain development establishing limits for time spent watching screens. Here are just a few top digital media musical choices to use with older toddlers: Ms. Rachel, Sesame Street, Blues Clues & You, Bluey, and Daniel’s Tiger Neighborhood.

Screens should not be a replacement for a child’s daily face to face time or hands-on learning experiences.  Screens are now an aspect of daily life that requires parents to continually evaluate and implement guidelines for toddler use. The visual below summarizes three key areas parents need to consider on screen time and their child.

Screen Time—Ideal vs Realistic

Parenting is a hard job and at times it’s tempting to use a screen in an independent manner to provide a few minutes for one to complete a task or even take a breather-rest. When to begin independent screen time is always a difficult choice. However, it’s hard to revert back to an always “no” once a lessening of screen time limits occurs. Especially if it’s done in the spur of the moment. The transition needs to be done in a thoughtful way—not at time of stress. 

A suggestion for making the shift easier would be to share with an older toddler that today for 5 minutes (or even a smaller amount of time), they may watch a program by themselves from previously viewed choices without parent participation. A recommendation would be to set a timer – as a toddler has no idea what 5 minutes means. Explain once the timer rings their screen time will be over and it will be put away until another time. This process of accepting—the end– is hard for them to understand. Remind them of the saying—”Time flies when you’re having fun”. Distract them even by flapping arms as if wings-sing an ending time song together-(Tune: Are You Sleeping?) “Screen time is over, screen time is over, It’s flying up high, It’s flying up high, There it goes, There it goes, Up, up, bye– Up, up bye! (may even wave hands as screen is put up high and away).

Taking this  parent action is just a part of helping them understand time limits. Of course, pushing boundaries is the nature of the game for control. Luckily as the parent sticking to a decision is all part of the long list of responsibilities contained in the package called—raising a child. Daily challenges will increase in this department of – “Who’s in control?” Remember each parent is the leader and at this early age the child is the follower—which is easier said than done. Negotiations may sometimes occur, but the choices presented to a toddler should be selected by the parent making the outcome a win-win for both the toddler and parent.

Musical sing-alongs boost a family’s closeness and happiness, no matter where it happens– in the car or at home. True the brain loves the social connectiveness of music–but wait there’s more—it ignites language learning, expands memory skills and builds physical skills, too. Fantastic, it’s all rolled up into one great big ball of engaging fun!

Happy days to you,

Kylene

Resources & References

Divya, 2025, Why Music Is Important for Early Childhood Development, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ww__gVTA0

Goodwin, Cara, Ph. (2022), Does FaceTime “Count” as Screen Time for Young Children?, Psychology Today, Time. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/parenting-translator/202202/does-facetime-count-screen-time-young-children

Kids Academy, (2018), Old MacDonald Had A Farm, https://youtu.be/tmocNb8CYLk?si=qAxFa3oLZK_BxUix

Koops, Lisa Huisman, Professor, (2014), Songs From the Car Seat: Exploring the Early Childhood Music-Making Place of the Family Vehicle, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022429413520007

Mayo Clinic Staff, (2024), Screen time and children: How to Guide Your Child, https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/childrens-health/in-depth/screen-time/art-20047952#

Takahashi, Ippel, MMSc, Obrara, Taku, PHD, Ishikuro, Mami, PHD, (2023), Screen time at Age 1 Year and Communication and Problem-Solving Developmental Delay at 2 and 4 Years, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2808593

Today Show, (2025), Ground-breaking look at the impact of screen time on kids’ brains,  https://youtu.be/kaDdqjZumZw?si=Dc9CnvetMMYuqnoY

The post Musical Sing-alongs appeared first on Early Literacy Learning.

Gotta dance! Dancing is something that the whole body loves. Moving to music connects all four domains: cognitive, social & emotional, language and physical areas. The toddlers’ brain is the manager of the whole process, translating the sounds and sending messages throughout the body to produce the physical actions and connections to other sensations felt during a dance.

A toddler will naturally enjoy moving in their own way to different types of music. Style, tempo, rhythm all play an important role and contribute to their physical interpretations. It’s a way for them to express themselves to the beat of the musical sounds. Their musical reactions may appear in a variety of ways: clapping, tapping, bouncing, jumping, twirling, swaying, stomping, shaking, bopping and rocking. 

A beginning dancer may only have a “few moves”, after lots of practice and viewing others their unique dance skills will increase—watch them go! 

There are many physical benefits to a toddler becoming involved with musical sounds through dance, here are some key ones:

Expressive Movement—”Put on Your Dancing Shoes”

Dancing is beneficial for toddlers no matter what way or where it’s done. Their physical body is building strength, while gaining confidence as they express themselves. Toddler dancing may occur in these ways. 

Individual

*Toddler creates their own movements (free style) or performs a known dance

Partner Dance-Parent & Toddler

*Both use their own individual movements (free style)
*Follow the leader activities (parent does-toddler does)
*Both do movements together as determined by words in a song
*Hand holding with a parent who leads them in free style dance steps or together doing traditional dance moves

Group : Multiple People & Toddler

*Dance classes: There are some dance studios that do accept toddlers. A parents’ decision is all about if their toddler is ready for a teacher-student in class situation. Whole group or individual lessons offer new dance experiences outside the home. There are different types of instruction which may be offered: creative movement, ballet and tap are popular choices. These classes might be called “tiny twos” or “little movers”. Joint dance performances may be presented for a small or large audience at a recital. Just know not all toddlers are ready to be involved with dance instruction, it might happen at the later age of  three and a half, four, five OR not at all.

*Home Parent Groups:  Parents form a dance group and gather together with their toddlers for a dance session—a true house party.  Parents will need to have agreed upon some general guidelines: rotation of homes, toddler behavior, musical selections & dances, food, time frame (weekly/monthly— minutes) etc. Sometimes props are added to extend the dance movements: a parachute, scarfs, streamers, ribbons all may be used depending on age of children.

*Family & Community Groups: Siblings & friends dancing together with their children at special events, such as, festivals, concerts, weddings/birthdays etc. are beneficial for all involved. A variety of ways may emerge allowing for self-expression when dancing. This is not only fun for a toddler but helps in creating a shared experience that bonds them with others. The formation of dance groups are unlimited! A toddler dancing about with one’s family at home or out in the community brings joy to everyone involved—Party On!

Dance to Familiar Children’s Songs

Hokey Pokey is a fabulous song that involves body movements, singing, learning body parts and other vocabulary words. It was designed originally to be done as a circle dance, where children are standing forming a round circle facing each other. This leads one to put named body parts forward-into the circle and back to the beginning position. When doing this at home with the two people or smaller numbers of participants—it would look more like a line dance. 

Right side or left side –what’s this all about?

They do not know their left from their right sides which is age appropriate, just go with the flow. In the beginning—a toddler needs a big SHOUT OUT and applause for just getting correct body part up and shaking it all about– on cue with the words. Just relax and enjoy the dancing movements of all the body parts to the beat of this active tune. Wiggles, jiggles and giggles galore!

Later, a marker could be put on their right foot (a sticker or a dot) and tell them that it is the first foot  used, do the same for their arm—(another sticker or dot on right arm) and tell them the one with sticker goes first. The vocabulary words being practiced are –first and last–labeling with a dot/sticker provides support.

No need to worry–after the age of three the “right & left” concepts will start to be understood. However, their usage of the words “right & left” remain inconsistent until age five or even a bit later. 

Hokey Pokey

1 You put your right foot in, You put your right foot out
You put your right foot in, And you shake it all about
You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around
That’s what it’s all about!

2 You put your left foot in, You put your left foot out
You put your left foot in, And you shake it all about
You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around
That’s what it’s all about!

3 You put your right arm in, You put your right arm out
You put your right arm  in, And you shake it all about
You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around
That’s what it’s all about!

4 You put your left arm in, You put your left arm out
You put your left arm in, And you shake it all about
You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around
That’s what it’s all about!

5 You put your head in, You put your head out
You put your head in, And you shake it all about
You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around
That’s what it’s all about!

6 You put your body in, You put your body out
You put your right body  in, And you shake it all about
You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around
That’s what it’s all about!

7 You do the Hokey Pokey, You do the Hokey Pokey
You do the Hokey Pokey 

That’s what it’s all about!

Find FREE Downloads Here

NOTE: Resources and References lists a video that is available to watch and do with your  toddler. 

Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes
Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes
And eyes, and ears, and mouth, and nose
Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes

Movements:
Say the words as one touches that body part
First time sing verses and do actions slowly
Second and Third time keep doing each one faster. 
Try a fourth!

If You’re Happy and You Know It

1 If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands
If you’re happy and you know it, Then your face will surely show it
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands

2 If you’re happy and you know it, stomp your feet
3 If you’re happy and you know it, shout hurray (hurray)
4 If you’re happy and you know it, do all three (clap clap, stomp stomp, hurray)

Movements:
Verse 1 clap clap (twice clap hands together)
Verse 2 stomp stomp (stomp one foot and then the other)
Verse 3 shout hurray (loudly say HURRAY)
Verse 4 first–clap clap    second– stomp stomp  third– SHOUT hurray

Find FREE Downloads Here

NOTE: Full verses and more details may be found in download. Resources and References lists videos that are available to watch and do with your toddler. 

The Dancing Brain

Scientific researchers stated in their paper titled, The Neuroscience of Dance: A Conceptual Framework and Systematic Review, stated that “Dance and music engage overlapping brain networks including common regions involved in perception, action, and emotion. In music and dance, rhythm, melody, and harmony are processed in an active, sustained pleasure cycle giving rise to action, emotion, and learning, led by activity in specific hedonic brain networks. ” Toddler brains are learning when exposed to music through listening to the sounds and watching the dancers ; however, “the doing of” the physical movements will set off an explosion in their brain that impacts neurons, thereby, causing neuroplasticity or making connections with the other three domain areas: cognitive, social/emotional and language learning. This may be called a “whole-brain workout” since it stimulates and improves the learning brain: memory, focus, problem-solving, sensory processing, language development, social interactions and MORE! Gotta dance!

Toddlers are learning all about their growing body. Dance is a wonderful way to support and enhance their continual development. Music movement is fun, supports their learning brain while creating expressive dance moves. Or even better a way to say it is—- Dance with your heart and your feet will follow.” 

Happy days to you,

Kylene

Resources & References

Cirelli, Laura K., Wan, Stephanie J., Trainor, Laurel J., (2014), Fourteen-month-old infants use interpersonal synchrony as a cue to direct helpfulness, National Library of Medicine, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4240967/

CoComlon, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes https://youtu.be/QA48wTGbU7A?si=74jO9s-KJBiW_wTC2018 (Cartoon style) 

Kaiser, April, The Importance of Music and Movement, Child Development and Family Center, Northern Illinois  University, https://www.chhs.niu.edu/child-center/resources/articles/music-and-movement.shtml#

Miss Jessica’s World, (2020), The Hokey Pokey, Sing-a-long, https://youtu.be/U2nKD-yzDhc?si=qssFPxVNxMCl1STk

Super Simple Songs, Kids Songs, (2019), If You’re Happy And You Know It, https://youtu.be/M6LoRZsHMSs?si=cgYgy1SZ3rNI0cUq

UCLA Health, (2008), Dance movement Therapy at Mattel Children’s UCLA, Hospital, https://youtu.be/O4KkQkv3vKk?si=uYi-VT27-GTJMMbE

Vander Elst, Olivia Foster, Nicholas H.D. Foster, Vuust, Peter,  Keller, Peter E., Kringelback, Morten L., (2023), The Neuroscience of Dance: A Conceptual Framework and Systematic Review, Science Direct, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763423001665#:~:text=Dance

The post Movement Makers appeared first on Early Literacy Learning.

Toddlers are noise makers no matter the time or place. Redirecting that energy is an on-going task for every parent. Now that their bodies are able to do multiple skills all at the same time, a musician or should it be said a sound-noise maker may show up at any moment. Besides their voice, making musical sounds may be produced using household items or homemade DIY projects, toys or real instruments. Frequently a toddler is replicating sounds/actions of a musical instrument that they’ve seen or heard.  (Shall we say TRYING their best.) Sometimes there’s an exploration taking place—what sounds do these two things banged together make or when this key is pushed what sounds will be heard. They are truly exploring sound making. Their senses have come alive with music!

Discovering their creative musical powers wakes the brain. It’s learning through trial and error how to make a range of sounds—loud to soft with differing degrees in between or high to low pitches. Their brain is stimulated, leading to enhanced auditory processing, strengthening of decision-making, while building small & large motor skills through their continued movement and coordination. Memory pathways are firing up as patterns are repeated and neuron connections are developing. All this action takes place as ones’ toddler experiments with sound making during musical time.

Real Instruments

Real musical instruments come in different shapes and sizes. Some of the materials used to build an instrument are as follows:  metals (bronze, tin, steel, copper, brass), woods, bamboo, and even bones or shells. They may be handmade or factory-made. Price varies due to age, use, craftmanship and/or brand of the instruments. Here are the six main categories that most musical instruments fall into.

Toddlers may be introduced to actual musical instruments in the home or by other family members. Sharing ones’ musical skills with a child is rewarding and promotes their understanding of what music making is all about. Perfect time to have music talks about kinds of sounds that can be produced and how it’s done. Revealing the mystery of musical instruments to a toddler is a massive learning experience. Plus, the shared discovery time causes a release of chemicals in their brain that enhances emotional connections and trust. 

Parents will need to decide if and when a child has the skills to start learning more about a specific instrument. These practice lessons may be with a parent or a music teacher. Usually waiting until a child is older will produce a more successful learning experience using a direct instructional approach on how to play an instrument. It really does depend on the child’s readiness, “want” to learn and their capabilities. Can they  hold the weight and/or work the preferred instrument (strength, coordination, fine motor skills)?— How long is their attention span? Are they able to follow multi-stepped directions? Will they be able to practice the required amount of time? Consequently, a toddlers’ main goal is exploring sound making. True there are talented young children who amaze everyone with how skilled they are in playing a musical instrument at a very early age—they seem to be the exception not the rule. 

Musical training for older children above age five does have numerous benefits. Professor Brian Wesolowski and Professor Stephanie Wind of University of Alabama studied a group of children aged 7-17 who were taking private music lessons. They “found that students participating in supplemental music lessons enjoy a variety of positive effects and healthy habits – including self-imposed limitation of screen time; increased problem-solving skills, time management and prioritization; increased self-awareness and social skills, and more.” Yes, learning how to play a musical instrument is an art. However, the process of learning how to read music, understand how to play a musical instrument and work with others throughout multiple years does challenge and strengthen the thinking brain.

Toy Musical Instruments

Toy musical instruments are another way to introduce sound making to a toddler. Many companies have designed well-built toys that produce musical sounds. Some popular toy items for young toddlers are small pianos, xylophone, drums, shakers and musical activity boards. There are a tremendous assortment of toys for parents to choose from in the shopping world. 

Sometimes a toy swap between families is an easy way to acquire a new sound maker. “Out with the old and in with the new”, recycling at its best. Other places to find factory-made toys at a bargain price maybe at a garage sale or thrift store.  

Age appropriateness and safety are two key considerations when selecting musical toys. (Check for sharp edges and small pieces that could pop off, be picked up and swallowed.) Some factory-made toy instruments are inexpensive but seem not to have a long shelf life due to continual toddler usage. 

Homemade Musical Sound Producers (Made with regular items found in the home.)

There are two main types of homemade sound producers: household items & DIY (Do It Yourself) projects:

Household Items…

Presto, kitchen ware becomes a drum set! Find some kitchen pots/pans to use as the drums. Place them on the floor and flip them over add drumming sticks—wooden or plastic utensils. Tin cans, plastic buckets/tubs/bowls may be added to expand their homemade drum set. Slider-Use an empty water bottle that has ridges on the outside and a wooden spoon. To play it, slide the spoon up and down over the ridges to make sounds. 

DIY Projects…

There are a variety of musical instruments that can be done as a craftivity, a DIY project. Many of these can become a shared experience, including the toddler as ones’ assistant. They love to be part of the process. Talk with them as it’s being made, explain the steps that are to be done. Some DIY projects offer opportunities for them to add their decorating talents (painting/coloring etc.). Enjoy the joint effort and let the DIY (Do It Yourself) experience out!

Here are a few ideas on different ways to create sound makers for the musical explorer:

Making Musical Instruments with Household Objects:

Percussion-Shakers

SHAKERS Use different items inside containers to produce a variety of sounds: rice, beans, popcorn kernels, pasta, pennies etc. Below are some examples: Plastic eggs– Suggestions: Begin Auditory Match Game 1 Fill two eggs with same items from list above The sounds can be color coded two blue eggs=rice etc. 2 Harder—(before using) switch out items in the eggs —What sounds the same? (color of eggs will not be supportive) Follow-up by Including the egg shakers as part of their sound choices **Be sure to tape shut after filling OR a big surprise will be had by all! Oops!
Plastic jars or water bottles—(other plastic containers work too) Fill containers with small items mentioned above Tape/glue top opening to cover and secure it. If one does not want to let the child view what’s inside—cover outside with contact paper or paper bag paper etc.—glue on sides of the jar or paint it.
Paper Towel Holder Empty Roll Make 2 cardboard circles to attach to each end OR put foil on ends secured by rubber bands 1 Attach one cut piece of cardboard/foil to the bottom (tape/glue etc.) 2 Fill with items NOT completely full –just enough to make the sound. Also consider the weight—too much could cause breakage 3 Attach a top piece **The paper towel roll may be decorated with stickers or colored before filling–add streamers on the ends once finished.
Be sure to continually TEST the shakers for leakage!

Making Musical Instruments with Household Objects:

Percussion-Drums

DRUMS Producing sound by hitting with hand or sticks
Tin Can Drums (various sizes) *Remove label —Peel away label on empty can – remove lids from top and bottom
*Decorate —Paint or add other items for color—use tape or ribbon trim etc. Or measure a piece of paper to wrap around can. Let toddler color/paint an original design on the paper.
*Attach drawing to the middle of can.
*Cut a balloon—Cut a balloon that hasn’t been blown up into two pieces—save the top of balloon Size of balloon depends on size of can, but 18-20 inch might work best—as it will be stretched over the top of the can)
*Top of Drum–Attach the balloon to the top by stretching & pulling it over the open lid (add glue or rubber band to secure it
*Play it by using hands or sticks (unsharpened pencils may work as sticks)


Safety–Be sure to continually check any items used for making music on regular basis.

NOTE: The Resources and References section below has links to videos showing numerous DIY projects. 

Once there is a collection of sound makers to use at music time, storage may become a challenge. One can provide a “music box” for safe keeping. A plastic container or a cardboard box may serve for storing these musical items. This music box could be placed on a low shelf located in the kitchen for easy access.

Remember regardless of the sound maker being used at music time, modeling the safe way to play each one leads to successful musical explorations. However, at times a toddler may surprise the listener by combining or designing a unique way to play some instrument to make a new sound. Super!

That’s part of the musical process too. Creative freedom to express themselves is welcomed, as long as their exploration is being done in a safe manner. Sometimes one can introduce a new musical instrument (toy or homemade) to a toddler without specific directions, offering a new challenge – figuring out how it works. Watch them to see how their brain accepts this task, if after multiple tries frustration arises– provide hints, positive encouragement and additional modeling as needed. Acknowledging a toddler’s attempts when using the trial and error method assists in strengthening their discovery skills of cause-effect and problem-solving. The goal is to have a successful outcome—but that does not equal upset. Providing opportunities for a toddler to try out their reasoning skills is important within a supportive and positive learning environment. 

A play list of favorite tunes ready and available to accompany their musical desires will add to their solo  “musical sounds”. For toddlers making sounds during the playing of their favorite tunes can be stimulating and a huge learning event.

Music time can be a regularly scheduled time and/or whenever the timing is right. Family members can join together using a mixture of real, toy and/or homemade musical instruments to create a family band. Music of all sorts brings enjoyment to all!

Toddlers are always ready to rock and roll about, do their moves and play their musical sounds. Select a music time or as the mood strikes you or them—go for it. Let the music flow and their creative talents shine. Do enjoy sharing music time together!

Happy days to you,

Kylene

Resources & References

Collins, Anita, De., (2020), The MUSIC Advantage, How learning music helps your child’s brain and wellbeing, Allen & Unwin Publisher

Easy Play Ideas for Kids, (2024), How to Make your Own Musical Instruments using Recycled Materials, https://youtu.be/Hp4JoYHhsM4?si=FUz6IunJTS3q1d2n

Mini Tunes Club, (2024), How To Make Drums – 3 EASY DIY Instruments For Kids, https://youtu.be/oFjihkYvWSw?si=Q5Jp-0tQak1j7fey

Francis, Shanthwani, Dr., (2023), Role of Music in Cognitive Development of a Child, Neurological Health, https://www.icliniq.com/articles/neurological-health/role-of-music-in-cognitive-development-of-a-child

NAXOS, The World of Classical Music, https://www.naxos.com/musicalinstruments

Wesolowski, Brian, Wind, Stephanie, Children Who Participate in Music Lessons Are Better Able to Problem Solve and Manage Their Time, Study at University of Alabama, https://online.uga.edu/news/children-who-participate-music-lessons-are-better-able-problem-solve-manage-their-time/

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