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.
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.
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
“My idea is that there is music in the air, music all around us; the world is full of it,
and you simply take as much as you require.”EDWARD ELGAR, ENGLISH COMPOSER
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.