As well as being a lot of fun, singing and sensory play can be incredibly beneficial for toddlers. From helping to improve their language skills to calming them down and enhancing their mood, a little bit of music and some sensory experiences can go a long way to helping your child continue to develop into a happy, healthy toddler.
Mood Enhancer
One of the most important benefits of singing and sensory play for toddlers – and parents – is that it can improve a child’s mood and help to calm them. Singing songs together with your child is a great way to have fun, relax and bond. Use different pieces of music at different times of the day to help your child develop a routine and a daily rhythm. Hearing a specific piece of music before bedtime, for instance, can help even young children understand what is happening next and mentally prepare for sleep. Then there’s the secret weapon of parents everywhere- the tidy up song! Sensory play can also have a calming effect on young children as long as it’s approached in a quiet and relaxed manner. Many children have a favourite blanket or teddy, something that smells familiar and is soft and cuddly that provides comfort and it reached for when they need reassurance. Toys such as beads or rainmakers can soothe a frustrated child.
Literacy and Numeracy
From a very early age, babies are able to distinguish between different types of sounds. Singing songs with your child can help to develop their aural skills even further, giving them a head start when it comes to reading and language.
Have you ever noticed how repetitive nursery rhymes are? There is a reason for that, and it’s not just to drive parents bonkers, we promise! The repetition in nursery rhymes makes them easier for young children to learn as they learn to recognise the pattern. If you combine singing with rhythmic play, you can also help to boost your child’s sense of numeracy and patterns. Songs such as “head, shoulders, knees and toes” or the “hokey cokey” will help children remember and associate new words with an action, while songs like “five little speckled frogs” give children a visual aid to help with counting.
Coordination
Engaging in sensory play is a fantastic way to boost a child’s coordination and improve both their fine and gross motor skills. Playing with different objects, experiencing different textures and moving through different spaces all help a child to get more in touch with their senses and their movements. Music and singing can also help to improve coordination as children begin to dance and jump to the rhythm. This can also be a fantastic way to increase muscle strength and boost a child’s confidence when it comes to moving about on their own. Check out local sports centres, which often run baby and toddler gymnastic sessions, which are a great way to build your child’s coordination skills.
Language and Expression
Toddlers take in new words at a phenomenal rate and anything you can do to support this learning process is going to help their development. Hearing and repeating the words they learn in the songs you sing will give them a lot more language to play with and help them to develop their speaking skills. Sensory play can also help your child to express themselves as all the new experiences they encounter will add to their vocabulary and give them new ways to talk about the world. Sand and water tables, painting with different objects to make patterns, constructions toys. All these things give your child opportunities to widen their vocabulary.
Confidence
Honing the above areas of development through singing and sensory play will help your child feel confident and capable as they move to the next stage. From being confident using toys and equipment to playing alongside other children, even down to simply knowing the words to songs at nursery and school, will all help your child settle in and make friends more quickly. Being able to bond over their shared experiences and talk about their likes and dislikes or how something makes them feel and having confidence in their own abilities can mean children will flourish at school.
We’re currently looking for people to run our Little Stars toddler groups. If you would be interested in helping not only your own but other peoples children to grow, develop and have fun get in touch with a member of our team today.
