Playing Musically with Your Child

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We read and hear a lot today about how important play is to children’s development.  Playing together is also important for the parent-child relationship.  Musical play is fun, helps children develop play skills, and helps children develop musical skills, too!

Here are a few suggestions for musical play.  I’m sure your child will invent many more!

v Pretend Play

·      Include music in pretend play, such as inviting your child to sing dolly a lullaby when putting her to bed, or creating a race-car theme song in preparation for a big race

·      Pretend to make “soup”: choose an ingredient, chop it up (if applicable) with a chippity-chop chant, pour it in, and stir the soup while singing a little tune.  This works well in the car, too.  The flowing motion of stirring helps children practice fluid movement (described more in the movement section below).

·      Everybody loves a parade!  Have your own parade marching around the living room or backyard with musical instruments or banners/ribbons/flags.

v Instruments

·      Rhythm sticks help children learn many types of motion, including hands together, hands separate, and crossing the body.  Moving to a steady beat often emerges in late preschool or early elementary school, so don’t worry if your child has her own beat!

·      With tambourines, play around with different sounds such as shaking and tapping.  When one person shakes the tambourine, move; when the tambourine is tapped, freeze.  Then switch!

·      Home made instruments combine the joy of creating materials with the joy of creating music.  Provide boxes, paper towel tubes, etc and see what your child creates!

·      Don’t overlook pots & pans  - they are a childhood music classic for good reason!  You’ll enjoy observing your child experiment with the different sounds.

·      Shakers, or maracas, are an all-time favorite.  Encourage your child to shake, tap, roll, and wave the shakers.

v Props

·      Use scarves for smooth, flowing movement to a recording; to throw in the air as “firecrackers”; to hide under for peek-a-boo

·      Give beanbags a ride on head or hand or knee; sing a pattern when dropping the beanbag from head to floor

·      Use a toy microphone (or anything – a hairbrush, a shoe, a lego…) to take turns with call-and-response (back & forth) songs.  Experiment with different sounds with younger children and with different words with older children.  Sing “yoo-hoo” or your child’s name and invite them to echo.  Have “conversations” of back and forth “ba-ba-bas.”

·      Puppets come in handy to help shy children find their “voice” – sometimes children will echo or sing to a puppet if the puppet asks!

  

v Childhood Classics

·      Teach your child the songs, finger plays (such as “Itsy Bitsy Spider”), and musical games (“Ring Around the Rosy”) you played growing up. 

·      Ask friends and relatives to teach you the songs, finger plays, and musical games they played!

Recorders, Harmonicas, and Ukeleles

I've been including several new instruments in my classes for young children lately - recorders, harmonicas, and ukeleles.  Music is Elementary is a great source for these and many other instruments.  It is located at 5228 Mayfield Road in Lyndhurst, phone number 800-888-7502.  Be sure to say hi to Sadie the dog while you're there!

For recorders, I recommend a one-piece model (less to lose or fiddle with) such as the Aulos A103N Soprano Recorder, Baroque ($7.95 each).  With children under 5, I like to put a little bit of first aid tape on the top front hole and back hole.  This means even little ones can play the note "B" rather than squeaking.  If you hold your child on your lap, you can finger the recorder while they provide the air, playing simple tunes they'll recognize.

For harmonicas, a student model works well, such as the Hohner Student Model Harmonica for $5.95.  Some children might try humming into it, but you can show them to breathe in and out to make the sound.  This is great for exploration in the early years, growing to discovering of higher and lower notes, single notes and chords as they get older.  Playing along with a blues recording is a fun activity with these.

Ukeleles are a great early instrument; I've been using the Lanikai Soprano Ukulele ($59.00) with children as young as 18 months.  There are good teaching videos on Youtube, such as "Madeline's Ukelele Class" (Madeline Pots).  Also, here is an iPhone/iPad app for tuning the ukelele: Tuner+