Keeping Your Toddler in Tune

By Jacqueline Mroz

Amanda Farber’s boys, ages four and two, love playing with anything that makes noise -- pots and pans, plastic storage containers, drums. And they love to sing along while they play. In fact, her four-year-old even likes to make up his own songs. “It’s pretty cool,” says Farber, of Bethesda, Md. “He’ll make up songs about what happened at school that day. He just sings these songs to himself.”

Farber believes that exposing her kids to music at an early age sparked their love for it. When her older son was two, she started taking him to music classes. “I thought it would be good to expose my children to different music and instruments,” she explains. “And I also liked the idea of them getting out and socializing with other kids.”

She’s not alone. Music classes for children have become so popular that many have long waiting lists to get in. The trend toward structured music programs began after a theory called “The Mozart Effect,” was publicized in the early 1990s.

The theory was that listening to Mozart’s music could make people smarter, and later studies found a relationship between early childhood music training and better performance in science and math. The latest research backs up that theory. A recent study in Canada suggests that young children who take music lessons have significantly different brain development and improved memory compared to those who do not.

So now that you know that music classes are good for your child, how can you encourage your little virtuoso at home?

Farber says she has music on all the time at home, which is great, according to David Weinstone, who founded the popular Music for Aardvarks program for kids in New York City a decade years ago. But it’s also important to have plenty of musical instruments around the house that your children can explore and use to create their own music. Playing instruments also helps develop a child’s fine motor skills.

Still, parents don’t need to run out and spend a lot of money on instruments for their kids if they don’t already have them. Anything will do. Weinstone suggests using cooking utensils, a shoebox and rubber bands -- anything that makes a good sound.

“Playing music with your child is a wonderful way of communicating and being with your kids,” says Weinstone, the father of three children, who lives in New York City with his family. “It’s a different experience than just putting on a CD. There’s nothing like getting out a bongo and tambourine and playing -- kids just love that.” Dancing is another great way to engage your kids in music. Just like they do in the music classes, turn up the stereo and have some dance parties at home.

Here are other ways to bring music into your home:

• Play songs for your children that encourage them to move around, clap, or jump up and down.

• Play your child’s favorite songs often. Kids like to hear songs they are familiar with. Many music programs even give out CDs to take home of the music that’s played in class. Encourage your child to sing along.

• Try playing or singing music that teaches your child to follow directions, such as “Ring around the Rosie” or “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider.” That also teaches a child how to keep time with music.

• Sing nursery rhymes to your child. Since they are usually simple rhymes that are easy to remember, it’s fun for you and your child to sing them together. Rhymes are also important for developing phonemic awareness in children, which is the awareness that language is made up of different sounds.

“Music is something that is universal to all children,” says Weinstone. “It’s so easy for them to participate and have fun. And playing music with your kids and dancing around makes for such wonderful family experiences.”