Incorporating music into our routines has had a positive influence for our toddler’s development. It gets them moving, thinking, and inspires creativity as they sing, dance, or play instruments. When they engage in music they form a sense of self-expression that can help them manage and regulate their emotions and further their self-regulation skills.
This month we have been singing a handful of our favorite songs, one of them being, “The Good Morning Train is Coming.” One of our early year’s engagement goals is to incorporate music outdoors as we do indoors which has created a calming environment within our toddler group. The other day we had a small group of children inspired to initiate our good morning song outdoors. Liam is always excited for this action song as he quickly joins in and begins to tap his knees, getting in tune with everyone else. Ruby smiles and begins to sing along leading our train song. Her favorite part is when we begin to say our names as Amanda likes to pause and ask, “What’s this friend’s name?” Ruby excitedly answers correctly the name of her peer. Abby joins by tapping her knees as well, following the rhythm of the group. Not only are the children in tune, but they’re connected in rhythm as well.
Singing this song has allowed children to begin peer recognition by saying each other’s names, this allows them to begin to build connections and start new relationships with each other. Through music and singing, children begin to understand who they are, both as an induvial and in relation to the world around them. This has given them the opportunity to engage in group activities and experiences by sharing a common interest, which in this case is music!
Since music has been one of our greatest interests Amanda has decided to incorporate music in Spanish. Another of our favorite songs is called, “el Sapito” which translates to “the froggy”. Amanda then extended the interests of the song by adding some cultural dance moves such as merengue! Essentially you walk forward and then backwards, which the children seem to enjoy as they follow. Ashton and Samuel, along with Ayoub, always begin by jumping up and down. It has been an opportunity to further develop our social and gross motor skills while listening to bilingual music.
We have noticed that children whose first language is not English feel a sense of belonging as it’s when they most smile and participate in group activities. Our next step into our music exposure will surely be to add instruments. As of right now, we enjoy the process of using our vocal chords and body movements to engage in a sense of expression and feel a sense of belonging.
