Preschooleducation.com has a nice page up about ideas for using music with toddlers (music activities) written by C.M. Todd. Of course, the great thing about using music is it can be used for so many different purposes. You are teaching rhythm (more on the importance of teaching rhythm early in later posts), vocabulary, intonation, phonetic awareness. You are stimulating the creative mind. You can use music to signal transitions from one activity to another (one of the best tips for an efficiently run class or even at home.) You can use music to explore feelings. You can use music to help children increase body awareness and coordination. You can use music to set moods...to pick kids up when they need a pick-up or to calm them down when it's quiet time.
Have a look at at the preschooleducation.com kids music and songs page for some great ideas on super simple songs you can sing with your kids using pre-existing tunes. For example, I'm a little teapot becomes I'm a friendly snowman, big and fat...Here is my belly, here is my hat. Simple, simple songs, but so stimulating to kids. Not only are they easy to learn and fun to dance to, but they lead in to so many activities. It's great fun to see the kids singing, "I'm a friendly snowman..." as they work attentively on a snowman craft, or better yet, making a real snowman. I love simple songs like this because even young toddlers can feel the accomplishment of being able to sing, and understand, the entire song, while older kids can still enjoy singing and dancing and creating verses of their own.
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