Song and language development

Songs and rhymes stimulate your child’s language development.

Song and music promote listening and the ability to recognise the sounds of speech and language. Song texts make it easier to consolidate words in memory. There are, in fact, three regions of the brain dedicated to the processing of both music and language: Broca’s Area, Heschl's gyri and the rostro-medial prefrontal cortex.

Song and the brain

Music stimulates brain development in young children.

Research has revealed that singing and playing music activate large regions of the brain. Different parts of the brain become connected and development is enhanced. This is beneficial for a child’s learning and general development.

Song and musicality

We are born with the ability to express ourselves through song, rhyme and movement.

A child comes into the world with musical needs. Satisfying these needs contributes to healthy and optimal development. Simply sing songs that you yourself like – there is no correct or incorrect melody. Children are receptive to all types of music.

It’s also good to dance with your child or sway to relaxing, recorded music. Observe your child’s reactions and choose musical activities that it enjoys. Lots of song and dance, right from the start, strengthens development and a feeling of well-being.

Your own song

For your child, there is no finer sound in the world than your own voice.

Your baby has listened to your voice in the womb, and that sound is well-known to it and dear. Regardless of your opinion of your own singing voice, you can be sure your child will love it. It simply doesn’t matter if you think it sounds a bit off-key. Regardless, a new-born baby prefers its parents’ own singing voices, and it prefers song ahead of speech.

Bonding

Song stimulates the production of hormones.

When you sing with your child, the bonding hormone oxytocin and the well-being hormone dopamine are liberated. At the same time, there is a fall in cortisol, the hormone we associate with stress. The result is that we feel more relaxed and snug. Song creates feelings that strengthen the close bond between child and parent.

When a child cries

Singing and rocking to-and-fro calms a child more effectively and for longer than does speech.

You can sing one or more of your bed-time songs. Repetition and gentle, rhythmical movement have a soporific action, so the same song can be sung over and over.

Song in day-to-day life

Song can be used in many day-to-day situations.

Sing to your child when you are playing with it, and feeding, comforting, or cuddling it. Fun toe-tickling rhymes, contact games and “baby-talk” are well-suited to the changing table, while calmer songs are better closer to bed-time. Perhaps you can change the song texts a bit so that the child’s name comes up?