Books and Music Benefits Child’s Brain Development

Singing – is one of the Five Early Literacy Practices, and preschoolers, toddlers, and babies love to sing! We Children’s librarians love to sing in all our storytimes! We encourage parents to sing with their children and remind parents that kids don’t care how their parents sound, they love their parent’s voices, so sing! And, not only are songs fun, but they also serve as a learning tool for children as they reinforce early childhood concepts.

Singing is a natural way to learn about language and helps children develop listening skills and pay attention to the rhymes and rhythms in spoken language. Picture books can be read by being sung. I like to model singing picture books in Book Babies whenever I can.

I also sing books with toddlers and preschoolers during my outreach visits.  I’ve noticed that when I sing using a book, it has a wonderful way of focusing and calming kids down. Sing songs more than once, because children learn by repetition. Singing with children helps them to hear different parts of words, slows language down so they notice how syllables are alike and different, and songs help boost vocabulary and general knowledge. Here are several books to share with your little ones. Check them out and have fun singing!

One of my favorite illustrators is Tim Hopgood. Tim’s bright and colorful pictures make these songs come alive. If you never knew the lyrics to these songs, here’s your chance and guaranteed to get stuck in your head.

Here's a list of books you can sing along to.