How singing helps your child's development

If you do this:
Play
Suggest different farm animals that your child may be less familiar with. If he doesn't know the animal's sound, demonstrate the sound for him or he can invent one.

Your child will:
Build his imaginative skills as he tries to make these new sounds and pretends to be farm animals. Toddlers especially are anxious to try new things and love to pretend.

If you do this:
Teach
Use a picture book about farm animals or puppets to make the activity visual and tactile. This will support children with little prior experience with farm animals.

Your child will:
Expand her vocabulary and build her understanding of how farm animals differ from pets or jungle animals. Your preschooler, who is now speaking in complete sentences, likely loves stories and will sit for longer periods as you read to her.

Songs like this one also build social skills. Children learn to take turns in activities and discussions. As they begin to experiment with sounds, words, word patterns, rhymes and rhythms, they build speaking, listening and reading skills. And, thinking skills and problem-solving skills are developed as children learn to identify familiar sounds in the environment.

So, before you fade from one more chorus of an old favourite, remember, there's more to it than meets the E-I-E-I-O.

Read more:
Get your kids reading
8 ways to bond with your teen
How to let kids take risks

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Invest in Kids is a national charity dedicated to helping parents become the parents they want and need to be. By translating the science of parenting and child development into engaging, easy-to-understand, relevant resources for parents and professionals, Invest in Kids aims to strengthen the parenting knowledge, skills and confidence of all those who touch the lives of our youngest children to ensure the healthy social, emotional and intellectual development of children from birth to age five.

To learn more about Invest in Kids and Comfort, Play & Teach®, visit www.investinkids.ca.