Doing things with music
Do different things while listening to the car radio or to a tape or CD:
- Sing
- Clap (while at a stop light!)
- Move to the music, when you’re stopped or in the back seat with your child
- Talk about how the music makes you feel
To help your child succeed, you can:
- Encourage your child to make sounds (la-la-la)
- Show your child how to move to the music – car dancing – when you’re stopped at a light!
- Ask Yes/No questions (e.g. Does this song make you feel happy?)
To make it more of a challenge, you can:
- Encourage your child to sing without you
- Let your child use a musical instrument such as a toy drum
- Have your child create dance moves – but stay buckled up!
- Ask open-ended questions (e.g. Why does this music make you feel like dancing?)
Beginning to sing songs
While singing in the car together, you can:
- Move to the beat together when stopped or sitting in the back seat
- Make gestures that go with the song (e.g. Row, Row, Row Your Boat)
- Encourage your child to sing along
- Sing the rhyming words louder or softer
To help your child succeed, you can:
- Play your child’s favorite tape or CD in the car
- Sing his or her favorite song while driving
- Bounce up and down in the car seat!
- Tune the radio to your child’s favorite station
To make it more of a challenge, you can:
- Encourage your child to move to the beat on his or her own while in the car seat
- Encourage your child to make gestures that go with the song all by him or herself
- Have your child sing some of the song’s words aloud (e.g. Wheels on the Bus)
- Have your Have your child say the rhyming words with you
Making up silly songs
Do different things while singing to the car radio:
- Make up words to the song (Row, Row, Row My Car)
- Make up silly words to the song (Bow, Bow, Bow My Squoat)
- Talk about your silly song, use words to describe it
To help your child succeed, you can:
- Make up a song that describes what you’re doing (Honk, Honk, Honk the Horn)
- Say some real and nonsense words and see if your child can pick out the silly ones
- Have your child say a letter sound and make up a silly word that starts with that sound
To make it more of a challenge, you can:
- Have your child make up a song that describes what he or she is doing (Going, Going, Going to Grandma’s)
- Say a sound, have your child make up a silly word and then use that word in a song.
