Toddlers Love to Imitate!

Parenting Tip: Teach your toddler songs by having them ECHO you!

 

Why?

Play is one of the most important ways that two & three-year-olds learn & develop.  Emerging during childhood, imitative play is a type of play where a child begins to copy or mimic another person.  A child seeing another child play egg shakers, to match the feel of the music, or a child noticing that Mommy dances slower, when the music is slower, then matching her tempo, are examples of imitative play in action.  Imitation helps children begin to work out the relationships between themselves and the things & people around them.  From this, cooperative and pretend play will blossom during the preschool years.  Giving children plenty of opportunities to mimic a wide array of experiences, both familiar, and new, supports their ongoing development.

 

In our toddler classes, we use imitation to help your child begin to "feel" the music.  Whether it's moving like a slide whistle making glissandos or feeling the syncopation to a favorite chant like "On the Ground," your child will follow your lead. As you move and groove to the steady beat and enjoy the rhythmic patterns of the music, your child will begin to copy you and do the same!

 

How?

Go on a Listening Walk!  

As you listen to music at home this week, dance around the house, with your child.  Play a 'follow me' game, where your child imitates you sometimes, and you imitate her sometimes.  Who else wants to join the game? 

Then, play 'follow me' with some animals, during  I Can Do That, Too! 

Sing "Eency Weency Spider" using hand motions and invite your child to copy you. How soon were they doing the motions? Singing some of the words? 

 

Want to Learn More?

On our blog - read how your child's attempts to imitate you, as you sing, can nurture their speaking and singing voice!

 

Kindermusik 7-year continuum:

As a baby, your child relied on you to help them experience the world by doing things FOR them.  Now, as a toddler, your child learns best by imitating what you (and others) are doing.  As a preschooler, he will learn musical concepts in class by immersing himself in an imaginary world where musical things just happen (like a Make Believe pirate ship or castle, or a pretend garden full of musical animals). Big kids in Young Child classes use that imagination to create songs that match certain words or moods, and take learning a step further, by learning to read and write musical notation!