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A child playing with musical instruments

Singing Teaches Early Literacy

Singing with your child is a fun way to help your child get ready to read. Music helps children hear the smaller sounds of words and builds vocabulary.

How Can Singing Develop Early Literacy Skills?

  • Children develop listening skills and hear the rhythms and rhymes of language.

  • Children get an understanding of the smaller sounds in words because singing slows down language, and often songs have different notes for each syllable.

  • Clapping or playing instruments along with rhythms improves fine motor skills and also helps children hear syllables.

  • Children learn new words and concepts they wouldn't normally hear in everyday conversation, adding to their general knowledge.

  • Music helps children remember things longer because it activates a different part of the brain than regular spoken language.

What Kind of Singing?

Children learn best by doing activities with you. Make it fun and don't feel self-conscious about your singing voice – your child loves your voice and loves hearing you sing!

  • Sing anything you enjoy and are comfortable with: traditional songs, nursery rhymes, and any song you like, including rock or pop! If you enjoy it, your child will, too.

  • Sing throughout your day: learn or make up songs about routines, like cleaning up or brushing teeth – songs make ordinary tasks more fun!

  • Sing songs with rhyming words, silly words, and long stretched-out words.

  • Use the language you know best. They need to hear you in the language you're most fluent in.

Putting it Into Action

  • Need song ideas? Check out our catalog stream kids' music from Hoopla.

  • Get up and move! Children develop motor skills as they clap, jump, twirl, and play instruments. (You can make simple instruments: a plastic bottle filled with rice becomes a maraca shaker, a round oatmeal container becomes a drum, and a rectangle tissue box wrapped with rubber bands can be a guitar!)

    A child playing a home-made tissue box guitar
  • Sing a book! (Check our Songs and Rhymes section of picture books or make up a simple tune for one of your child’s favorite books.)

  • Sing songs again and again (and again) – repetition reinforces learning!

Examples of using singing to build early literacy skills:

  • Are there any new words in a song? Talking about their meanings afterwards will build vocabulary.

  • Sing songs slowly: songs often break up the syllables of words by assigning a different note to each, as in "Are You Sleeping?/Frère Jacques."

  • Sing songs quickly! Changing up the tempo will help children hear the small sounds of words differently. For example, you can "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" gently, then swiftly down the stream . . .

  • Make up new verses to familiar songs like "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" together; this develops narrative (story-telling) skills.

  • Sing a familiar song to a different tune: it will emphasize the smaller sounds even further. For example, sing the Alphabet song to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb." It breaks up the letters LMNOP so your child can hear them individually.

Sources:

Saroj Ghoting
Every Child Ready to Read 2nd Edition
Storytime Katie: Babies Need Words Every Day
Library Bonanza: Early Literacy Talking Points
Story Time Secrets: Babies Need Words Every Day

Preschool Events
Mon, Dec 11, 1:00pm - 1:30pm
Dyer-Schererville - Children's Programming Room

Mon, Dec 11, 1:00pm - 1:40pm
Griffith-Calumet Twp - Children's Programming Room

Mon, Dec 11, 5:30pm - 6:15pm
Cedar Lake - Children's Programming Room

Tue, Dec 12, 10:15am - 10:45am
St. John - Children's Program Room

Tue, Dec 12, 10:30am - 11:00am
Merrillville - Children's Programming Room

Tue, Dec 12, 10:30am - 11:00am
Lake Station-New Chicago - Children's Program Room

Tue, Dec 12, 10:30am - 11:00am
Dyer-Schererville - Children's Programming Room
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Tue, Dec 12, 10:30am - 11:15am
Munster - Children's Program Room
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Tue, Dec 12, 10:30am - 11:00am
Highland - Children's Programming Room
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Tue, Dec 12, 11:30am - 12:00pm
Cedar Lake - Children's Programming Room
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Tue, Dec 12, 11:30am - 12:00pm
Griffith-Calumet Twp - Children's Programming Room

Tue, Dec 12, 1:30pm - 2:15pm
Munster - Children's Program Room

Wed, Dec 13, 10:30am - 11:00am
Merrillville - Children's Programming Room
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Wed, Dec 13, 2:30pm - 3:15pm
Hobart - Children's Program Room

Wed, Dec 13, 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Merrillville Library - Children's Department

Thu, Dec 14, 6:00pm - 7:15pm
Munster - Large Meeting Room
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Mon, Dec 18, 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Munster Branch - Children's area

Tue, Dec 19, 10:15am - 10:45am
Munster - Large Meeting Room

Tue, Dec 19, 10:30am - 11:00am
Merrillville - Children's Programming Room

Tue, Dec 19, 10:30am - 11:00am
Lake Station-New Chicago - Children's Program Room

Tue, Dec 19, 10:30am - 11:00am
Dyer-Schererville - Children's Programming Room
This event is full

Tue, Dec 19, 10:30am - 11:00am
Highland - Children's Programming Room

Tue, Dec 19, 11:00am - 11:30am
Munster - Large Meeting Room

Tue, Dec 19, 11:30am - 12:15pm
Cedar Lake - Children's Programming Room

Tue, Dec 19, 11:30am - 12:00pm
Griffith-Calumet Twp - Children's Programming Room

Thu, Dec 21, 10:30am - 11:00am
Lake Station-New Chicago - Children's Program Room

Thu, Dec 21, 10:30am - 11:15am
Highland - Children's Programming Room

Thu, Dec 21, 11:00am - 11:45am
Hobart - Children's Program Room

Thu, Dec 21, 11:30am - 12:15pm
Cedar Lake - Children's Programming Room
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Thu, Dec 21, 6:00pm - 6:30pm
Merrillville - Children's Programming Room

Fri, Dec 22, 10:30am - 11:00am
Hobart - Children's Program Room

Tue, Dec 26, 10:30am - 11:00am
Dyer-Schererville - Children's Programming Room
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Tue, Dec 26, 11:00am - 11:30am
Dyer-Schererville - Children's Programming Room

Tue, Dec 26, 11:30am - 12:00pm
Griffith-Calumet Twp - Children's Programming Room

Thu, Dec 28, 10:30am - 11:00am
Hobart - Children's Program Room

Thu, Dec 28, 2:30pm - 3:00pm
Hobart - Children's Program Room

Tue, Jan 02, 10:15am - 10:45am
Munster - Large Meeting Room

Tue, Jan 02, 10:30am - 11:00am
Merrillville - Children's Programming Room

Tue, Jan 02, 10:30am - 11:00am
Highland - Children's Programming Room

Tue, Jan 02, 11:00am - 11:30am
Munster - Large Meeting Room

Tue, Jan 02, 11:30am - 12:15pm
Cedar Lake - Children's Programming Room

Tue, Jan 02, 11:30am - 12:00pm
Griffith-Calumet Twp - Children's Programming Room

Wed, Jan 03, 5:30pm - 6:00pm
Hobart - Children's Program Room

Thu, Jan 04, 10:15am - 10:45am
St. John - Large Meeting Room

Thu, Jan 04, 10:30am - 11:00am
Lake Station-New Chicago - Children's Program Room

Thu, Jan 04, 10:30am - 11:15am
Highland - Children's Programming Room

Thu, Jan 04, 11:00am - 12:00pm
Griffith-Calumet Twp - Children's Programming Room

Thu, Jan 04, 11:00am - 11:45am
Hobart - Children's Program Room

Thu, Jan 04, 11:15am - 11:45am
St. John - Large Meeting Room

Thu, Jan 04, 11:30am - 12:15pm
Cedar Lake - Children's Programming Room

Sat, Jan 06, 10:00am - 10:30am
St. John - Large Meeting Room

Mon, Jan 08, 1:00pm - 1:45pm
Dyer-Schererville - Children's Programming Room

Mon, Jan 08, 1:00pm - 1:50pm
Griffith-Calumet Twp - Children's Programming Room

Family Events
Wed, Dec 13, 11:00am - 12:00pm
Merrillville Branch - Children's Department

Wed, Dec 13, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Lake Station-New Chicago - Large Meeting Room

Thu, Dec 14, 6:00pm - 7:15pm
Munster - Large Meeting Room
This event is full

Mon, Dec 18, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Lake Station-New Chicago - Large Meeting Room

Mon, Dec 18, 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Munster Branch - Children's area

Tue, Dec 19, 11:00am - 12:00pm
Merrillville Branch - Children's Department

Wed, Dec 20, 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Highland - Children's Programming Room

Thu, Dec 21, 6:00pm - 6:30pm
Merrillville - Children's Programming Room

Wed, Dec 27, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Griffith-Calumet Twp - Meeting Room

Sat, Jan 06, 3:00pm - 4:00pm
Lake Station-New Chicago - Large Meeting Room

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