Singing in Early Childhood

When my daughter Ruby was a preschooler, she used to sing when she drew or painted. She even hummed while she played, walked, or cleaned up. While out shopping one day, my mother-in-law noticed Ruby’s humming while she looked at the toys. She smiled at her and asked, “Do you have a song in your heart?” To which Ruby enthusiastically responded, “YES!” This sweet observation got me thinking: Why do preschoolers sing so much?

Have you ever wondered why early childhood educators sing so many songs? I never really thought about it too much when I first started in the education field. Singing was just best practice. It seemed like singing was just a natural part of preschool education.  In fact, it wasn’t until I started having my own children that I started to investigate why singing is so beneficial.  

Research shows that babies start to develop a musical preference in the womb. It starts with the mother’s heartbeat, and eventually it’s fine-tuned to listen for the mother’s voice and others’ in the household. The baby even feels the rhythm of the mother’s movements.Basically, humans are wired for music. Music not only activates multiple parts of the brain at once, but it also stimulates neurons! A child’s brain is most flexible in early childhood, soaking in language and experiences, and music is a great way to stimulate these pathways. These pathways include social cues such as communication through words, facial expressions, and gestures, cognitive skills such as memory, attention, and processing speed, and emotional development and regulation.

Here are some great examples:

One of our newly turned 3 year olds brandished a squeegee and joyously sang out, “Scrubby, scrubby, scrubby, scrubby, scrub, scrub!” as he washed paint off a tree. One of our 4-year-old girls absent-mindedly sang, “I love purple. Purple is my favorite color!” as she sponge painted a tree. Similarly, one of our newly turned 4-year-olds climbed to the top of a ladder and belted out the words to a song from Moana. She must have listened to it recently, because she sang it over and over as she played in the forest. 

The young boy singing about scrubbing was narrating his experience. Singing not only improves vocabulary, but it also allows children to experiment with sounds, tone, inflection, sentence structure, and rhythm of speech. This is the basis of language, but these are also all prerequisites for reading! He was also expressing his joy for the activity and singing helped him to stay focused on his task for an extended period of time. 

 The young girl singing about purple was self-regulating.Singing improves concentration and focus for longer periods of time. It helps to calm the body that otherwise is very busy. 

The little girl singing songs from Moana was expressing joy. She was engaging in her social surroundings by sharing something that she loves. And the children were very aware of her vocal range, but they were definitely unbothered.(I think they enjoyed listening to her sing as well!)

So what does this all mean?

We have noticed over time that the children in our care best respond when we make minor changes to our voices. For example, if we want to get and sustain focus, instead of yelling, we sing directions or we use call and response. We use an usual sound in the forest to get their attention right away. We make silly sounds when we help a child draw or learn a skill. We encourage a wide variety of softness and loudness, and we practice each so that they know how to enter into different settings.

If I can do anything, I want to leave you with some food for thought.

Instead of quieting our children, how can we encourage the noise?  

How can you include singing in your everyday experiences?