Top tips for musical play!

Enjoy music in bite sized chunks. Why not? Here are some delightful ideas on musical play - go on, have a go!

Tip #1 - Your daily routine can be fun with music.

Just looking, watching, listening and responding to your baby is enough to elicit vocal,

emotive play! Giving your baby time to freely vocalise is one of the most important

commitments you can make to support early communication. Have a go!

Tip #2 - Big Can Be Great Too

Watch and listen to how a baby responds to such a BIG ocean drum! Securely held by daddy

she is playful, happy and loving the tactile experience of exploring a big instrument. When

supported, early experiences can make for rich nurture of musical play, itself vital for

developing communication skills. Choose a big instrument, ensure your baby is secure and

see what happens.

Tip #3 - Children With Additional Needs Can Enjoy Music Too

You would be amazed at how profoundly deaf children can communicate. Allowing the child

to hold a tactile puppet gives her license to understand the song, take ownership of it, and

thus, respond with the donkey as her prompt. Notice how her timing and pitch is very close

to the teacher!

Tip #4 - Inbetweeners

Inbetweeners are great musical snippets to fill a short amount of time with your children and teach a valuable lesson. If you take any of our advanced-level courses you will learn how to create your own. Below is an example of one you can try with your baby.

Notice how these lovely carers are watching their baby carefully as they recite a much-loved

poem, getting faster, and faster (musical focus), until the end! A great example of an

"inbetweener" to engage and distract babies whilst waiting.

Tip #5 - A Few Songs to Try

Don't you love this picture? With painted boxes, a bit of blue lycra we are ready for

adventures involving rowing, building, travel and tactile exploration. Suggested music to

enjoy with these resources are listed:

If you have yet to sign up for our course, we highly encourage you to check them out.

Emma Hutchinson

emma@musichouseeducation.com

April 2023