It may sound easy, you open your mouth and let sounds and words come out, but children aren't magically born with this ability. Babies start to imitate sounds and match pitches at around three months old, which is so intelligent! By 12 months old, they can sing short phrases; by 15 months old, they can imitate the melodies you sing!
Your toddler will start to sing small parts of songs they hear around age two and a half, and by age 5 and 6, you can listen to your little bundle of joy carry a tune!
Sing-along books encourage singing through songs and nursery rhymes.
Let’s explore the wonderful world of singing along as a family! Take a closer look at what makes singing especially useful for toddlers, and find the best singalong books for you to enjoy together.
Singing along to your favorite songs may seem like simple fun, but it is also vital for your toddler's development. With the help of playful singalong sessions, they will:
Additionally, it lets you spend more quality time with your kids. Singing along together is fun, meaningful, and a great bonding activity for kids of all ages!
If you like to belt out some tunes in the car, you'll probably have your littles ones imitating the sounds, but big compound words aren't the easiest for a kid to come to grips with and may cause them to miss out on those developmental opportunities.
The alphabet song is my favorite singalong song that gives you the best of entertainment and education. It's a classic for a reason!
Our Sing the Alphabet book is packed to the brim with easy first words coupled with a well-known tune. The ideal introduction to your ABCs.
Nursery rhymes are also a fantastic choice because they're easy enough for a child to sing along to while also letting you pass on some beloved childhood memories to the next generation (and beyond).
Are you on the lookout for books you can enjoy singing along with as a family? We've created a singalong bundle that combines new songs and classic nursery rhymes. The perfect starter pack to get your children to start singing and engaging with books in a meaningful way.
This bundle includes favorite books such as:
And plenty of engaging illustrations, musical fun, and lyrics to enhance your toddler's language, comprehension, and motor skills. Picture books are a fantastic way to connect visual understanding with verbal skills. These musical books are just the ticket for valuable toddler singalong time.
When your child presses the sound button found on every page, 15 seconds of charming music will ring out with simple enough lyrics for families to sing together.
Admittedly, I sing along with the sound the washing machine makes to let me know it's done. This type of echolalia is often also seen in kids coming to terms with learning to talk!
You can sing along to just about anything with your children, whether it's a movie soundtrack or a radio hit. Don't expect to be able to get your kiddo rapping along with Lafayette's rap battle from Hamilton anytime soon, though.
Singing along with complex lyrics may still be too challenging for your toddler until they reach double digits. That's completely normal! Sticking to having singalong time focused around more accessible songs helps build that all-important confidence. You have to learn to walk before you can run, right?
To summarize, sound books and dedicated sing-along time are great ways to engage your kids with books and music while boosting their language and attention skills!
I'm off to spend quality time with some books and my family now. Happy singing along to you and your little ones!
“I’ve loved books since childhood and wanted to transmit this enthusiasm to my children”
I'm a mom of two young children who trained as an engineer and worked in investment banking and at Disney. A French of Caribbean origin (Martinique to be precise!), I grew up in Paris. Los Angeles is now the place I call home!
