I’ve discovered a super-easy way to distract my toddler, keep her engaged and teach her about various things. Music. Songs, dances, rhymes set to a tune. It’s amazing how easily she’ll brush her teeth when we sing “This is the way we brush our teeth” or how quickly she’ll calm down, when I hum, “ I love you, you love me”, a la her favorite purple dinosaur.
Here are some of the ways in which I’ve been using music to make life with my toddler fun, easy and happy.
Daily Routines.
Adding a little bit of song and dance to daily routines is a great way to break the monotony and make regular stuff more interesting. I generally sing to her or with her during tasks that take a lot of time or effort on her part. So, we have:
Waking Up: “Good morning, Manini(her name)! How are you?” It’s a song they sing everyday at her playschool, so she knows the words and loves hearing it.
Dressing Up/Brushing Teeth: “This is the way we brush our teeth/wear our clothes, on a warm and sunny morning”, adapted to our warm Indian climate. ***smiling***
Bedtime: I’ve only recently added this to our regular bedtime routine and the singing is usually a repeat of a few favorites, especially, “You are my sunshine…” even though it is evening, it makes my daughter feel comfortable and calm.
Tantrum Time.
Although she doesn’t throw many tantrums, she does get obstinate at times, especially since there’s been a change in her routine. Singing the classic, “I love you”, always works as does, “You can hug me on a Monday, a Tuesday, a Wednesday…” adapted from the classic, “You can kiss me on a Monday…” I generally hold her close and softly hum the tune in her ears. Works like a charm.
Music for Fun and Learning.
The potential here is unlimited and while I’m not homeschooling her, we do a lot of learning through reading and music. She’s learnt her alphabet, numbers and a few shapes all thanks to the various rhymes and songs that we sing as we take a break in the middle of free play. Simple classic rhymes like, “1,2 buckle my shoe..”, “10 green bottles..”, ‘A, B, C, D…” and, “ Twinkle, twinkle little star..” are easy to sing and we do the actions and a bit of dancing to spice things up. Parts of the body are easy to teach when we sing, “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands/blink your eyes/shake your head/stamp your feet..”, and “Oh be careful, little eyes/little ears/little lips/little hands/little feet” are just a few that we sing on a regular basis.
The best part is that a toddler doesn’t really care if you sing beautifully or off-tune. At least, I like to believe so! ***laughing*** I love it when she walks up to me and asks me to sing “I Love You” or any other song that she may want to hear. It makes me feel no less than an award-winning, hotshot singer!
Your turn. What songs do you and your toddler enjoy singing? How does music make life with toddlers easy? Do share.
Photo Credit: Tim Parkinson
I agree music works wonders!
Hi! I love singing and I use to sing with the kids a lot. I used it also as a gimmick for distracting them. When I did my daughter’s hair, there was a song that we would sing together and she wouldn’t notice that I was pulling her hair. She is a teenager now and she still remembers the song. When I do her hair for a dance or some event, I start singing the song. We always break up laughing.
Thanks for some great tips. Loving blessings!
Hi Andrea,
Great to hear that you used singing too and wow, I didn’t think of using songs to distract my toddler when combing her hair. That should make the task really easy! Thanks for sharing!
Warmly
I love this idea! We have a few songs, but you’ve given me so many more ideas.
Hi Ivy, glad you liked the ideas. Thank you so much for visiting!
I am a mother of two daughters. Sad I did not read about all your ideas earlier because now they are a little bigger than toddler. Now I am the first to sleep and they are the ones to sing to me.
Hi Iram, welcome to The Mom Writes. Lovely to hear that you’re the first to sleep while they sing to you! Am waiting for that day! LOL..