Musical Parenting Tip:  Help Your Child Find their Voice – Notice and Copy Sounds.
Why?
·      Noticing sounds fosters your baby’s phonemic awareness (the ability to hear the individual sounds in the words we say).
·      Exposure to a variety of sounds is critical to intellectual development.  Varied exposure leads to language proficiency, spatial reasoning, and temporal reasoning.
·      Copying sounds with your voice helps your child use the full range of her voice, and encourages vocal expressiveness. 
How?
·      Try adding sounds to some of these Lesser-Known Nursery Rhymes!  What would it sound  like when Aiken Drum played on his ladle, for instance?
·      Cue up your Mama Goose CD, and copy the Big Clock sound, or a Cackle Cackle sound, like Mother Goose made, or a rain sound to accompany the Japanese Rain Song.  What other ideas can you find?
·      Read Hickory Dickory Dock, and add some ticking sounds.  Slide your voice upward when the mouse runs up, and downward when he runs down.  Make a chiming sound when the clock chimes one (or two, or three… change it up if baby is interested!).
Want to learn more?
On our blog – Learn how to answer baby babble with music!
Also, read 10 reasons to give babies a daily dose of music.