The Week of the Young Child starts off with Music Monday! People of all ages love engaging with music. Making and experiencing music together is a great way to bond with your child. While there’s a successful industry of music for young children- cartoon musicals, stand alone rock stars who perform for toddlers, and educational music programming, there are lots of fun ways that young children can experience the joy of making music themselves. Music teaches literacy, mathematics, and engages young children in a basic primal way. So to celebrate Music Monday, take a few moments to encourage musicality at home.

• Try setting your instructions to a familiar tune. If you think your preschooler has stopped listening when you’re asking them to do something, try singing the instructions along to a familiar tune like “the itsy bitsy spider” or “happy birthday”.
• Make a rhythm out of shaking the cereal box and encourage your child to dance along!
• Go for a walk! Listen to birds chirping or wind whistling together and see if you can and your child can make up a tune together
• Start whistling or humming and see what your child does in response. They just might be excited to harmonize along with you.
• How else can you and your child make music together?

By Jordan Shafer, LCSW (she/ her)

Jordan was a School School Worker for seven years with San Francisco Unified School District, working with children in grades pre-K- eighth grade as well as families and educators. She is highly skilled in supporting children’s mental health, social development, and their wellbeing as flourishing members of their communities. She recently relocated from California to her home state of Connecticut to raise her growing family.