Here at the Aurora Public Library, our story time can get a little loud and sing-song-y. And that's okay! Because here at the library, we think that things like songs are actually a great way to encourage literacy in our young ones! Here are just a few ways that songs are helpful with learning to read.
Songs are Easy to Remember!
There's a reason that we recognize old rhymes and songs that we sang when we were children - it's because they're catchy, simple, and easy to remember! It's also why pop music has become so popular. Simple, repetitive lyrics mixed with an easy to follow beat are much harder to get out of your head, no matter what you do!
The reason why this is good for kids is because it gets children used to patterns, and it makes them familiar with sequences. It's easier to remember how to count, for example, when the ants are marching two by two and the little one stops to tie it's shoe, because through simple rhymes and actions, there are now more things that can jog your memory. And it's important to remember that memory is very helpful when learning your words, and following along with a story!
Songs are Fun!
Part of what makes it so easy to include a few songs into a story time is that kids love singing and dancing. Even the most simple of tunes can get a kid onto their feet, moving and grooving. Plus, lots of kids songs add actions as part of the words. "I'm a Little Teapot" is a great example! If you don't have a teapot in your home, than that song is probably the first time they're learning some of those words, but they absolutely know what a handle and a spout look like if their dancing along! The kids don't even know they're learning something - they're too busy having a good time.
Songs being fun is also important because it means that kids will have fun during the story time. Believe it or not, it's actually really important that kids enjoy themselves during activities - it makes it so much easier to get them to do it again!
Songs get Kids Thinking!
Most children's songs are pretty effective at getting kids to learn. Whether it's learning the alphabet, learning to count, or learning things like manners or rules, it's easy to make a child learn something through song (even if they pretend they don't know something!). But songs also get kids thinking in more abstract ways.
In my story times, for example, I like to sing "Old MacDonald had a Farm" with the kids - but I like to get them to pick what animals we sing about. It slows down the song a little, but it gets them to think specifically. It helps them think about what I'm asking them, but also about what they can answer. If they know the song, then they know what comes next - not only an animal, but also a sound that they make, so lots of kids will think about animals that they know the calls of, so that we can keep singing the song properly.
And if they don't know the song, or they do but are feeling a little mischievous, it can also get them thinking creatively. Some kids will answer with an animal that doesn't belong on a farm, or that doesn't make a noise, or that might not even be real! Instead of saying no, we can then try to think of how to include them! What makes a unicorn different from a horse? Unicorns 'sparkle', of course!
Songs are Easy to Follow!
This point might seem similar to some of our other points, but that's because it bears repeating! Songs are easy to follow, especially simple songs with easy rhymes, like children's songs.
But more so than that, songs are also easy to follow along to when you have a book that goes with a song! A favourite song we sing at our story times is "If your Happy and you Know it"! It's a song that lots of kids know, it gets kids up and moving, and you can add as many different actions as you want, because the song isn't made to rhyme with the actions. It's also a song that lots of people have turned into books! If songs are helping kids to think and helping them remember patterns, than reading a book to them that includes a song they know also makes it easier to follow along on the page - which is a great step towards helping children read on their own!
Conclusion
So these are just some of the ways that singing during your story time can be really fun and helpful! The rhymes in songs are catchy and easy to remember, they can add fun to reading, they get kids using their brains, and all of this singing is easy to follow along to, making learning reading even easier than it could have been.
I hope this helps you all learn more about how to help with early literacy in children. Libraries are a great place for these techniques to be put into practice, even if they can be a little noisy! So, pick up a book, and let's get loud!
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