Sharing a song together is not only fun, it’s educational! You can teach your little one to copy your gestures, sounds, and words. They also learn how to participate by dancing or attempting to sing along with you. As therapists, we love incorporating songs into therapy sessions because songs support language skills and increasing attention!
If the song has gestures, it may be easier for kids to join in because gestures are often easier to copy than words. This allows kiddos who are learning to talk an opportunity to participate before they know the words. So, we wanted to share some of our favorite songs with gestures with you today. Once you learn the motions and the lyrics, it’s important for you to get up and sing these songs with your little one because your little one will learn much faster from you than any video! Don’t worry if you don’t have the best singing voice (I know I don’t!)
Itsy Bitsy Spider: A classic for a reason. It’s short, repetitive, and silly.
Baby Shark: This song is so catchy!
Motor Boat: A great beginning song because it’s short and has only one gesture that you repeat (patting).
Wheels on the Bus: One of my favorites, especially if your kiddo is learning to talk because it also has goofy sounds like “sssh-ssh” and “wah-wah”.
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star: Another classic that has great gestures and easy to learn.
If You’re Happy and You Know It: This song is great for gross motor movements like stomping and clapping.
Head Shoulders Knees and Toes: Great for teaching body parts.
Row Your Boat: A fun interactive song that you and your little one can do together.
Pat-a-Cake: This game can be interactive or you can model the actions for your baby.
Ring Around the Rosie: This is fantastic if your little one has a lot of energy because falling down can be so much fun!
Cabeza, Hombros, Rodillas, Y Pies: Great to practice body parts. Una gran canción para enseñar partes del cuerpo.
Los Pollitos Dicen: Make sure to show your child the gestures for “frío” (cold) and “hambre” (hungry), as well as the sound “pío pío pío”. Muestre a su hijo los gestos para "frío" y "hambre", así como el sonido "pío pío pío".
La Araña Pequeñita: A short and fun song! ¡Una canción corta y divertida!
Estrellita Donde Estás: This song has easy gestures to copy. Esta canción tiene gestos fáciles de copiar.