Musical Instrument Play: 5 Ways to Boost Baby and Child Development

Musical Instruments are wonderful toys for developing your baby and children's creativity, confidence, motor development and they are FUN!

Plus there are so many benefits to singing with your baby for language development….and adding instruments to your music time is a perfect way to make this time even more special and entertaining!

At Walky Talky Hub in Perth, we incorporate musical instrument play into our therapy services to support babies and children.

Some of the benefits of music for your baby include:

• Language in itself is musical and when you sing, just as when you speak, your baby learns about words, language and communication.
• You introduce new words when you sing to your baby. Lots of nursery rhymes are very repetitive and have actions that go along with them that help your baby learn the meaning of those words.
• Music can support motor skills development, for example songs about body parts can help your baby learn about their body and action songs can help your baby understand how you want them to move. Our Perth therapy services often use songs and instrument play to encourage these skills.

Here are our ideas on how to use musical instrument play with your baby or child:

1. Imitation in Instrument Play for Early Language Development

Imitating actions is an important part of language development (first babies learn to imitate actions, then sounds and then words!). Instruments are a perfect and motivating way to add actions into your play. Have an instrument for both you and your baby and model an action (e.g. shake the maraca). Pause to see if your little one will copy and add language to what you’re doing too (‘shake shake!’). In our Perth therapy services, we often use this method to engage toddlers and babies in communication activities.

2. Using Instrument Play to Tap Out the Last Word in Songs

Tap out the beat using an instrument as you sing a song to your baby. Pause before the last word in a line of the song (e.g. ‘Baa baa black sheep have you any………?’, making a big gesture to show you’ve paused the instrument too…..and see if your little one will say the last word. Then either repeat the word they said or model it for them, and make a big shake of that instrument to emphasise their success! This is a fun way we incorporate musical games into therapy services at Walky Talky Hub in Perth.

3. Musical Instrument Play for Baby Balance and Movement Skills

First your baby learns to hold each position like tummy time, sitting, kneeling or standing. Next they learn how to free their hands, lean twist and play without falling over. This leaning and twisting is really important for the more complex movement milestones that come next; transitions between positions, creeping, crawling and walking. Play with instruments like drums and pat bells is a wonderful way for your baby to learn how to balance while enjoying the movement. Look at the baby at the top playing with the Pat Bell Shelf from Tiny Tones, she leans on her right arm crossing the midline with her left hand as she pats the bells. This position is exactly what she needs to practise in order to learn how to independently move between sitting and tummy time.

4. Expanding Vocabulary with Action Words During Instrument Play

Model some verbs as you’re playing with the instruments to talk about what you are doing. Verbs are so important for language development as we need them to form sentences AND they can be used in so many different contexts! Often the words we first think to model are nouns, "car" "ball" "bird" but Chiara has lots more information for members here about why verbs are actually where it is at! As you play the instruments talk about shaking, banging, tapping, knocking…..what ever action you can think of! Our speech therapy services in Perth often combine musical instrument play with action words to help children expand their vocabulary.

5. Fun and Active Movement Through Musical Instrument Play

Not all toddlers love balls and some lack confidence climbing and at playgrounds. For optimal health ALL toddlers and children should spend 3 HOURS a day engaged in active play. Supporting parents to find this time easily each day is a passion of WTB. If more traditional “sport” activities like scooters, bikes and playgrounds aren’t your toddler’s cup of tea (or if they are and you want to add some variety in there too) musical instruments may well unlock a world of active play. Put on some music, give your toddler some instruments and watch them take off! 

Here are some activities we use in the physio clinic in Perth as part of our therapy services:

• Stamping while banging a drum
• galloping or tip toe walking while ringing bells 
• High shakes and low shakes with the marraccas 
• Grooving in whatever way they feel is right while you play the instruments!
• Or the one we get most in our home (sure to drive any parent crazy) the old one man band- blowing the recorder, shaking the bells and dancing all at once!

It is a JOY to watch young children play in this way. Before self-consciousness sets in they exhibit a freedom and enjoyment of movement that is an inspiration to all!

Looking for some special instruments for your little one? We love the collection Tiny Tones. They are quality instruments that will actually last and allow your child to explore and develop their love for music over many years. TRUST us! Instruments that actually sound nice are VERY important! (I may never forgive the family member that gave my children a recorder just before the pandemic lockdowns began 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️😂).

At Walky Talky Hub in Perth, we’re always happy to recommend tools and activities to complement your child’s therapy services.