Why are Songs and Rhymes Important?

In grad school, I had a wonderful clinical educator (CE) for my first placement. She taught me SO much. The photo for this post are two of my favourite books from her clinic, one of which she gifted me! During many initial consults and therapy sessions we would sing songs with preschoolers whether it be from a book, with props (e.g. a blanket or puppets), or simply with hand gestures. The children absolutely loved this time spent singing. From this hands on experience I noticed that singing helped the kiddos warm up to us as their speech therapists, got them in a positive mindset, encouraged them to speak, and also helped them with what we were targeting whether it be articulation, sound discrimination, or eye contact etc. So after a few sessions I asked my SLP specifically, why are songs and rhymes so useful and what is really going on when we are using them in therapy? So in the next section of this post I will delve into the details she provided me!

My CE first began to explain to me that there is increasing “cultural illiteracy” due to limited exposure of songs, rhymes, and books in households these days. Therefore it is important to not only utilize songs and rhymes in therapy sessions but also to explain to parents the benefits of songs and rhymes.

So besides being genuinely fun, pleasurable, and soothing, songs catch children’s attention (which can be a challenge at times) and helps them listen and concentrate on their communication partner. But there is oh so much more. The first benefit is patterns, patterns, patterns! Songs are filled with rhythm and patterns and so much of what children are exposed to early on is pattern based. For example, language is filled with patterns. One being that the English language always has a SVO (subject verb object) word order. Kids catch onto this pattern and it helps them learn language. There are also patterns in reading (e.g. turning a page after finishing examining it, flipping left to right, etc.), math has patterns and speaking has patterns (e.g. waiting your turn before speaking, saying hello at the beginning of a conversation). And you know what else has patterns? Songs and rhymes! My CE gave me a small essay written by an SLP named Frances Monro (2002) which discussed how research shows that children who are better at rhyming find reading to be easier. Moreover, Frances Monro (2002) stated and I quote, “reading specialists tell us that a child’s ability to discriminate and create rhyming words, as well as their internal sense of rhythm, are closely related to early reading ability.” Thus one can see that songs and rhymes help children learn and master the foundational skills necessary for speech, language and communication.

Further benefits include but are not limited to:

• Turn taking

  • If a song has breaks for the child to join in and fill in words they will begin to anticipate when it is their turn. Conversation requires 2+ people to successfully take turns so this is great practice for them to form friendships in elementary school or preschool.

• Directions

  • Anticipation of what will come next in a song will assist in childrens’ mastery of directions which are a very important skill for success in elementary school. For example, it is common for teachers to give students multiple directions to follow while in class (e.g. put indoor shoes on, wash hands and then sit down for circle time).

• Repetition

  • Songs repeat the same words frequently. This aids in language development because hearing the same word repeatedly helps children learn and remember the words meaning and also helps them with their ability to produce the sound. For example, children must hear the same word many times before they can successfully learn it.

• Gestures

  • Songs often provide opportunity to use gestures. Gestures are useful for providing opportunities for children to develop their symbolic understanding which research has suggested is tied to future academic success.

• Concentration

  • Singing and learning songs requires children to focus on the songs words and rhythm. Children are required to concentrate early on (e.g. daycare, preschool, elementary school, sports teams etc.) so why not get practising right away!

• Nonverbal responses

  • Songs and rhymes can incorporate gestures which can aid in a child’s ability to utilize nonverbal means of communication. Nonverbal means of communication is extremely important for children as it helps them pick up on social cues which will aid in activities such as productively forming friendships.

• Vocal play (e.g. blowing raspberries, clicking tongue)

  • Vocal play is a fun activity for children and it also gets their mouths moving and ready for producing an array of speech sounds that will help them produce words later on.

Finally, songs and rhymes do not require a parent to spend a large amount of money at a toys store nor does it require their full attention. For example, songs can be sung while a parent is driving a car with the child in the carseat, while making dinner, when the child is in the bath etc. Therefore, it is a great way for busy parents to work on speech, language and communication while also completing other tasks.

Lastly, I just want to emphasize that children do.not.care if you do not have a “nice” singing voice! This issue comes up a lot in therapy sessions where parents are apprehensive to join in on the singing. Although some parents or speech therapists have beautiful singing voices (not I) most don’t and trust me when I say that all children respond in the same excited and intrigued way and absolutely love this educational quality time spent with their parent!

Two books I love that involve rhythm and singing are “Somewhere in the Ocean” and “5 Little Monkeys” - They are great for kiddos of all ages.

• Somewhere in the Ocean on amazon.ca and on amazon.com

• 5 Little Monkeys on amazon.ca and on amazon.com

Click here for a post on easy songs to learn.

- Shannon

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