How Music Can Help Your Child’s Reading

There are so many advantages to fostering a love of music in children. A recent article by Louise Lederman in the Huffington Post draws on research by the National Literacy Trust in the UK, and showed that music can help children learn in a variety of ways, including:

• Cultivating social skills
• Building their self-esteem and confidence
• Understanding discipline and patience
• Listening – an important literacy and life skill
• Understanding language and cultures
• Experimenting with rhythm, words, tempo, and melody
• Thinking creatively and holistically
• Making the connection between print and spoken words
• Practicing motor development and motor coordination while experimenting with various instruments, sound and dancing

And of course, music and reading go together wonderfully, and music can have a huge impact on the literacy and reading skills of little ones aged 0-5. Not only do kids find words easier to remember when they’re connected to a tune or rhyme, but this form of learning also helped with vocabulary, language skills, imagination and creativity.

There are lots of ways to mix music and reading. We’ve put together a Book List that includes picture books about and inspired by music: whether it’s a story based on a famous song (that you can listen too as well), non-fiction introducing kids to the orchestra and instruments, or just stories that share the joy of music, we’ve got something for you and your little one.

Check out the list here!

Download some musical resources from the National Literacy Trust here.