All good kids songs have three things in common:
- The songs are easy and fun for small children to sing and dance along to,
- The music is appropriate for their age and level of development,
- Children learn something new from them – a new skill, new words, new actions, playing instruments,…
Let’s dive into the second element in that list for good kids songs: what makes a song “healthy” for kids? What makes music age-appropriate for children?
Choosing a Song Tempo that’s Age-Appropriate
The song needs a good tempo: the speed of the song needs to be just right. For babies, it needs to be very gentle and slow; as our children get older, we can speed it up a bit.
For some age groups, it’s vital to have the tempo a little faster.
Here are a couple of great examples of songs with perfect tempos… (the links open in YouTube):
- Song with perfect tempo for babies: My Little Hands
- Song with perfect tempo for toddlers: Jump Up and Down
- Song with perfect tempo for kindergarten-aged kids: kindyRock Hoedown
Picking a Song that’s Pitched Right for the Age Group
The “pitch” of a song means how high or how low a song is. Singing is really important for our children; therefore, we need to ”pitch” the song so children can sing along… and it’s not too high or too low for them to sing along with easily.
Children under three have a very small pitch range. They can only achieve around four or five notes, so we need to choose songs that include these exact notes….songs that include these exact notes….so small ones can sing along easily.
A good example of a song with the perfect pitch for small kids is “Peter Penguin”, an animal action song for toddlers and preschoolers. Watch it on YouTube: click here!
Including Age-Appropriate Learning Elements in Children’s Songs
We know that music is great for children to learn things. Of course, the content needs to be right for that age range.
For a six week old baby, for instance, eye tracking is important. That’s why we create eye-tracking songs like “Watch my Finger”.
For a six-year-old, an eye-tracking song wouldn’t be much fun! That’s why we include lots of different learning elements in the kindyRock songs.
Examples (will open in YouTube) are
- Getting toddlers to exercise, develop motor skills and get a sense of rhythm by playing with props such as bean bags or a parachute – in the Parachute Song
- Playing simple instruments like the shakers for preschoolers
- Learning how to count with five yellow ducks
And many, many more!
Are you a teacher or early childhood educator? Our membership platform for early learning professionals has lots of extra resources to add to our music. Lesson plans, activity ideas, extra training and more. To get a sample, check out our free songs here!