Try it out!

Let’s make music and math together! The benefits of enjoying music with children of all ages range from language exploration and physical development to building relationships with adults and peers, and more.

Did you know that experimenting in rhythm connects music, math, and culture? Rhythm helps children learn to recognize one-to-one correspondence and to identify and predict distinct patterns. Choose songs that children enjoy from their cultures and in their home languages, and then help them practice moving to the beat. For infants or toddlers, this might look like the adult swaying with them in time, the child bouncing or nodding, or clapping. For older children, you can encourage singing, clapping, jumping, dancing, drumming (if culturally appropriate), shaking a noisemaker, or swinging a scarf with the beat of the music. Model the ways of musical exploration, share in the children’s joy, and follow their interests with types of music and ways to express themselves in culturally respectful ways!

Be intentional in your exploration.

• Encourage children to listen closely to the music and model moving to the beat.
• Let children determine when they are ready to join in. Watch for body language to show children’s readiness to play or preference to observe longer.
• Demonstrate your joy in movement. Dance, play, or sing in ways that make you happy!
• Talk to children about musical concepts like tempo, cadence, melody, and more. When possible, relate the concepts to math vocabulary like patterns, counting, and spatial reasoning.
• Include music in children’s home or Indigenous languages — and learn at least a few words to sing along.
• Use music to help children express their identity, heritage, and cultural belonging.
• Infuse music and math into everyday routines such as transitioning between spaces or activities. For example, include instruments and music in dramatic play or sing a chant to prepare for an activity, like “Open, shut them, open, shut them, give a little clap-clap-clap, open, shut them, open, shut them, lay them in your lap-lap-lap.”

Gather materials to support your nature outing.

• Consider using instruments, scarves, dance regalia, and movements that reflect children’s cultures or those in your community. Ask families about what instruments or dances they might share, and what materials are culturally appropriate to use within the program.
• Use recycled materials to make instruments, like shakers out of plastic eggs or paper towel rolls and beads, closing edges/openings tightly to avoid choking hazards. When children are making them, have adults complete steps as needed for safety. Encourage children to decorate their instruments if they want!
• Use sticks for drumsticks and hit rocks or the sidewalk to make sounds. Use old pots and pans, spoons, and measuring cups to explore different sounds.
• Include math items or words in music activities, such as numbered mats to jump on, songs with counted instructions, or movements that involve spatial awareness (e.g., up/down, above/below, side to side, etc.).

Consider adaptations that help everyone engage.

• Encourage different kinds of movement, from dancing or clapping to rolling a wheelchair, to nodding or moving heads to a beat.
• Make sure math patterns and vocabulary align with children’s stage of development. For example, consider using A-B patterns or simple 1-2-3 counting and matching movements to beats. Increase complexity as children’s understanding grows.
• Adults can ask children if it is okay to assist them in moving to the beat — sway with babies, hold hands and move with toddlers, demonstrate dance moves, gently tap on hands/arms to share the beat, etc.
• Offer musical instruments that are easy to grasp for younger children, or children with disabilities that affect their fine motor skills, such as instruments with handles, knobs, or built in wristbands, or those that can be placed on a surface the child can reach.
• For children who are dual language learners, share music with no words or music available in English and their home language. You can also mix up music choices to include different languages. Encourage children who are able to practice some words or counting in classmates’ languages before playing or engaging in the music.

Look for connections to the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) goals shown below, though this activity can be adapted with any domain.

• Infant-Toddler Perceptual, Motor, and Physical Development 5. Child uses sensory information and body awareness to understand how their body relates to the environment.
• Infant-Toddler Cognition 9. Child uses spatial awareness to understand objects and their movement in space.
• Preschool Math 1. Child knows number names and the count sequence.

Connect and Extend

Create a culture of inquiry with great questions.

Asking meaningful questions is one strategy for extending conversations with children. Questions that ask children to provide explanations and make predictions, such as “What do you think will happen next?” offer opportunities for them to express ideas. For some children, especially infants and toddlers, this may mean providing opportunities to think and watching for non-verbal responses and giving prompts or labeling their gestures. Ask open-ended questions with many possible answers (including gestures) and elicit more than a one-word response to encourage engagement. For example:

• Which drum do you think will be louder: the large one or the small one? Why do you think it is louder?
• How could you tap the stick to match this fast music? Can you count the beats along with me?
• How does the music make you feel? How could you show that feeling by moving or dancing to this song?

Develop creative connections and be a “good relative.”

What does it mean to be a good relative? In many American Indian and Alaska Native cultures, being a good relative is a way to describe treating others, the land, and all living creatures with care, kindness, and respect. It is a practice we want to encourage in all children and adults, inclusive of all cultural backgrounds.

We are all related and connected. Many songs and stories are rooted in values, positive connections to each other, as well as the plants and animals in our environment. What are some things you can do to practice being a good relative in your program?

• Storytelling happens through song and dance for many cultures, including some tribal nations. What are some strategies you use to make this connection? How would family and community engagement help guide the use of music and dance? If this is part of your lifeway, what are some strategies you use to make this connection? How would family and community engagement help guide music and dance? If this is not a part of your lifeway, how would learn more to make connections?
• Dance regalia tells a story for some groups and is meaningful to the dancer with a close relationship to the natural world, including plant and animal relatives.
• Patterns of beadwork, materials, and patterns vary and can have meaning behind them.
• Stories and songs may include familiar animals and plants in the region you live in. For example, are there songs about birds that can be translated into the languages of children and families in your setting?

Take a Look

Let's Talk About Music
Through music, young children develop concepts and skills in all developmental domains. Listen to this podcast to learn ways adults can support this development, such as adapting songs to fit the age and development of the children in their care.

It’s Time for Play! Music and Play
Music helps children learn language, develop motor skills, and strengthen neural pathways in the brain. Watch this short video to find new ways to play with music at home and in the classroom.

The Role of Music in Children’s Development
Music is an everyday activity that is both fun and engaging for children. Research shows that when preschool-aged children create music with their peers, they excel in their cognitive development. In this webinar, learn how music benefits children’s cognitive and social development. Explore specific types of group musical activities.

Digging Deeper into Why Music and Math Matter

Music is a key part of cultures around the world. It’s something that we're noticing even in the first few months of life. This doesn't mean that babies need to be enrolled in music lessons, but that young children are listening to and learning from the music around them.

For example, research shows that musical play, where children are encouraged to move and play to a beat or to a rhythm, builds children's ability to detect patterns. One of the best ways to enjoy music with children is through synchronized movements like dancing or clapping. Listening and moving to music may also help infants learn the rhythms and patterns that make up speech.

In your work with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, you likely play games, sing songs, and read simple books that:

• Feature numbers and counting
• Use comparison words such as “big” and “little” (measurement)
• Explain the order of everyday routines and experiences (patterns)

All of those experiences support young children’s early math learning. Math is all around us. Using “math talk,” including in music experiences, makes it concrete and visible for children.

Read About It

Support Math Readiness Through Music
Music is one of the first ways children experience math. Without thinking, our bodies react to music. When we hear music, we rock our babies, clap along, and even look toward the source of the sound. These responses are reactions to musical elements such as steady beat, rhythm, and melody, all of which reflect mathematical concepts. Even the youngest of children can respond to music and the mathematical principles behind it. Read more about these three musical elements that relate to math and some suggested activity ideas to try at home.

Supporting Early Math Learning for Infants and Toddlers
Infants and toddlers develop and refine math concepts and skills through everyday routines, experiences, and most important, caring interactions with trusted adults. Teachers, home visitors, family child care providers, and families all have an important role to play. In this resource, discover ways adults can be more intentional in how they support young children’s math learning — and school readiness.

It All Adds Up: Math and the Preschool Child
Early math opportunities exist throughout the day — in all your classroom activities and routines! This online learning course helps you bring out these math experiences and equips you with resources and tools to "mathematize" the learning space in four areas: numbers and operations, geometry and spatial sense, patterns, and measurement. Take this course through the Individualized Professional Development Portfolio to find out how it all adds up!

Explore how children ages birth to 5 naturally engage in inquiry, reasoning, and problem solving in everyday activities. Learn about strategies to support children’s science, technology, engineering, arts, and math skills with resources and tips for all roles, from home visitor to classroom teacher to trainers!!

Joy for the Journey

Music is the pleasure the human soul experiences from counting without being aware that it is counting. — Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646–1716), German mathematician and philosopher who co-discovered calculus

Music is the song of eternal love which touches the soul and fills us with joy. — Debasish Mridha

Last Updated: October 17, 2024