Toddler Music Games

Dancing helps toddlers learn balance and rhythm.toddler in the park image by cat from Fotolia.com

According to Kids' Health, music plays several roles in the lives of toddlers; it comforts, entertains and teaches. Kids' Health even suggests that using musical games with children increases the neural pathways in the brain. Most of all, knowing music games that enhance a child's life allows parents to enjoy the role of teaching toddlers.

Musical Actions

Kids' Health suggests using music to guide a child's activities through the day. Many parents already use lullabies to put children to bed. The use of the same lullaby every night develops conditioned responses in the child, aiding her in going to sleep. With no limits on the use of musical conditioning, parents can use music to train children to pick up toys, with grooming or even with feeding. Find a song that is the child's "happy song," and use this song to lift the child's spirit when she does not want to participate or is upset.

Family Education's website details the construction of a coffee-can drum for children. Parents who want to build a coffee-can drum take an empty coffee can, carefully cut out the bottom and glue plastic lids to both sides of the coffee-can. (Always watch your child when she uses the drum, cutting metal can leave sharp edges.) Dry beans added to the inside of the drum make the drum into a shaker. Other ideas for instruments include gourd maracas, rattles and kazoos.

BBC outlines many ways to involve your child in rhythm and dancing. When the child is a baby, BBC recommends playing music on the radio (or singing) and tapping the baby's foot to the rhythm of the song. This progresses so that when the child ages, the parent taps the knees together. Eventually, when the child ages enough to walk and dance on his own, the parent can encourage the child to dance along with music.