Shared with us by Kindermusik ‘Minds on Music’: Recent research sparked this striking headline in an AFP article: “Baby talk is more than just bonding: chatting with your infant spurs important brain development that sets the stage for lifelong learning…”  

So, exactly HOW do you go about having these vital conversations with your baby, you ask?  Well, you’ve come to the right place.  At Kindermusik, we love sharing tips that make great parenting a little bit easier, help your child advance developmentally, and make your lives a whole lot more musical.

• Start the conversation habit at a young age.  There’s a window of opportunity in the early years when the brain is undergoing incredible growth.
• Look your baby in the eye when you talk to him or her. Feeding time, bath time, baby massage, or diaper changes are all easy opportunities to engage your baby.
• Speak to your baby using regular vocabulary and full sentences.  This helps your child develop a wider vocabulary and process spoken language better.
• Give your child a chance to respond.  If you talk and then wait for a response, this will cue your baby to coo or babble back.
• Sing to your child.  Young children benefit tremendously from the repetition of words and even from new or different words found in song lyrics.
• Play with rhymes.  Whether it’s words you rhyme or simple children’s poems, chants, fingerplays, or toe tickles, rhyming not only enhances language development, but it also paves the way to literacy.