Parents and Educators
Pre-Reading Strategies
Help children grow their brains for reading
Sing your day away!
Chant rhymes and sing songs. Sing songs you love. Repeat them often and children will join in.
Use a sing-songy voice instead of speaking—children will pay more attention!
Sing the same greeting song to children every day.
Sing a lullaby before children go to sleep.
Ask children to sing into a toy echo microphone and hear the echo sound.
Keep the beat
Ask children to pat the beat with both hands on their laps while chanting poems and nursery rhymes, and singing songs. Pat on other parts of body.
Sing songs with motions to the beat such as, "The Wheels on the Bus."
Open Online Metronome or pitch pipe phone app. Online Metronome or app Metronome (Android) TrueMetronome Lite (Apple). Set to 120 beats/minute. Ask children to pat with both hands on their laps exactly at the same time as the click sound.
When children are able to keep the beat, ask them to clap the words of a song—every syllable. For example, in Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, "Twin-kle" gets two claps. Use rhythm sticks to tap the rhythm of a song —every syllable of the words.
Match pitch
Note: most children can only produce sounds from middle C on up.
Slide the voice up and down like a siren. Ask children to echo.
Sing two different pitches—one high and one low. Ask children which one was higher.
Sing and hold a pitch on "oo" and ask children to match. Ask a child to sing and hold a pitch on “oo” and you try to match it.
Use the Online Tone Generator or pitch pipe app Pitch Pipe (Classic) o pitch pipe app to play a pitch, match it on "oo," and ask children to match.
Sing in tune
Sing a familiar song with children, trying to match their pitches.
Sing a familiar song, but stop before the last word of each phrase, such as "Twinkle, twinkle, little _____." Children fill in the word.
Trade off singing each phrase of a song, first the adult, then children.
Sing "yoo-hoo" or "cuck-oo" (the sound of a cuckoo clock). Children echo.
Record children’s singing with a phone and have them listen to it.
Play singing games
Starting with babies, sing folk songs, such as “The Wheels on the Bus,” and encourage them to do motions to the beat. Sing fingerplays, such as “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “Baby Shark.” With older ones, play hand-clapping games, such as “Who Took the Cookie,” and “Miss Mary Mack.”
Sing-read song books
Seeing words of a song that a child already knows is a step to reading.
There are hundreds of these books—here’s some ways to find them:
15 Multicultural children’s books based on famous songs
Bookroom picks
Public library suggestions
Interview with Rock ‘n’ Read’s Ann Kay
Assess children’s basic music skills
for elementary-aged struggling readers
Fun, singing-based software program that is used as an intervention for struggling readers.
Can be used at home, school, or community organization.
Research has found that children gain one year (avg.) after 14 hours of usage.