The benefits of music and reading in child development

It’s never too early to encourage the love of reading and music.

By reading together you are helping your baby and child to become familiar with sounds, words, language and over time the joy of books. Read together every day and have fun.

Listening to music contributes to better memory and cognitive skills. When a baby listens to music or sings along with nursery rhymes, both sides of their brain are accessed at the same time. Adding movement to this boosts mind-body brain development as well.

Here’s your age and stage guide introducing books and music.

12-18 months

A snuggle on your lap with a book can be very soothing for you and your baby. Reading also helps develop your child’s ear for language and rhythm, aids future speech development, and encourages listening skills. With developing memory and understanding, your child may start having favourite books.

Your little one will also love to hear you sing and clap, and has the capacity to appreciate a wide range of music.

Loving right now

Whether board, cloth, plastic or novelty (ie jigsaws or textures), your child will love books that encourage joining in. She’ll like rhyming texts or repeated phrases; animal sounds; questions; flaps to lift; picture books; simple stories; more complicated stories, and nursery rhymes.

How to help

• Make reading part of your everyday routine – bedtime is ideal.
• Use books without words so you can say what you want without sticking to a set text.
• Let your child point things out to you.
• Sing or recite nursery rhymes with lots of emphasis on the rhythm.
• Start playing your child a range of music.
• Sing lullabies at bedtime.

18-24 months

Your child will take books seriously now, and may believe that the pictures are true. With more sophisticated memory and understanding, your little one may be developing favourites – the repetition may be boring for you but it really helps your child to concentrate and anticipate things. The same applies to favourite songs. By helping your child see patterns in rhymes and music, encourages them to see patterns.

Loving right now

Your child will love story books involving repetition – stories with a surprise ending, books with the same character, series books, books with a theme (ie dinosaurs), listening to nursery rhyme and playing simple musical instruments like drums or xylophone.

How to help

• Keep books on a low shelf so your child has easy access to them. Board and other durable books can be kept in the toybox.
• Talk about what you’ve read to encourage thinking skills, vocabulary and comprehension.
• Have a box of first musical instruments, such as a recorder, drums or xylophone.
• Consider a music class where your child can listen to and join in with music. Ask around – your local maternal and child health centre should be able to tell you about classes in your local area.

2 to 3 years old

Now that your child’s speech is becoming more fluent, reading really helps boost vocabulary and expand their understanding of the world. Children who’ve been read to as babies score higher in numeracy and reading tests at school age.

Music may also help boost thinking skills. Studies at the University of California suggest that early exposure to music may help develop spatial awareness, as well as future logic and maths skills.

Loving right now

Your child will love longer stories with a variety of subjects ie home life, playgroup, fairytales, magic or adventure stories. You child will also enjoy rhymes and poems, counting and shape books, alphabet and shape books too.

How to help 

• Make regular library visits, and let your child choose some books.
• Point words out to your child on signs, posters, shop windows, railway stations.
• Listen to music together and encourage your child to join in the singing or act out bits.
• Play your child your favourite bands and artists.