Now that your baby is 12-18 months old, you will notice that she is developing a stronger Awareness of Sound Patterns through speech, music, song, and environmental sounds. Her repertoire of sound knowledge is growing, including her ability to identify and say animal and vehicle sounds. She will be very interested playing games and fingerplays, listening to songs, dancing and moving to music, and hearing your read aloud. You’ll get to know her favorite songs and books, and she’ll often try to get you to play by doing the hand movements of the fingerplays you sing or requesting specific songs.¹

With many environmental sounds so familiar now, children at this age often begin to use sounds in their play. You may find your baby making “vroom-vroom” sounds when she’s pushing a toy car across the table, answering her toy phone when the actual telephone rings, or checking her stove when she hears your real kettle whistle. She may also take a more active role during reading time by making sounds that take place in the book, such as roaring when a lion appears, barking when the dog wakes up, or beeping when a car drives by the house.²

Because your growing child is becoming more and more aware of these environmental noises, you may hear her say “uh-oh” when she hears a siren outside on the street or a glass shatter when dropped at a restaurant. While this increased awareness is helping your baby grow in the language department, her sleep may suffer as she wakes from loud noises.³ This is nothing to worry about; having trouble sleeping through environmental noise is not uncommon at this age. In such cases, you may want to use some type of white noise, such as a fan or a fetal sound machine, to help your baby sleep more peacefully if environmental noises keep her awake.

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Play Tips:

Do you want to know how you can support your baby’s development of these Awareness of Sound Patterns skills at this age? It’s easy! Read on for some simple tips to incorporate into your daily play time together.

1. Sing songs and read books together often. Your baby will learn sound patterns and words through repetition. Encourage her to join you in singing, moving to music, and doing fingerplay motions to songs. Offer her a variety of board books and photo albums she can explore on her own.
2. Use intonation when reading. Simple techniques, such as reading with emotion, pausing before a dramatic moment (or even before turning each page), and matching your tone to the content of the book (e.g. a spooky voice for a witch or a sweet voice for a princess), will help your baby understand the literal meaning of the words she hears as well as their emotional tone.
3. Point out items that produce familiar environmental sounds.^2,4 If you see a dog, ask your baby “What does the dog say?” and let her show off her skills by answering “ruff ruff.” By learning to identify familiar sounds, your baby will develop a greater interest in environmental sounds. In addition, point out the sounds that signal specific instructions, such as a pulling over when you hear a ambulance siren, crossing the street when the “walk” light chirps, and telling a parent that someone’s at the door when the doorbell rings. Short phrases, like “I hear a siren, let’s move over for the ambulance!” will help her connect the sound with the instruction.

Developmental Milestones:

Has your baby achieved the following Awareness of Sound Patterns developmental milestones yet? If yes, check off all the skill(s) she has already mastered to date using Playful Bee’s developmental milestones tracker. It’s absolutely FREE and easy to use, just click HERE!

• Participates in singing and dancing to familiar songs.

(SPECIAL OFFER: Sign up for Playful Bee’s Bee Well developmental learning program to give your baby the best start in life. The first 10,000 children enroll for FREE! Sign up today.)

Sources:

¹Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association (2006). Ohio’s Infant Toddler Guidelines.

²Center for Early Literacy Learning (2010). Sound Play. Center for Early Literacy Learning. Retrieved December 17, 2013, from http://www.earlyliteracylearning.org/pgparents.php.

³Boyse, Kyla, R.N. (2010). Sleep Problems. University of Michigan Health Systems, Your Child Development & Behavioral Resources. Retrieved on January 6, 2014, from http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/sleep.htm.

⁴Center for Early Literacy Learning (2010). Sights and Sounds. Center for Early Literacy Learning. Retrieved December 17, 2013, from http://www.earlyliteracylearning.org/pgparents.php.

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Playful Bee

Education Team at Playful Bee

Playful Bee is an e-Preschool that delivers inquiry-based preschool learning from the classroom to your home. Our preschool curriculum was created by our talented team of rock star teachers. With years of hands-on preschool and Kindergarten teaching experience, they've developed a high-quality preschool experience that is convenient-to-use and easy-to-teach by you, grandparents, or your nanny at home.

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