Music is a natural part of childhood and family life. Lots of families put their babies to bed with lullabies. Babies and young children are calmed by soft melodies. Parents and grandparents delight in watching children "dance" to music. "Ring-around-the-Rosie" is one of the first songs children like to do - now they can control when they "fall down." Through the ABC song, many parents teach their children the alphabet.

When you help your child enjoy music, you're also helping your child develop learning skills, like listening, coordination, imagination, and memory. Here are ways parents have encouraged their child's interest in music, song, and rhythm:

A radio or cassette player can help you and your child have fun with different kinds of music.

• Use the radio or cassette player to introduce your child to a variety of music, including classical, jazz, and songs from other countries. Just enjoy listening a while to whatever holds your child's interest. You could borrow tapes with different music from the library, too.
  
• When children hear music, they often like to move to the sounds. You might turn some music on the radio and encourage your child to move with the beat. Then switch to another radio station with different music and let your child dance to that.
  

To help your child develop learning skills through music and rhythm:

• Read or recite nursery rhymes, like "Baa Baa Black Sheep" or "Little Bo Peep." These rhymes usually have a rhythm pattern that is clear and easy to follow.
  
• Sing songs with your child while cleaning up or while riding in the car.
  
• Do finger plays with your child, like "Where is Thumbkin" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider." These help children develop finger coordination that they'll need for writing.
  
• Clap out rhythms like the syllables in your child's name, or clap along with a song.
  
• Clap out a simple rhythm, like "short, short, long...short, short, long" and have your child repeat the pattern. Try other patterns, like "long, short, short, long...long, short, short, long." Your child could create rhythms by clapping or by using a wooden spoon on a pan, bowl, or empty box.
  

Playing an instrument gives a child a more active part because he or she is actually making the music. There are lots of ways to make simple instruments from household things:

• A shoe-box harp can be made from an old shoe box. Take off the lid. Stretch different-sized rubber bands around the box. As your child plucks the bands across the open part, he or she can hear different sounds.
  
• With your supervision, your child can make musical jars by filling glasses or jars with water at different levels. When tapped lightly with a spoon, each jar makes a different musical tone.
  
• Fill empty plastic containers with dried beans or popcorn kernels. Be sure to seal the containers tightly. Children can shake these instruments to play along with a song or to make up their own rhythms.
  
• Paper towel tubes can become cardboard trumpets. Children can decorate the tubes and then hum through the opening in one end to create kazoo-type sounds.