13 Music Activities For One Year Olds

Starting Music Lessons with a 1 Year Old: 13 Music Activities for Babies

Mr. Rob

Starting Music Lessons with One Year Olds

1. Shake, shake, shake

Babies love to shake anything that makes noise! So, why not create some musical shakers?! They are super easy to make and will entertain your little one for quite awhile! Just fill a small container/bottle with some rice or beans and then secure the lid with super glue or tape. Try filling other containers with different objects to show the difference in sound. You can also attach ribbons to your shakers. 

2. Instrument Petting Zoo

Gather some rhythm band instruments and lay them out for your little one to hear all the different sounds! Allow them to play on their own and then let them listen as you play. Here’s are instruments we recommend!

3. Music and Movement

Put on some fun children’s music and turn it up! Babies love to dance! Whether they are dancing on their feet or bumping on their bottoms, babies know how to feel the music. Try singing and dancing to one of our most popular songs, The Tooty Ta, which is a sure fire way to get your child dancing! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6YRKENlkwA

One of my favorite children’s artists is Raffi because his songs are fun, silly, and energetic! Throw in some shakers and ribbons for even more fun!

4. Sing to your Child

Singing to your child is so easy and fun! Find some songs that have hand motions and get your baby involved. They might not be able to sing the words just yet, but they definitely can learn some hand motions!

5. Pot and Pan Drumming

If you need something for baby to do while you’re trying to prepare dinner, pull out some pots and pans for them to bang on! Give them a wooden spoon, and they’ll be all set for their very first percussion solo!

6. Play High C and Low C

Put the high C bell and the low C bell in front of your baby. Let them play with both bells so they can hear the difference between high and low!

7. High Information Music

Introduce your child to music from Nuryl, which is an app you can download to your phone, and contains curated musical selections specifically for them! Nuryl’s music is designed to enrich your child’s sense of pitch and harmony. Via www.nuryl.com:

What is High Information Music?
High Information Music™ is a unique type of complex, unpredictable, and highly melodic music designed to simultaneously activate multiple regions of your baby’s brain during a critical learning period, from the fifth month of pregnancy to your baby’s second birthday. During this time, your baby’s brain is rapidly growing, nerve cells are reaching out and making billions of new connections (over 700 new connections per second in the first year alone!); connections that are stimulated will stick around while under-stimulated connections are lost, never to be formed again. And it is all based on experience. Consider the complex process of language and fluency. Your baby comes into this world open and ready to learn the sounds of any language. But within only 6 to 8 months they begin to focus solely on the sounds of their native language, laying a foundation of neural networks, establishing fluency. Their brains know it. Just like language, becoming musically fluent takes repetition, internalization, decoding and recall to learn. High Information Music™ uses thousands of combinations of complex intervals, harmonies and motifs to truly teach a baby native fluency. The concept of our music immersion curriculum is to stimulate and strengthen these same neural connections associated with other cognitive abilities and possibly supercharge your baby’s early brain development. Although music is the catalyst, we have witnessed the benefits in enhanced attention span, improved memory, stronger reasoning, and a greater predisposition to learn languages.

8. Playtime Prodigies 

Playtime Prodigies does not require an instrument and is largely focused on fun movement games, introductory rhythm songs & easy hand-signs.

This digital course contains… 23 fun songs for toddlers and younger learners & easy songs that focus on tapping, clapping, and hand-signing along

Or if you enroll in our streaming app Prodigies, you can also get access to Playtime Prodigies, plus over 700+ more music lessons & PDF Downloads. 


9. Sing Along with Books

Reading to your baby so is important, but singing is too! And there are so many children’s books that you can sing to your baby. Check out My First Songbook to get started singing colorful and easy-to-read music with lyrics, notation, and hand-signs for 14 beloved kids songs!

10. Deskbells for Daily Routines

Set up a C bell at your diaper changing station and play that bell whenever you have to do a diaper change. Place a D bell at mealtime and play it during lunch (though you may want to play it for them to avoid a “baby food covered” bell)! Put an E bell on their play mat and have them play it during playtime.

Since there are 8 bells, you could set them up in 8 different locations. Or, you could set all of them up together on your baby’s play mat instead. The idea is to start getting those pitches into their minds through everyday play! Looking for Deskbells, grab your set here

11. Mommy and Me Music Class

Check your area for some local Mommy and Me music classes! Libraries usually offer free music classes once a week. Also, there may be a Gymboree program in your area which is great for music and movement!

12. DIY Dance Rings

You can easily make some dance rings by using shower curtain hooks and ribbons! Check out these rainbow dancing rings at Buggy and Buddy!

13. Jingle Bell Bracelets and Anklets

These ankle bells from Buggy and Buddy are the perfect music activity for your little one! Just grab a pipe cleaner and attach some jingle bells! Wrap it around their ankle or wrist and let them jingle, jingle, jingle! Just be sure to stay close as those bells are small and round!

Thanks for checking out this list of ideas! We hope you have a very musical summer, and as always, happy musicing!