A crash course in sound – why banging is so brilliant

Toddlers simply can’t resist banging and tapping on everyday objects and items. Give them a tool, like a stick or a block, and off they go: bang, bang, bang. When they engage in this type of play, your toddler is experimenting with music and learning how sounds change. Playing with sounds is brilliant for all aspects of your toddler’s development; let’s see how: 

Pitch 

The pitch of a sound is how high or low the sound is. A high sound has a high pitch and a low sound has a low pitch.  

Banging blocks or toys against different materials, like a soft bed or hard door, supports your toddler’s investigations into pitch. When you talk about high and low sounds, they attach meaning to the sounds they are making. 

Forces 

While banging and tapping, your toddler explores how much force is needed to make loud and quiet sounds. They will find that when more force is used, a louder sound is usually produced, and vice versa. 

Materials 

When your toddler taps and bangs different materials, they begin to understand that materials make different sounds to one another. Banging a piece of fabric might produce no sound at all, whereas hitting something against metal will make quite a different sound. 

Melody 

Your toddler might start playing melodies by tapping or banging at different speeds. Some sounds they make might seem reminiscent of a basic rhyme – but this is most likely to be accidental at the moment. 

Creativity 

Making sounds is a great creative release for your toddler. They get the chance to find out and discover what happens, with no right or wrong involved. They experience vibrations, echos and all different strands of sound.  

Leading their own learning 

Creating sound allows your toddler to lead their own experiments and investigations. They are exploring in their own way and may well come up with ideas you hadn’t thought of... simply by following their own individual sense of curiosity.  

Improvisation 

When your toddler is given unstructured time to bang, tap and maybe wallop toys and objects, they explore in a safe way. It could be classed as improvising, which is a magnificent skill to possess.  

Self-soothing 

Making music can be very soothing for young children, even when it sounds like the complete opposite!  

Learning for life 

Offering your toddler plenty of time to discover how to make sounds will help them later to manipulate and control sounds.