The random movements of the infant and the spontaneous swaying and bouncing to music of the toddler develop into the more dance-like movements of your three year old.
He is motivated to dance to music, but his movements are not always coordinated to the music he hears. Thus a steady beat, rhythm, or overall musical effect may still not be accurately connected to his body movements, though he is moving closer to coordinating himself to the music. Simple exercises in movement are best to encourage skill development for this age child.
Your child loves having a dance partner. Set a time during the day to dance with your child to different genres of music.
As you encourage dancing in your child, you also encourage him to express himself and be creative. This will help him later in life as he learns to improve his coordination, build his spatial awareness skills, and think through ways of how to move his body.
Your child can move fast or slowly and stop and turn with some smoothness and control, but he still has difficulty understanding that a relationship exists between the sounds he hears and what his muscles can do. Thus, your child will limit his movements, repeating a few pat terns consistently during his musical experience. To unlock creativity, think along the lines of facilitating music and movement with him. Present a challenge or question to which there are many possible ways your child can move his body in response (e.g. Can you move your legs?).
A dance session will require mental concentration and active participation from your child. Dance will help your child become aware of his own body and learn gross motor coordination skills. These are critical to other developmental skills.
Dance gives your child a sense of accomplishment in his abilities as he learns new steps and ways to move his body and work together with his dance partner—that’s you! Dancing together provides a fun and physically beneficial bonding experience.
