Whether tidying up, dancing or in the car – music accompanies many families in everyday life. Children often discover music with their whole body: they listen carefully, sing along, move, clap and try out sounds.
Digital offerings can be a great addition: they help you get to know new songs and instruments or get creative yourself. Even if you don’t play an instrument yourself or don’t feel particularly musical: You can still accompany your child in their musical discovery. You don’t have to sing “properly” or play music perfectly. It is enough to enjoy sounds, songs and movement together.
Children’s song videos invite you to sing and dance together and discover new favorite songs. Children’s songs on YouTube are already suitable for younger children. If you want to search for and play songs there, it’s best to use YouTube Kids. There are no advertisements before or during the videos and it is easier to find suitable content for children.
On the channel Children’s Songs with Bobby there are music videos with the llama Bobby. The colorful animated cartoons are particularly appealing to small children. The songs can also be found on the website kinderlieder-mit-bobby.de, where they are sorted into categories such as Christmas songs, music mixes and lullabies.
The channel Kinderlieder zum Mitsingen und Bewegen lives up to its name: Here, families can find a large selection of different playlists full of well-known and new children’s songs where children and adults can sing, dance and join in together.
Classical music can also be discovered in a playful way for children, with digital offers that invite them to listen, try out and join in.
Children can learn a lot about instruments and classical music on the Junge Klassik website. The site has a colorful and playful design. Conducting an orchestra, finding sound pairs, getting to know sounds – even adults are sure to discover something new.
The WDR sound box is a fun way to explore the world of music. The site is designed as a web app and therefore also works well on smartphones. There are rhythm and sound games, concert videos and many other offers. The sound box is particularly suitable for slightly older children who not only want to listen to music, but also understand and try it out.
At first glance, operas seem more like something for adults. With the Opera Maker app children immerse themselves in the world of opera, invent their own stories and set them to music. The accompanying website shows what this can look like.
The children’s website Afrika-Junior provides insights into the musical worlds of different regions of Africa. Children can listen to popular children’s songs, watch video clips and test their knowledge in a quiz on African music.
The very simply designed website Surakinder offers a musical and picture-rich world of experience for children. Behind every field is beautiful music, dancing flowers, fairy tale characters and much more. The offer is also available on YouTube.
At Auditorix, everything revolves around music, listening and DIY. Children can discover music, develop their own ideas and even learn how to build instruments. The music box contains royalty-free music, for example for your own radio play projects.
With digital music tools, children can try out sounds, invent their own rhythms and create their first little songs.
On the interactive Chrome Music Lab website, children can experiment with different rhythms and melodies and create their own little songs. There are 14 music tools available for this purpose. The site is free of charge and can be used without registration.
The GarageBand app is pre-installed on Apple devices free of charge. It offers many virtual instruments with which children can compose their own songs. The microphone can also be used to record your own voice or real instruments.
Creating your own songs from beats and music tracks is possible with the Groovepad app. Short lessons make it easy to get started. The basic version is free, but only offers limited functions. The premium version costs 14.99 euros per month or 47.99 euros per year.
Apps such as Mini Piano Lite or RealDrum: Playing drums make it possible to try out instruments virtually. They don’t replace real instruments, but they do provide an initial playful approach. They can often be used to accompany simple songs or create your own recordings.
