Music is used in our Discovery Driven Learning® framework at Bright Horizons to encourage a love of song, and support development of language, social-emotional, and physical skills. From clapping along to a favorite song to dancing around the living room, music is one of the first ways children experience math. That’s because math and music share many overlapping concepts—rhythm, counting, patterns, and directional movement like high and low or up and down. These early experiences help children strengthen foundational math skills and, gain confidence with numbers even before they see them on a page. 

Here’s how children at different stages of early learning engage with math concepts through music, and simple activities you can try at home to support your child’s development. 

Infants: building foundations through rhythm

Infants respond to music even before they can walk or talk. They feel rhythm through rocking, bouncing, or being gently swayed. Each time you sing or hum, your baby begins to recognize patterns and timing—laying the foundation for mathematical thinking. 

Try it at home:

• Dance to music: Singing and dancing with your baby may seem like pure fun, but it’s also building early math skills. Songs with rhymes and repetition help babies recognize patterns, while movement develops spatial awareness and coordination.
• Tap and listen: While rocking your baby, gently tap their hands or feet to the beat of a song. Each tap represents a count, helping your baby experience one-to-one correspondence through touch and sound.
• Follow the leader: Offer soft rattles or shakers to your baby and sit next to them. As your baby shakes the object and makes sounds, follow their lead, imitating the rhythm they just created. This hands-on experience helps infants begin to recognize musical patterns and lays the foundation for early learning in math. 

These early musical moments strengthen listening skills, emotional bonding, and the brain’s ability to process rhythm and pattern, which are essential skills for future counting and sequencing.

Toddlers: exploring rhythm, pattern, and beat 

Toddlers use music as a playful outlet for both movement and learning. When they clap, stomp, or move to a beat, they’re learning to match movement to rhythm. Repetition in songs helps toddlers predict what comes next, reinforcing cause-and-effect and pattern recognition. 

Try it at home:

• Count the beat: Choose a favorite song and clap or stomp along together, counting each clap out loud. As your toddler becomes more familiar with the game, take turns creating short rhythms for each other to copy.
• Music Makers: Offer simple items around your house like a wooden spoon, soft blocks, or a toy rattle. Tap each one and describe the sounds as “loud” or “soft.” For older toddlers, try asking “Which one is louder?” or “Which one is softer?” This refines listening skills and introduces math vocabulary such as “more” and “less”. 
• Sing-alongs: Choose songs with clear, repeating lyrics such as Old MacDonald Had a Farm or B-I-N-G-O and sing them regularly with your toddler. After a few rounds, pause during the repetitive parts and invite your child to fill in the missing word or phrase. This playful interaction helps toddlers anticipate patterns, practice sequencing, builds working memory, and supports early math skills through musical repetition.

Toddlers are starting to connect language, rhythm, and quantity through movement, repetition, and sound exploration.

Preschoolers: exploring patterns, sequencing, operations, and graphing

Preschoolers are ready to explore more complex relationships between math and music. They begin recognizing repeating patterns, understanding sequencing, and creating their own rhythms. Music with this age group can support counting, spatial reasoning, and memory.

Try it at home:

• Pattern builders: Create a rhythm pattern like “clap, clap, stomp, clap, clap.” After repeating it a few times, pause and ask, “What comes next?” Once your child gets the hang of it, invite them to make their own pattern.
• Math and music challenge: Sing a counting song like Ten Little Monkeys and use small toys or objects to act it out. Depending on the chosen song, add or remove toys as you sing to help your preschooler visualize simple addition and subtraction. Ask open ended questions like, “What happens if we take two more away?” or “What if we add three to this row?”
• Musical math: Create a simple homemade instrument—like a shaker made from uncooked rice and a sealed container. Then, roll a die ten times and have your preschooler record each number. Once you have your set of numbers, invite your child to shake their instrument to match each number, pausing briefly between each number. This playful activity strengthens counting, sequencing, and listening skills while encouraging creativity and hands-on exploration.
• Graphing music: Play a song with a mix of fast and slow beats or loud and soft sounds. Each time your child hears a fast beat or a loud sound, have them make a tally mark; do the same for slow beats or soft sounds. When the music ends, count the tally marks together and compare which occurred more often. This activity strengthens listening skills, introduces graphing and data collection, and makes math fun through rhythm and movement.

These hands-on activities connect math to real-world sensory experiences, helping preschoolers think critically, reason logically, and express themselves creatively. 

Everyday moments matter

You don’t need fancy instruments or formal lessons to combine math and music. Just a little curiosity and a few playful moments with your child will do. Every beat, note, and giggle helps build curiosity, creativity, a love for learning and a strong foundation for future success.

So, the next time you sing in the car, tap your feet, or have a living room dance party, remember you’re nurturing your child’s early learning, supporting their development, and laying the groundwork for lifelong skills.

Find a Bright Horizons center near you to see  how our teachers use music, movement, and play to inspire early learning in infants, toddlers, and preschoolers every day.