4 Benefits of Music for Preschoolers

Imaginative.  Adventurous.  Exuberant.  Brash.  Social.  Silly.  Musical.   Preschoolers are the living definition of all of these words… and more!  It’s what we love most about this delightful age.  Their energy, curiosity, and delight in living life out loud are fostered by an increasing sense of independence and self-confidence.  They are developing their individuality and want to be noticed and acknowledged.  Preschoolers are social butterflies, and their social skills are blossoming, as are their growing abilities to cooperate, problem-solve, share, and make friends.

Play is the preschooler’s work.  In fact, there is no better way for these eager and curious thinkers to learn, grow, and develop than through play – play alone and play with others – including mom and dad!  The expansiveness of the preschooler’s personality overflows into his vocabulary and self-expression.  Preschoolers love playing with words, and they like to talk. A lot.  And if you’ve heard it once, you’ve answered it a thousand times – this is the age of “why.”  It’s how they learn and interact.  Their movements become more expansive too, and the need to move is because of their boundless amounts of energy.  (And you thought you were tired chasing them as toddlers!)

But perhaps the best way to sum up the preschooler season of childhood is with the word “readiness.”  Preschoolers are on the verge of so much potential.  They are ready – ready to try new things, take turns, be challenged, and work cooperatively with others.  Simply put, they’re ready to get ready!

With music as the vehicle, Kindermusik helps your child be ready.  Ready to face life head on, ready for school, ready for new adventures, and ready for that next step in music.  Movement, imagination, play, creativity, exploration, interacting, and ensemble all set the stage for making sure your child has every advantage in a very critical season of childhood – that wonderful transition from baby to big kid that we call “preschooler”!

Here are four of the most powerful benefits of music for preschoolers:

1. Music encourages children to move. 

Movement and music are as closely connected as movement and learning.  At a time when there are increasing concerns about how long these young children are being required to sit still, being able to move to music is a gift.  Here’s how a Washington Post reporter summed it up in her recent article, “In order for children to learn, they need to be able to pay attention.  In order to pay attention, we need to let them move.”

2. Music fosters a sense of community and belonging.

At the core of every human being is a desire to belong.  When that need to belong is fulfilled, it contributes to healthy emotional development and well-being.  Self-confidence grows as a child learns to function within a group.  And there’s no happier group experience than making music together!

3. Music provides an outlet for self-expression.

With gifts, experiences, thoughts, and ideas that simply overflow, a music class offers a secure environment for each individual child to explore, learn, and contribute.  The value is in the experience itself with play, discovery, singing, story telling, and new challenges as the tools that open the door for self-expression, meaningful learning, and a lifelong love for music.

4. Music readiness and academic readiness go hand-in-hand.

The same skills and experiences necessary for a child to be ready for music lessons when they are older are the same skills and experiences that enhance and even accelerate academic readiness and success.  Listening, identifying patterns, problem-solving, creative thinking, and self-confidence are skills that music develops – skills that are also a measurable contributors to academic achievement.

For parents…

You want to give your child every advantage.  And yet, you don’t want to let him or her grow up too fast.  Childhood is meant to be savored and enjoyed, a time that you share experiences and create memories that stay in the heart for years to come.

Kindermusik helps you linger in those precious moments of childhood and make the most of the preschool season with your child.  With a class structure that includes time apart and time together, Kindermusik is perfect for the preschool season of childhood.  You’ll love watching your child blossom, and you’ll love the way your time together in class and your music-making at home brings you together in new and special ways.

And the icing on the cake is knowing that you’re giving your child a gift that truly lasts a lifetime – the gift of a musical foundation and love for music that uniquely prepares your child like no other single activity can.

Experience the benefits of Kindermusik for yourself.  Email us to schedule your free class!  KindermusikLoveandGrow@gmail.com 

4 Benefits of Music for Toddlers

Toddlers are well, busy.  They love to go, move, do, and say “No!”  They also desperately crave predictability and routine.  Parents are challenged by near polar opposite behavior – one minute all is well; the next, there’s a meltdown.  A toddler will cling to mom as if he’ll never let go, and the next moment adamantly assert the independence of a teenager.  At the same time, toddlers are becoming very social, interested in other people and moving from parallel play where they play alongside other children to cooperative play where they start to play with the other children.

If all of these changes weren’t enough, brain development is literally exploding.  In fact, the only two times in a child’s life when there is such significant brain activity is when he/she is a toddler and a teenager.  Vocabulary and communication skills are blossoming, as the toddler goes from about 10 words in his vocabulary to upwards of 300 or so words by age 3.  Motor skills are also developing at a rapid rate – suddenly the child who was barely toddling along is now running, jumping, and galloping everywhere.  Whew!  No wonder moms and dads of toddlers are extra busy – and exhausted! – during this particular season of childhood.

With so much happening inside your toddler’s busy little mind and body, Kindermusik is one activity that beautifully supports and enhances this crucial season in your child’s life.

Though we could probably name a hundred, here are four benefits of music for toddlers:

1.  A music class like Kindermusik provides an environment that is both stimulating and nurturing for toddlers.

With so much growth and development happening, toddlers need both the challenge of new things to learn and do as well as the comfort of loving adults and activities that nurture the soul.

2.  Early experiences with music and movement give your toddler an early learning advantage.

The connection between music and academic achievement is undeniable, as highlighted in this recent article.  There’s no better time to be enrolled in music classes than the toddler years when brain growth and development is at its peak, especially with the powerful combination that music and movement gives.

3.  Music, specifically singing songs and speaking rhymes and chants, improves language development.

At a time when language development is most crucial, there’s nothing more beneficial to speech, syntax, and pre-literacy than singing simple songs and reciting chants.  It will start with a few words here and there and then eventually grow into a small repertoire of favorite songs and rhymes that your toddler can sing or say all the way through.

4.  Early childhood music classes put a song in a child’s heart to stay.

Toddlers love music, and giving them an early start with music plants the seeds that bloom into a lifelong love for and appreciation of music.  Music is one gift you can give your toddler that will have a lifetime of meaning, memories, impact, and joy.  No other activity has the potential to influence your child like music does.

For parents…

The entire Kindermusik experience, from class to home (and back again!), provides a vital support network for parents of busy toddlers.  Not only does Kindermusik foster and strengthen the parent-child relationship, but Kindermusik classes are also a social outlet for parents as well, a place to share both the joys and challenges of parenting a toddler.

And since Kindermusik is all about helping make great parenting a little easier and even more musical, parents benefit tremendously from all of the helpful tips, ideas, and resources (including your Kindermusik Home Materials) that will help you navigate and enjoy the toddler years to their fullest.

Best of all, parents enjoy a unique kind of bonding and together time with your toddler that only music can give.  With Kindermusik, you’ll be able to savor and linger in those precious, fleeting moments of toddlerhood with more cuddles, hugs, dances, lullabies, giggles, and sweet memories.

Experience the benefits of Kindermusik for yourself. Email us to schedule a free class!  KindermusikLoveAndGrow@gmail.com

4 Benefits of Music for Babies

Nothing really prepares a person for the season of life called Parenting. It’s one of those things that no one really tells you. After all, parenting feels a bit like playing a game where the rules change constantly. For example, shortly after mastering the perfect origami-like swaddle, your child no longer needs it to sleep through the night. Or maybe you finally figured out how the straps on the stroller work but now your little one insists on crawling or walking everywhere. Sometimes just when you think you got it figured out, baby number 2 arrives on the scene and well, it changes again! One rule will never change: A parent is a child’s first and best teacher.

In Kindermusik, we celebrate the unique role a parent plays in a child’s life and the life-altering benefits of music throughout each season of parenting and childhood. In fact, even the youngest baby learns through music. One study showed that babies who participate in interactive music classes with their parents smile more, communicate better, are easier to soothe, and show earlier and more sophisticated brain responses to music. That’s not all. Here are four more benefits of music for babies.

4 benefits of music for babies

1. Music supports the early stages of language development.

Contrary to what babies sound like at times, they are not turning into a pterodactyl, a creature from the Amazon rainforest, or a boat. When we hear babies exploring the wide-range of noises possible with the human voice, mouth, and tongue, they are actually engaging in play—vocal play to be specific. Cooing, babbling, blowing raspberries and, well, screeching like a pterodactyl are all part of it.

Vocal play is one of the early stages of language development and parents play a pivotal role. In class, we create many opportunities for vocal play to happen. A baby and caregiver engage in vocal play by touching, gazing, observing, listening, and imitating. All of this vocal play support’s a child’s vocal development by encouraging breath control, the use of the vocal cords, and the coordination of the small muscles in the face and mouth. Plus, the pausing and waiting during vocal play teaches a baby conversational turn-taking.

2. Music helps babies experience patterns. During the first several months of life, babies follow a predictable pattern. Eat. Sleep. Diaper change. Eat. Sleep. Diaper change. Mathematicians call that an A-B-C pattern. Parents call it the “will-I-ever-sleep-again” pattern. (Spoiler alert: You will…one day!) Patterns help babies connect to and learn about the world. From recognizing the facial pattern of two eyes, a nose, and a mouth to hearing the vocal patterns of the common language spoken at home to even responding to the day-and-night pattern and eventually sleeping longer at night (really)!

Babies and young children who learn to identify patterns strengthen their sense of safety and feel happier and more relaxed because they can better predict what happens next. Plus, a solid understanding of patterns eventually leads to success in school, especially in math, science, and reading. Each week in class, babies experience patterns through rhythm and meter, tempo contrasts, dances, language and vocal play and the routine of the lesson flow.

3. Music and movement provide opportunities for fine- and gross-motor skills development

Babies grow by leaps and bounds their first year—or more accurately by grasps and scoots. One minute you hold a newborn who reflexively grasps your finger. Seemingly, the next minute your little baby intentionally reaches up to touch your nose. Whether reaching for a nose, lifting a head during tummy time, clapping, rolling over, sitting up, crawling, or walking, a baby exerts tireless hours to learning how to intentionally move.

Each week in class, we provide many opportunities for a baby to engage in fun, musical activities that support and strengthen each stage of a child’s movement development. From tummy time to playing with baby-safe instruments to gently bouncing a baby in a caregiver’s lap, class activities will support the development of the small and large muscles as well as coordination for more complex movements like eventually kicking a ball, jumping, and even writing.

4. Music helps babies gain active listening skills.

Do you ever just stop and really listen to your surroundings? It’s kind of noisy. You might hear the sounds of music, television commercials, the humming of the refrigerator or air conditioner, birds singing, cars driving by, wind blowing, phones buzzing, coffee maker brewing, microwave dinging, someone talking, and more. Thankfully, as an adult, you know how to tune in to the sounds that matter most. Babies do not. In fact, young babies hear most of it—including the more than 300 different phonemes, tones, and clicks used to express every single language in the world!

At Kindermusik, we know babies need to learn how to tune in to the sounds and language most needed in their daily lives. In fact, a baby can already distinguish the sound of a parent’s voice from everyone else’s voice. In class each week, we enhance a baby’s growing discriminatory listening skills when we listen to and imitate different animal noises, the various sounds of instruments, and the voices of adults singing and humming. This ability to detect and attend to sounds, and to distinguish between them, sets a baby on the path to fine-tuned listening and receptive language.

For parents too!

Becoming a parent turns a person’s world (and social calendar) upside down and inside out. A person moves from lengthy conversations over dinner to brief chats scheduled around naptimes. Eventually, a parent progress to speaking in short sentences interrupted by wardrobe and diaper changes, boo-boo kissing, rocking, sharing interventions, and a few paparazzi moments. (Children do the cutest things after all!).

When enrolling in Kindermusik, many parents list “socialization” as one of the reasons. We do help children develop social and emotional skills, but we also connect grownups with parents and caregivers who understand the unique joys and challenges of parenting a child the same age. In Kindermusik class, parents often make lasting connections of their own with the grownup sitting next to them or changing a diaper or kissing a boo-boo or experiencing a paparazzi moment, too.

Experience for yourself the benefits of music for babies (and parents!).  Email us to schedule a free class!  KindermusikLoveAndGrow@gmail.com