C hildren
quence. By mastering these skills,
children build the base of literacy
and numeracy.
3. Music is a mood lifter
A lot of parents tuck their children
in with a lullaby or calm them
down with a song. Just as music
can soothe a child, it can also lift
their spirit.
Tip: You can use music to indicate
play time, sleep time or different
moments in your child’s daily
schedule.
4. Music helps toddlers build coor-
dination
Even if your child doesn’t under-
stand the lyrics of a song yet, they
can definitely move to the rhythm
of the music. You may have al-
ready noticed your child dancing
to certain songs or liking certain
pieces of music more than others.
Music encourages children’s incli-
nation to move, developing their
fine motor skills and gross motor
skills. Plus, if the rhythm is very
entertaining, you may even notice
your toddler starting to jump up
and down, which helps with their
muscle development, strength
and balance.
Tip: When you see your child
dancing, give them a toy drum or
other homemade musical instru-
ments and dance with them. They
will try to mimic your moves,
which can help them with their
hand-eye coordination and exer-
cise their clutch grip.
5. Music can help toddlers devel-
op their vocabulary
Even though at first your child
may not understand the words in
a song or in a nursery rhyme, they
do develop their understanding
by identifying the storytelling in a
song. Take as an example the ABC
A 2016 study at the University of
Southern California’s Brain and
Creativity Institute found that
musical experiences in childhood
can actually accelerate brain
development, particularly in the
areas of language acquisition and
reading skills. According to the
National Association of Music
Merchants Foundation (NAMM
Foundation), learning to play an
instrument can improve mathe-
matical learning and even in-
crease SAT scores. But academic
achievement isn’t the only benefit
of music education and exposure.
Music ignites all areas of child
development and skills for school
readiness: intellectual, social and
emotional, motor, language, and
overall literacy. It helps the body
and the mind work together. Ex-
posing children to music during
early development helps them
learn the sounds and meanings
Children and Music: Ben- of words. Dancing to music helps
children build motor skills while
efits of Music in Child
allowing them to practice self-ex-
pression. For children and adults,
Development
Singing and music play an import- music helps strengthen memory
skills. In addition to the develop-
ant role in our culture. You’ll find
mental benefits of music, why is
music present in many aspects of
our lives: theater, television, mov- music important? Simply put, it
ies, worship, holidays, celebrations, provides us with joy. Just think
about listening to a good song on
and government and military
the car radio with the window
ceremonies. At home, music can
become part of our family culture down on a beautiful day. That’s
joy.
– a natural part of our everyday
experiences. From birth, parents
instinctively use music to calm and MUSIC GAMES FOR KIDS OF
ALL AGES
soothe children, to express their
Children of all ages express
love and joy, and to engage and
interact. Parents can build on these themselves through music.
Playing music for infants proves
natural instincts by learning how
that, even at an early age, chil-
music can impact child develop-
dren sway, bounce, or move their
ment, improve social skills, and
hands in response to music they
benefit kids of all ages.
hear. Many preschoolers make
up songs and, with no self-con-
MUSIC AND THE BRAIN: THE
sciousness, sing to themselves as
BENEFITS OF MUSIC
song, where many children think
that the sequence “l-m-n-o-p” is
a word, “elemenopee”. As they
grow, they will start to realise that
it’s not a word, but a sequence of
sounds, each sound being a sepa-
rate entity.
Tip: To help children learn more
words and identify the story in a
song, try singing their favourite
nursery rhymes and inserting their
name into the song. You can also
encourage your child to change
words in a song to keep them
engaged and learning.
Learn new tunes at playgroup
Children may be inclined to learn
new songs and new dance moves
when they play in the company
of other children. Playgroups are
the perfect environment where
your child can socialise with other
children their age and discover
the joy of music.
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