Why Music Is Essential For Children
Discover why introducing music to your child at a young age is so important.
Introducing music to your child at a young age is so important. Music can soothe, relax and excite children, but it is critically important for their development. When children explore music through play, the effects in them can be pretty extraordinary.
When children explore music, it helps them develop self-awareness and engage in the world around them. They develop sound recognition, enhance their vocabulary, develop critical pre-reading skills, and mature socially and emotionally.
At Genius, we like to enhance children's experiences during play by exploring music in a number of ways. When children play through music, they learn to appreciate different sounds, improve hand-eye coordination and practice fine and gross motor skills.
Find out why we think it’s essential to introduce children to music below!
Fine and Gross Motor Skills
When children make music by tapping, clapping and shaking instruments, it improves their fine and gross motor skills. At Genius, we like to play music and sing with our children while they use instruments or their own makeshift instruments to make a sound. You can use saucepans upside down and kitchen utensils to make a drum at home, and maracas can be made with plastic jars with lids filled with rice or pasta. Simple songs combined with actions or movement enhance brain and body coordination. These activities help form neural pathways and connect the brain with the body which improves development.
Music Builds Relationships
Relationships have a profound impact on children, and music can support the building of these with their family, peers and educators. An excellent example is when we sing nursery rhymes and lullabies to our children. When caregivers sing to their children, changing pitch, tone and lyrics, this soothes children, and they get a sense of security and care. At Genius, we find that playing music in our rooms assists our children in building relationships with their peers through a shared interest in dancing, playing and enjoying instruments together. Parents playing music to babies in the womb (from about 16-18 weeks when hearing develops) has also been proven to have a positive impact on brain development!
Increases Communication and Imagination
Babies, toddlers and children can easily mimic music and sounds they hear in a song to understand themselves and the world around them. Babies who listen to music have been found to have a more extensive vocabulary than others who have not been introduced to music when they are toddlers. Babbling and sound play with babies develop neural pathways needed to listen and speak. For children to get lost in a song, dancing and swaying or playing instruments enhances imagination and creativity as they grow.
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A Sense of Belonging
Music gives children a sense of belonging and connection through shared musical interests. Music can have the ability to foster a sense of community within a group. Music appreciated by different cultures harbours a sense of cultural awareness and, therefore, a sense of belonging for all cultures. Building a connection with others who like the same music creates bonds with our little people and gives a sense of belonging rather than being an outsider.
Happiness
Music has many benefits for children, and one of the most important is it makes them happy. Music can provide joy, excitement and happiness. Dancing to a favourite song increases endorphins and calms the mind. There is nothing better for children than to dance around to a favourite song, laughing in excitement and singing with friends. Feel the joy music bring children when they enjoy piece of music.
Music is so powerful and can change our emotions and enhance communication. With our top tips, we hope you will enjoy exploring an eclectic range of music with your little learner today!
