What are the benefits of music in early childhood?
From boosting cognitive abilities in infants to fostering social skills in toddlers, in this blog we talk about the crucial role that music plays in child development.
Music and young brains
Early brain development is all about building connections through input from the outside world, including music. Exposure to music allows young brains to soak in the range of notes, tones, and words they will later use, and in doing so, build neural pathways that can influence and enhance cognitive ability for a lifetime.
Music touches the corpus callosum, a band of tissue that connects the two hemispheres of the brain. This, neurologists believe, conveys a whole range of benefits, including increased problem-solving ability and greater emotional resilience.
The power of music
- Musical experiences support and enhance language development as children process language musically, and are carefully listening to the inflections and rhythms of language. Music is great to help children get familiar with and even learn foreign languages.
- Teacher-led musical experiences provide an opportunity for collaboration and promote a sense of togetherness and community. They can support transition times, like washing hands before eating, and can support cultural practices such as karakia (prayer) and meeting times. Including music as part of the curriculum is great in an early childhood setting, including home-based daycares.
- Music is great to improve your child’s mood and emotional regulation.
- Physical endurance can be built through certain musical instruments such as a trumpet. Gross and fine motor skills can also be developed by using appropriate musical instruments.
- Learning music is not easy. Going through the process of learning teaches children patience and the practice required encourages them to be disciplined. Music is also known to improve memory and concentration.
- Music helps improve self-confidence, self-esteem and self-expression in children – standing in front of a class or group of parents and performing is a great lesson in self-development.
- Many early childhood educators vouch that academic success is higher for children who take to music early due to their creative thinking. Many academic subjects
- require inventive problem solving, such as learning several interconnected ways to reach the same answer to a math problem, developing a scientific hypothesis or analysing book characters. Music unlocks such thinking.
- Music programs intentionally designed for kids with social and learning difficulties can help kids improve coordination, identify and reproduce tones, and improve their learning processes.
How do home-based educators incorporate music into everyday childcare?
The benefits of music are immense and so at Home2Grow, our educators take special care in ensuring it is incorporated into the everyday learning of children in their care. Here are some ways you will find our children enjoying the beats:
- Singing call-and-response songs
- Singing to memorise vocabulary words
- Clapping out different beats or clapping along to the beat of a song
- Singing songs with a variety of vocal ranges
- Playing the musical Simon Says
- Making sounds to embellish a story being told
- Playing a guessing game with recorded popular songs
- Putting on a group talent show
- Making instruments from household objects
- Playing freeze dance
- Encouraging free play with simple instruments
- Echoing short movements or musical phrases with dancing, singing or instruments
- Making up new lyrics to popular tunes
- Adding movements such as gestures or games to songs
- Playing background music during other group activities
Keen to find out more about our curriculum and how we incorporate fun activities such as music into everyday care and learning at Home2Grow? Call 0508 466 324 or email info@home2grow.co.nz.
