The impact of music on your child's early development is undeniable and profound. Pick up any paper or parenting magazine and you will find it awash with articles and new studies showing the importance of music in giving your child a healthy start for both mind and body. The same papers are filled with options for children- dance, piano, tot sports or gymnastics, and more. So, how to choose to give our children the best without overwhelming or over-scheduling them?

One way of approaching your choices is finding an activity that creates an atmosphere to develop the whole brain and body The idea of "whole brain" means utilizing both left and right brain at the same time. For example, left brain activity is responsible for logical thinking, facts, sequential and analytical thinking, while right brain activity is responsible for utilizing the imagination, creativity, feelings, and intuition. Music classes are one way of utilizing the "whole-brain". As a result musical activity makes your child learn better. The key words here are "musical" and "activity"; not just listening to music but being involved in music making and musical moving. So what can your family do to provide a "whole-brain", "whole body", "whole child" experience? Be involved in musical learning and moving. For your youngest member of the family sing, dance, feel the beat, play instruments to the beat and expose them to a variety of quality musical experiences. As your child becomes more able to communicate participating in music and movement is still a key to learning. Now add memorizing of songs, learning about note values, and rhythm values, and facts about the kinds of music you move and sing to and you make it a "whole-brain", "whole body", and "whole child" experience. Plus it is just plain FUN!

There are many articles online about this topic and I recommend, if you are interested, that you google right and left brain, and music and the brain and you will see literally millions of responses. In choosing an activity that will assist you as a family to achieve "whole-brain", "whole body", "whole child" success you may want to try out Kindermusik! What is it?

In each level of Kindermusik's classes, children and their parents sing, dance, play instruments, explore, make choices, develop new skills, and learn together. Dancing and creative movement strengthens the body and increases coordination. Singing aids in expressive language development, good speech habits, and healthy lung development. Instrumental play develops eye-hand coordination and the ability to understand patterns and sequences. Exposure to a variety of musical styles and music from different cultures and in different languages increases exposure to the different rhythms and phonemes common to those other countries and increases your child's ability to learn a different language later on in school, plus it helps them to enjoy a wide variety of music. No rushing from class to class; it's all right there in every Kindermusik lesson! But most importantly, families are sharing in the development of a love of music and learning, an interest their children will carry with them lifelong. "I'm learning as much as she is!" comments one mother; "I wish I could have learned music like this when I was her age- this is just what I'd always hoped to find for her. We both look forward to it each week!"

 

This article was written by Julie Stewart and Wendy Jones.

 

Julie Stewart owns Kindermusik of Clayton & Voice of Clayton in Clayton, NC and Wendy Jones owns Kindermusik with Wendy Jones in Clarence, New York. To locate a class near you link here, and plug in your zip code. You will see current classes, contact information and reviews from parents.