Clapping is generally perceived as a tool for keeping time with the music or showing appreciation as applause. However, the biological and neurological effects of this simple motor activity reach far beyond songs and ovations, enhancing self-regulation, reading skills, handwriting proficiency, and speech processing.
Take a look at what’s happening in our brains and bodies when we clap, why it is so intrinsically connected to early childhood development, and initial steps you can take to help children harness the power of their hands.
What does early musical play have to do with youth sports? If you’re thinking of signing your toddler or preschooler up for t-ball, soccer, gymnastics, etc., take a look at these links between athletic ability and intentional music and movement. You may be surprised at how much it can help little ones gain confidence early in their sports journeys, and how much longer it might help them stick with it.
The Science of Reading is kind of a buzzword these days in the early education and parenting worlds, but what does it really mean and what role does music play?
In a nutshell, the Science of Reading is a catch-all term for the massive amounts of research that look at how our brains learn to read through decoding, phonemic awareness, and more. It doesn’t just happen, it’s science, and educators around the world are tapping into its framework.
What might be missing from traditional classrooms and at-home efforts? Music!
Change—especially for children in any capacity—is hard, but one thing always helps…music! Here are 3 quick tips on how music rituals can help alleviate transitions (like drop-off times) and enhance child and family engagement.
Watching and listening to a baby babble is a pretty solid form of entertainment, but did you know that babbling is the first step to forming words, and babbling back what you hear is packed with developmental benefits? Here are 5 tips to encourage babbling and maximize communication with babies.
From singing in the car with family or friends to singing with complete strangers at a concert, group singing makes us feel good. It makes us want to do it again. But why?
It turns out, there’s science behind it, and the health benefits extend beyond feelings of happiness.
Repeating the same songs in the car or reading the same stories at night can be cumbersome for adults, but humans are rooted in repetitive structure. And it’s that structure that catapults brain growth in the first few years of life. Continue reading “Why Repetition Matters in Early Childhood Development”
Toddlers can be gloriously happy one minute and extremely upset the next. Their little brains are undergoing so much growth in those early years, and they don’t yet have the vocabulary, context, or life experience to identify and process all of those emotions.
Helping toddlers understand and articulate their feelings can ease the chaos, but how?
Researchers at Michigan State University found that a simple strategy, called “emotion bridging,” can do just that, with the end result of fewer behavioral problems.
Emotion bridging is a straightforward, three-step process:
Labeling the emotion: sad, happy, upset, mad, etc.
Putting it into context: feeling this because of that
Making a relevant connection: “Remember when you felt [emotion] because of [situation/experience]?”
One way to help the learning stick? The connective, transformative power of shared musical experiences.
The pressure to establish strong pre-readers can be overwhelming. Early literacy development (the foundations needed for reading and writing) depends greatly on auditory processing skills, which includes auditory identification, discrimination, and sequencing. It’s hard to imagine the time it would take to focus on all of those skill sets individually. But there’s a one-stop-shop.
In a nutshell, spatial awareness is the understanding of objects (including your own body) in relationship to the surrounding space. For children, that starts with discovering hands and feet, grows to moving safely on a playground, and leads to judging distances while driving or solving math problems. It’s a huge skillset that affects so many critical aspects of positive whole-child development.
So how do you know if little ones are on or off-track with these skills?
You know that thing that makes you want to rock, sway, clap, or tap to the music? That’s steady beat—the ongoing, repetitive pulse that occurs in songs, chants, and rhymes.
But it’s more than just an ideal skill for dance or instrument lessons—steady beat is a critical aspect of early childhood development that affects everything from walking, to reading, to dribbling a basketball.
Have you ever searched for a Kindermusik class and wondered what that circular “Top Program” icon really means? Each year, we award Kindermusik Top Program status to studios across the globe with the highest registrations and other factors that contribute to their offerings being the best early childhood music and movement programs around.
This year, the very TOP of the Top Programs is My Little Conservatory in San Jose, California. Owned by Accredited Kindermusik Educator, Amelia Vitarelli, My Little Conservatory’s recipe to an award-winning program is a mix of listening to families’ needs first, requiring the highest standards from teachers and team members, and ensuring that a heart for and belief in early childhood music education is at the center of every class.
Dads, like-a-dads, uncles, grandfathers…the male caregiver role is hugely important to early nurturing and positive whole-child development.
To amplify their presence and put it to the tune of fun, we created Superdad Soundwaves, on the free Kindermusik app. And we’ve got an activity you can pair with it below!
What the research says…
Studies show that fatherhood involvement in the early years makes a big difference.
Researchers from Imperial College London, King’s College London and Oxford University found that “babies whose fathers were more engaged and active when playing with them in their initial months performed better in cognitive tests at two years of age.”
And a study conducted by the University of Leeds showed that fathers who regularly and intentionally engaged their three-year-olds by reading, drawing, singing, and playing “helped their children do better at school by age five.”
Empowering dads with the tools they need to keep that engagement going is where musical play can really help. It’s a multisensory activity that’s portable, screen-free, and fun!
Try our Dad Album activity…
Stream “Love Somebody” from the Superdad Soundwaves album in the free Kindermusik app or play it below.
Follow the movement directions—dancing high/low, bouncing, clapping, etc.
Each time you hear “you, you, you,” give your child a big hug or point to them.
The benefits…
This activity is full of cognitive, social-emotional, and motor benefits, but we love that:
Matching movements to lyrics promotes understanding and language acquisition.
Synchronizing movements synchronizes your heartbeats and bodies, promoting connection.
Keep that family engagement going…
Intentional time is the best time. Make it part of your daily routines, and growth and connection will skyrocket.
The bond between caregiver and infant is one of the most critical factors in positive whole-child development, and the keyword is secure attachment.
Secure attachment doesn’t mean constant baby-wearing or helicopter parenting—it does mean a consistent series of positive and nurturing interactions between caregivers and infants that form the foundation for healthy social-emotional and cognitive growth.
So, how do you know if you’re making these connections happen? Singing can help.
It may seem counterintuitive, but neurodivergent learners thrive with the right multi-sensory activities. Music—a multi-sensory activity that stimulates all parts of the brain at once—promotes everything from self-regulation to emotional expression.
And that turns tricky transitions and long days into beautiful learning moments (for children and their special grownups).
Did you know that babies can’t focus on or imitate sounds in a low pitch? It’s OK to sing your favorite low-pitched song to your little one, but mixing in high-pitched kid songs in a head voice is critical to boosting young children’s natural development.
