For three generations, Kindermusik has helped millions of children around the world build a strong foundation for a lifetime of learning.
Music has been part of the human experience for millenia. This is not speculation, but fact supported by archaeological evidence. Artifacts such as a flute carved some 35,000 years ago, and ancient art, like Cyclades’ depictions of flute and harp players (2,700 BCE), suggest that that music has been around for as long as we have.
Parents who seek information about what is best to do for their child—parents like you!—are relieved when an idea can be described as definitively true. It’s even better when that idea involves something that is easy and fun for children and caregivers to do together.
Music is often thought of simply as entertainment, but its power as a conjurer of emotions is undeniable. You probably have that song that transports you right back to your first big breakup, or to a special moment from childhood. Certain music makes you want to get up and dance, while other tunes can make you weepy for no obvious reason. Music’s unique ability to influence our emotions makes it a powerful tool to manage feelings and behavior.
For children, especially, music can help instill calm, promote self-regulation and impart joy. This is great news for parents, who are so intimately familiar with how quickly and unpredictably kids can “lose it.” Finding effective strategies to calm and comfort can be a challenge, and music is a good one to have in your arsenal.
Believe it or not, Thanksgiving has already come and gone. (Wait, did you blink and miss Halloween? Us too.) And with barely time to breathe—much less digest all of that food!—Americans have shifted focus from stuffing their turkeys to stuffing their Christmas stockings.
Continue reading “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year…”
As the first big snowstorm of the season rolled into Washington, D.C., so did well over 10,000 people, who came to learn, collaborate, and network at the largest early childhood education conference in the world. Educators, advocates, and other members of the early childhood service community filled the Walter E. Washington Convention Center from November 13-17, 2018, for NAEYC’s 2018 Annual Conference.
Babies are exposed to sounds during pregnancy. At birth, their sense of hearing is completely developed and their brains are programmed to find patterns, making their first year the best time to start exposing babies to music. Kindermusik’s curricula makes it fun and easy to teach music to babies and young children, and has the best educational activities for babies.
Steady beat is the foundation of all music (and language)! Babies first experience steady beat in the womb–listening to their mother’s heartbeat and feeling the rhythm of her steps. Kindermusik activities are carefully designed for a child to experience steady beat using multiple senses:
Continue reading “Baby’s Got the Beat! How to Add Rhythm to Your Daily Routine”
Needing something to make you feel good about the state of our society? Look no further than LeadingAge and its more than 6,000 members. This national organization is the largest association of nonprofit aging services organizations in the country. Its mission is to be “the trusted voice for aging” and its vision is “an America freed from ageism.” These values were on full display at the organization’s recent annual conference in Philadelphia, which took place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center from October 28-31, 2018.
There are two things you can be doing with your toddler now that could give your child a leg up when it comes time to for them start kindergarten. This is according to an impressive longitudinal study that tracked more than 3,000 children across Australia over the course of several years. The two things? Shared reading experiences and shared musical experiences. That’s right. It seems that 2- to 3-year-olds who enjoyed these purposeful interactions turned into 4- and 5-year-olds with more prosocial skills, better emotional regulation, and an increased ability to understand and work with numbers.
Continue reading “When It Comes To Your Kids, Investing Early Pays Off”
If the hours of cute baby footage on YouTube are any indication, watching a baby babble is a pretty solid form of entertainment. Just check out one of the hundreds of videos with titles like “cutest baby babble videos ever,” and you’ll see what we mean. You won’t be able to resist the urge to giggle—and perhaps even babble right back yourself.
Anticipation is an incredibly powerful emotion. If you have doubts about that, consider how much of our economy relies on it. Movies are teased months before they hit theaters. Stores set out Christmas displays even before Thanksgiving rolls around. And the release of every new iPhone is accompanied by so much fanfare that people literally camp out in front of stores just to be among the first to get their hands on one. Building anticipation as a marketing technique isn’t something unique to the age of iPhones. In the 1970s, Heinz released a series of commercials that brilliantly turned an annoyance (why does it take so long for ketchup to come out of the bottle?!) into a feeling of excitement. The song featured in the commercials? Carly Simon’s “Anticipation.”
Continue reading “Bridges Study Findings To Be Revealed… And You’re Invited!”