Parents Archives - Page 13 of 15 - Minds On Music

FOL Fridays: Experiential Learning

Moving with a prop provides an excellent opportunity for multi-sensory learning. Gliding a hoop through the room to music, for example, engages the senses of touch, hearing, and sight. Moreover, children can visualize the

rhythm and melody and physically apply what they are hearing when they move their props. Props are a fun way to experience music and movement concepts!

Resources for parents: Make your own props by recycling simple things around the house. An oatmeal container can become a drum. A paper towel tube can become a conductor’s baton or a fairy princesses’ scepter. Empty boxes can become a jack-in-the-box toy to hide in and jump out of. A shoe box can become a stringed instrument by cutting a whole in the top and stretching some rubber bands across it. Sturdy paper plates can be filled with dried pasta and securely fastened together to make a tambourine shaker. What excites your child’s imagination and gets them moving around?

– Contributed by Theresa Case, whose Greenville, SC program, Kindermusik at Piano Central Studios, is proudly among the top 1% of Kindermusik programs worldwide.

FOL Fridays: Rituals and Routines

From infancy on, children count on rituals and routines for comfort and security. Routines comfort children and serve as cues for what is expected of them, giving them a sense of control over their environment. When a child knows what will happen next and what is expected of him, he will be better able to participate and to act independently, which is an important developmental step.

Tips for parents: Around the holidays, it’s easy for the schedule to be disrupted. When you are able to keep as much of a consistent routine as possible for your child, you’ll find the holidays to be much happier and enjoyable for all! Another help is to keep some favorite and/or familiar music playing in the car and at home. The holidays are also a good time to establish special rituals which, over time as they are repeated year after year, will add greatly to the joy and anticipation of the season.

– Contributed by Theresa Case, whose Greenville, SC program, Kindermusik at Piano Central Studios, is proudly among the top 1% of Kindermusik programs worldwide.

FOL Fridays: Audi-what? Audiation!

Dr. Edwin Gordon, of the Gordon Institute of Music & Learning, defined audiation as “the hearing and comprehending of sound that is not physically present.” According to Gordon, “audiation is to music as thinking is

to language.” Just as children babble before speaking and thinking in language, they also progress through steps in music before they fluently speak and think in music.

Tips for parents: This is a fun game to play with in the car, in the kitchen, or while cuddling on a lazy Saturday morning when the children pile in bed with you. Start singing a favorite song, and then stop before you sing the last note of a phrase or the end of the song. Wait and see if your child sings it for you. If he does, he is successfully “thinking music,” or hearing it in his head.

– Contributed by Theresa Case, whose Greenville, SC program, Kindermusik at Piano Central Studios, is proudly among the top 1% of Kindermusik programs worldwide.

The Importance of Repetition in Child Development

The below article is from Kindermusik Educator Analiisa Reichlin, of Seattle, Washington.

Do We Have To Do This Again?

Recently, I received a great question from one of our Studio3Music mommas. I’m sure she’s not the first person to wonder, so I thought I should share it with you all.

Question: Is it typical for each class to be very similar each week? We’ve noticed that we are singing the same songs each week and I’m hoping that the class changes a bit from week to week. Could you let me know?

Continue reading “The Importance of Repetition in Child Development”

FOL Fridays: Rocking and a Sense of Balance

As you rock from center to one side then the other, or even as you rock forward and backward, there is an experience of alternating between being on-balance and off-balance. This gentle motion stimulates the vestibular system, helping children develop an improved sense of balance and coordination. Rocking, especially active rocking, is also a good way to burn energy without having to race around the house!

Tips for parents: Rocking can be a quiet and

calming activity, or it can be a wonderful outlet for pent-up energy! Depending on the need of the hour, choose the appropriate music and take some time together just to rock.

– Contributed by Theresa Case, whose Greenville, SC program, Kindermusik at Piano Central Studios, is proudly among the top 1% of Kindermusik programs worldwide.

The Top 5 Best Toys of All Time

Any normal Mom can be driven quickly insane by the annual Christmas toy craze. If I hear my 5 year old exclaim, "I want that!" during another toy commercial, well, it just might throw me over the edge. I came across an article on Facebook titled: "The 5 Best Toys of All Time" and noticed it had been shared by a number of my friends, including some of our top Kindermusik educators. I figured this article must include some great toys that are educational, musical, imaginative and would help me finish my Christmas shopping. What I found was even better… Continue reading “The Top 5 Best Toys of All Time”

6 Tips for Less-Stressed Holidays for Parents

With the holidays just around the corner, it’s a good time to have a plan for reducing the feelings of stress and overwhelm that are often a part of the holiday season, despite our best efforts otherwise. Here are six tips that can help you formulate a plan to ensure that the whole family can enjoy the holidays to their fullest.
Determine to take time for the little moments. A holiday-themed or other favorite book before nap or bedtime. A dance around the kitchen while the pasta cooks. A drive through the neighborhood to see all the lights. A cup of homemade hot chocolate.
Choose to establish one new tradition or special holiday ritual for your family. Perhaps it’s attending a local kid-friendly holiday concert. Or maybe you might choose to make or buy an Advent Calendar to help you count down the days. With older children, you might opt for taking cookies to an elderly shut-in.
Enjoy the music of the season. Take all of your favorite Kindermusik-style activities right into the holidays! Move-along, play-along, dance-along, and sing-along to all of your holiday favorites. You might even find some new musical inspiration for the holidays at Kindermusik’s music download site, play.kindermusik.com. Enjoy a free holiday music download of Winter Wonderland on us this month only!
Keep your daily routines as consistent as possible. While everyone in the house benefits from a predictable routine, young children especially need the familiar predictability of their regular schedule to keep them from falling apart or feeling out of sorts. Continue reading “6 Tips for Less-Stressed Holidays for Parents”

FOL Fridays: Movement & Learning

It is through dancing with others that children can quickly learn to work within the group dynamic. Movement becomes more than just fun – it becomes the road to communication, fostering both social interaction and cooperation. Structured dance, such as what we often enjoy together in Kindermusik, or free dance, which is easy to enjoy together at home, allows for creative self-expression while also giving the children the opportunity to learn how they understand themselves in relation others.
Tips for parents: Make it a family dance night – even just a couple of numbers will do! Start by making a list of some of your favorite “move-to-it” music selections. Choose from your own library or try something new from play.kindermusik.com. Then forget everything else and just have fun! The joy of dancing together will benefit not just your child, but all who are involved.
– Contributed by Theresa Case, whose Greenville, SC program, Kindermusik at Piano Central Studios, is proudly among the top 1% of Kindermusik programs worldwide.

The Power of YOU

Recently, a new tablet came on the market, designed specifically for children ages 4 and younger. (Yes, that’s 4 years old and younger!) The Vinci is a “real touch-screen Android-based product” with a tagline of “Inspire the Genius.”
Technology is a great thing, but I’m still a firm believer in some old-fashioned approaches to childhood. No one – and no thing – is better for your child than YOU. As your child’s first and best teacher, here is some simple, every day encouragement that I hope will help you inspire the genius that is uniquely your child.
Start by embracing your role as your child’s first and best teacher. You know your child better than anyone – what makes him giggle or what calms him down. It’s the little things like the happy little rituals and time together that you incorporate throughout the day that matter the most to your child developmentally, academically, and emotionally in the long run. Continue reading “The Power of YOU”

The “Signs” of Language Learning

I was doing some research today on baby sign language and ran across an interesting article. Even though sign language is a great way to encourage early communication in young children, some parents, like the one in the article, are concerned that this form of early communication might delay their child’s verbal development.

The opposite is typically true. The combined experience of movement and spoken language encourages your baby’s understanding of the word, as well as increases retention of the new word. This is because he is engaged actively in the learning experience, and the movement has stimulated the brain to receive the incoming information. “Talking and signing together flood the baby with language,” says Acredolo whose research, published in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, indicates signing may even give children a slight future verbal edge. “At 36 months, the [signing] babies in our study were speaking, on average, the equivalent of non-signing 47 month olds,” she says. *

Parents can begin to work on baby sign language as early as 3-6 months, and children will typically begin to sign back around 6-12 months old. However, it’s not too late if your child is past that age. Sign language can be a fun way to communicate for children of all ages. I recommend taking a sign language class, such as Sign and Sing, with your child to learn how to present the signs in an interactive, age appropriate, and fun way. A sign language class will also help you to understand your child’s hand development. If a sign is too difficult for them to form, your child will likely make adjustments to the sign. Once you learn what to look for, you may be surprised to find your child has several signs they are already using.

*MSNBC.com article written by Victoria Clayton

~ Written by Kindermusik educator Aimee Carter, owner of Kindermusik at Delightful Sounds, as originally posted on her “More Than a Children’s Music Class” blog.