Uncategorized Archives - Page 14 of 69 - Minds On Music

Toddlers Learn through Laughter. No Kidding.

While some say laughter is the best medicine, it turns out that it’s not so bad for learning either! A new French study found that humor helps toddlers learn. In the study, Rana Esseily and her colleagues designed an experiment to see whether using humor impacted the learning abilities of 18-month-olds. During the study, each child watched an adult using a tool to grab an out-of-reach toy. In one group, the adults played with the toy after retrieving it. In the second group, the adults immediately threw the toy on the floor after getting it. This made half of the toddlers laugh.

When the research team reviewed the data, they found that the toddlers who laughed were able to repeat the action themselves more successfully than those who didn’t laugh, as well as those who were included in the control group.

Young Children Give Us Permission to Be Silly

We laugh a lot in our classes. A lot. Children somehow remind us to laugh and smile and notice the little things in life. Take this child. He can’t stop laughing at what his dad does.

Children develop a sense of humor over time as they learn what is and isn’t funny—and when it is appropriate (or not) to laugh. With classes in over 70 countries, we know a thing or two about families and children around the world. We know, for instance, that every child speaks music and laughter sounds the same in any language. And, to a child, funny things can be found anywhere—blowing dandelions, made-up words, knock-knock jokes, chasing the dog, and even—sometimes—mommy’s “angry face.” (You know it’s true.)

On average, children laugh about 200 times every day. Silliness is a great way to evoke laughter and foster the development of humor (and help kids learn, too!). So, we include a lot of it in class each week, including singing songs with silly words (guli, guli, guli), playing one-bell jingles with our feet or on our head, and even a surprise tickle. All that laughing encourages a child’s physical, emotional, and social health. Plus, it’s a lot of fun and can be a developmentally appropriate way to motivate, engage, and redirect children during the early years.

Try out some of our favorite musical jokes and see if you can get a chuckle out of the kids in your life!

Contributed by Lisa Camino Rowell who admits to laughing with her young kids so much that tears fall.

The Importance of Triangulation

Without a doubt, it takes all of the caring adults in a child’s life working together to effectively foster and nurture a child’s overall development. That’s really what’s been at the heart of Kindermusik for over 30 years now – to empower parents as a child’s first and best teacher and connect a parent and child with their Kindermusik educator who can provide expert tips and loving support throughout those precious, formative early years.

This is the power of triangulation in its most positive context – teacher, parent, and child coming together in ways that significantly impact the child’s development, attitude toward learning, love of music, academic performance, self-confidence, creativity, and relationships with others.

From those first baby classes to the last big kid classes, the Kindermusik learning process is based on that beautiful, unending triangle of parent(s) – child – teacher. The parent engages with the child, in class and/or at home. The teacher not only interacts with the child, but also the parent, providing support and resources that help make great parenting a little bit easier (and a whole lot more musical!) The teacher and parent then work together on behalf of the child, to ensure that the child is gaining the full cognitive, academic, social, and musical benefits from the experience.

And then there are those incredible @Home Materials that are the glue that holds the parent-teacher-student Kindermusik triangle together. The @Home Materials are almost as good as being able to take your Kindermusik teacher home with you because you can take the music, fun, and learning with you all week long, wherever you go.

Kindermusik truly goes from class to home and back again, all because of that wonderful parent-teacher-student triangle that is the backbone of the Kindermusik philosophy and experience.

Super Foods for the Brain: Music & Second-Language Learning

When it comes to healthy eating, some super foods seem to be easier sells to kids than others. Avocados, Bananas, and Greek Yogurt? Yes! Kale, Bok Choy, Edamame…not so much. (Well, maybe with a side of ranch or ketchup.)

Of course, young children need more than super foods for their bodies. They also need super foods for their growing brains, too. Second-language learning and music offer super foods for the brain that children love! (No ranch or ketchup necessary!)

What Happens to the Brains When Kids Learn a Second Language?

When compared to adults, young children use both hemispheres of their brains and gain a greater understanding of a language’s social and emotional contexts. A few other advantages of learning more than one language include higher density of gray matter, more brain activity when engaging in a second language, and better executive function.

This TedX video by Mia Nacamulli explains more benefits of a bilingual brain:

Music, Multi-sensory Learning, & Language Learning

Around here, we often say music is like spinach disguised as ice cream. After all, music is rich in benefits, yet children gulp it down (and ask for more!) like the best ice cream sundae. Using music as a tool for teaching second-language learning instantly engages children in a multi-sensory learning environment. Take this ABC English & Me video as an example.

The Just Me! music video incorporates a multi-sensory teaching approach to support visual, auditory, and tactile learning:

Visual learning happens through seeing. Children can watch the kids in this video waving their hands, pointing to their knees, and touching their toes. The arrows pointing to the various illustrated body parts also aids children’s visual learning.

Auditory learning happens through listening. Children will listen to the song “Head and Shoulders,” which names the parts of the body. Listening to this song over and over will help children learn lots of new vocabulary.

Tactile learning happens through moving, touching, and doing—sometimes called TPR, or Total Physical Response. Children can mimic the movements in this video. Encourage children to point to their nose, touch their shoulders, and to follow along with all the movements in this song!

Learn more about using music to teach young children in English Language Learning Programs or in international schools.

Contributed by Lisa Camino Rowell, a freelance writer in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.

Turtle Dove: Music and Memories

Fare thee well, my dear, my own turtle dove, I must leave thee for a while. For though I go I will come back again, if I go ten thousand miles my dear, if I go ten thousand miles.

When this song comes back through my rotation, every two years, I am slammed with overwhelming emotions as the memories of past littles and their families breach the surface. I haven’t always been able to hide the affect this song has on me and, years ago, stopped trying. Music evokes emotion. There is no shame in that.

My first time teaching Away We Go, I had a young family who was expecting their second child. I became especially close with them and still consider them friends to this day, sharing hugs, coffee, and stories of their kids. Shortly after their second baby was born, they were told of a devastating heart defect, the little chance of survival thru surgery, and lack of quality of life if the baby boy survived. They choose to hold him close till he took his last little breath at 20 days old. They never missed a class with their oldest. They wanted something to be consistent, and they choose my class to be the one constant thing. So every week, dad brought big brother and during that time we rocked to “Turtle Dove.” Including the day that they buried that little baby boy. They came to class that night, held their first born tight, and rocked him. Fare thee well, my dear, my own turtle dove, I must leave thee for a while.

Two years later, my very good friend was about to leave for his first deployment. He wanted to bring his youngest to class as often as he could before he left. Again, it was Away We Go and again, it was “Turtle Dove.” I vividly remember him holding that little boy, squeezing him tight, not knowing how long he’d be gone and what he would endure to come home. And the little boy being held in his arms, oblivious, to the heartache surrounding him. For though I may go, I will come back again, if I go ten thousand miles, my dear, if I go ten thousand miles.

Another two years passed, another group of littles and another heartbreaking story that played out in my studio with “Turtle Dove” as the soundtrack. A father passed away from cancer. The little girl, much like the big brother mentioned before, never missed a class, I saw almost a different family member every week, a family determined to provide something consistent for the child they loved. Again, music was the choice and I was greatly humbled. Fare thee well, my dear, my own turtle dove, I must leave thee for a while.

A few years ago, when I taught Away We Go, I had a beautiful little boy with big blues eyes. Those eyes would fill with tears that would quietly fall down his face every time I played “Turtle Dove.” His mother told me that he doesn’t know why the song makes him weep and she didn’t understand it. I understand, my friend, I truly, truly do.

“Turtle Dove” will be coming back to my rotation before too long. The memories of those families are still so vivid, I can tell you exactly where each of their spots were in my singing circle. These are things I never expected to carry from teaching Kindermusik. I knew I would cheer and laugh and dance with them. I didn’t know that I would cry and hurt and carry their memories of loss with me. I never expected my heart to re-break in the first measure of a song. I never expected the privilege of being the one constant thing in a child’s life during a heartbreaking time. So very humbling.

Music moves us and creates memories we hold in our hearts forever. Create your own musical memories with “Turtle Dove.” Download the song for free. Be sure to sing it with your own little turtle dove!

Leigh Levine lives in Allendale, Michigan where she teaches Kindermusik. Leigh loves to perform in community theater when time allows, is an avid tap dancer and is the deliriously proud mother of two girls. She and her husband, Jon, recently celebrated 23 years of marriage.

Want to Teach Toddlers Math Skills? Better Get Moving!

Early intervention matters in all areas of child development…from speech and language, motor skills, early literacy skills, positive behavior, and more. The sooner a child receives help the greater the impact. As educators, therapists, doctors, and researchers learn more and more how to identify early markers for intervention needs, children at risk for delays receive early intervention strategies, well, earlier. Some of the indicators may seem unrelated at first. For example, new research gives guidance in identifying young children who may need extra mathematical help…all by looking at their motor skills!

Motor Skills as Early Predictor of Math Skills

A Norwegian study shows that two-year-olds with poor motor skills also exhibit poor mathematical skills. Teachers can use this information to identify children who may need extra help.

“It is important that teachers of small children are aware of these findings. It will be easier for them to identify children who may be at risk of having difficulties in understanding mathematics. This knowledge can ensure that teachers and staff are quicker to help and support such children with mathematics,” said Associate Professor Elin Reikerås of the Norwegian Reading Centre in a University of Stavanger press release.

In the study, the research team evaluated the motor skills of two-year-old children by assessing their abilities to complete jigsaw puzzles, eat with utensils, use scissors, walk around a room without bumping into things, playing on the playground, and throwing and catching balls. Based on their motor skills abilities, the team divided the children into three groups: poor, average, and strong.

Then, the team examined various mathematical abilities of the children, such as if the children were able to use their fingers to show how old they were, if they could use the shape sorter box, play picture lotto, sort toys or objects by color or size, demonstrate the difference between big and small through the use of body language or words, and use numerals.

“Children create experiences when they use their bodies. This is also important within mathematics. When children play, climb, crawl and hide outdoors, this contributes to the development of spatial awareness. Shapes and sizes are explored through drawing, painting and playing with blocks. Putting on clothes in the right order or sorting and tidying toys requires both logical reasoning and motor skills. Dealing with numbers, such as giving a cup to everyone and then pointing and saying the numbers, also involves connections with motor function,” Reikerås explains in the press release.

How Early Childhood Music Puts into Play this Research

In early childhood classrooms around the world, many teachers use music and movement to support the development of both gross and fine motor skills and early mathematical concepts, such as counting and spatial awareness. Take a look at how music and movement can teach children mathematical concepts by using their whole bodies.

Contributed by Lisa Camino Rowell, a freelance writer in the Atlanta area.

Moments Worth Waiting For: Music & the Child with Special Needs

First smile. First time sitting up. First steps. First time saying “mama” or “dada.” Oh yes. Every parent can create a list of enduring moments worth waiting for and savoring.

In the Kindermusik community, we concoct our own lists, too, and our collective heart for children and families overflows with the memories of how music reaches children of all abilities.

Take Filomena. Music helped to create so many moments worth waiting for:

Then there are Meghan and John, whose stories remain rooted in the heart of Kindermusik Maestro educator, Christa Beck, who has a passion for incorporating children with special needs into Kindermusik classes:

Meghan’s Moment Worth Waiting For: Early in my Kindermusik career, Meghan a little girl with Down syndrome was working so hard to walk. She was approaching age 2. During class one evening, Meghan walked across the room for the first time. The entire class began to applaud and cheer. Her Mom was in tears and still talks about that moment to this day.

John’s Moment Worth Waiting For: During a preschool age class, I had a mostly non-verbal preschool boy with autism. After two weeks of repeating an activity, the third week again we were passing around a rooster puppet and singing “Kukuriku.” John sang those notes clear and on pitch. It was the most he had sung (or spoken) around other children.

Every child impacts us in profound ways because every child is profoundly beautiful, including a little boy named Lucas with brittle bone disease, whose story Kindermusik educator Betsy Gurske shares:

5 benefits of music for children with special needs

Yes! These moments serve as reminders about the personal power of music on a child’s everyday life. However, scientists, music therapists, and Kindermusik educators also know how the research backs up the moments.

Playing instruments supports fine motor skill development
Moving to a steady beat encourages gross motor skills development.
Playing music in a group increases empathy and teaches other key social-emotional skills, such as turn-taking, listening, and responding.
Music can relieve stress, decrease blood pressure, and even shows to help with the reduction of pain.
Music gives verbal and non-verbal children a way to express thoughts, feelings, and ideas.

Do you have a child with special needs? Come visit a Kindermusik class together and experience your own musical moments worth the wait!

12 Song Lyrics Perfect for Kid’s Room (FREE PRINTABLES INCLUDED)

You don’t need to be a singer-songwriter to recognize that lyrics somehow perfectly capture an emotion or a moment in time. So, we put together a few of our favorite song lyrics that, well, perfectly capture parents’ dreams, wishes, hopes, and prayers for their young children. Plus, you can download them and use in your home or classroom or office!

Download all 12 musical printables here for a child’s nursery, playroom, or even your kitchen or living room!

How Music Class Helps Parents Nurture a Child’s Development

Turns out that nature does need a little nurturing after all, especially when it comes to the development of the brain. The “Philadelphia study,” as it’s been called, was the first to establish a clear connection between childhood experience and how the brain develops.

Despite coming prewired with mind-boggling capacities, the brain depends heavily on environmental input to wire itself further. Scientists are now discovering precisely how that development is molded by the interplay between nature and nurture.

In the early years, much of the “environmental input” that’s so critical for brain development is directly facilitated by a child’s parents and the kind of interactions and experiences they provide for a child. That’s why Kindermusik has always asserted that parents are a child’s first, and best, teacher. One of the best kinds of early experiences a parent can provide is in a music class, especially one that offers a rich, multi-sensory and developmentally appropriate experience, supported by Home Materials that take the joy, learning, and bonding into the home and throughout the week in between classes.

Five ways a music class like Kindermusik helps parents nurture a child’s development

A music class gives parents the time and inspiration for the kind of one-on-one attention and nurturing that can result in higher IQs.
A music class helps parents give their child an opportunity for social development in a warm and welcoming environment.
A music class strengthens emotional bonds through lots of cuddling, dancing, loving touch, and playful connection.
A music class encourages language development through singing, rhyming, vocal play, and conversation.
A music class supplies parents with ideas and resources for play and together time at home.

The more scientists find out about how children acquire the capacity for language, numbers, and emotional understanding during this period, the more they realize that the baby brain is an incredible learning machine. Its future—to a great extent—is in our hands.

Find a local Kindermusik class and experience firsthand how music classes can support your parenting and your child’s development.

*Quotes taken from this National Geographic article.

Give Kids’ Brains a Break with Music

The Electric Slide, The Cha-Cha Slide, and The Macarena can impact kids’ brains in a powerful way…and probably not in the way you may think. Music and movement “brain breaks” can actually improve attentiveness, concentration, and focus. (Yes! Even The Macarena.) Brain breaks can also help kids discover new solutions—or THE solution—to a problem.

So, the next time the kids in your life need a break, try one of these at home or in the classroom!

4 Quick and Easy Music and Movement Brain Breaks

5-4-3-2-1. In this game, children perform 5 different movements in descending order. For example, a teacher or parent says: Clap your hands five times. Hop four times. Spin around three times. Stomp two times. Jump one time. Pause between each number to allow time for every child to process the instruction and do it.
Sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.” This gets kids moving and stretching. Plus, movement paired with the word also supports vocabulary development!
Play Freeze Dance. Put on a favorite song and tell children to dance or move around until the music stops. When the music stops, they must stop, too. This brain break game also gives children the opportunity to practice inhibitory control.
Look at pictures of cute baby animals. This one isn’t a musical brain break, but kids love looking at baby animals. (Who doesn’t?!) A Japanese research study showed that looking at all of those cute baby animals actually increases concentration and attentiveness! To make it musical, listen to music while you gaze at the cuteness.

Want more musical brain break ideas for your family? Visit a local Kindermusik class and we’ll give you enough to last throughout the week!

Contributed by Lisa Camino Rowell a freelance writer in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.

How Kindermusik Prepares Kids for Piano Lessons

What’s the best preparation for piano lessons? Any piano teacher who’s ever taught a Kindermusik graduate will tell you without hesitation that piano students who have had Kindermusik progress more quickly, have a solid grasp of music fundamentals, and stick with their lessons longer. Many will even go so far as to say that a former Kindermusik student is a dream piano student.

I make those bold claims after 20+ years of watching Kindermusik kids graduate and not only do well, but absolutely flourish and thrive in our music program. As director of a large music school, Kindermusik educator, and former piano teacher, I’ve seen, heard, and celebrated success after success that could only be attributed to Kindermusik. In fact, I’ve conducted my own non-scientific “research” several times throughout the year when I’ve waited to tell my piano teacher that her new student was a Kindermusik grad. And the experiment never fails to produce the expected result. Within just a few weeks of working with that student, I always get a text or a phone call from the piano teacher, “Has this child been in Kindermusik?!”

In celebration of September being “National Piano Month,” I’d like to celebrate just some of the ways that Kindermusik prepares kids for piano lessons.

Kindermusik kids learn musical terms and concepts in the most perfectly beautiful and natural of ways. These concepts are happily experienced and curiously explored in the kind of rich, multi-sensory environment that supports optimal learning and connection.

Kindermusik kids have an ear for all types of music. This is because the Kindermusik library is so vast and varied, introducing these young musicians to music from all different cultures, different centuries, different genres, and different traditions.

Kindermusik kids develop an ingrained sense of steady beat. From bouncing to rocking to dancing to marching, a sense of rhythm has been instilled from the time they were infants. First in mama or daddy’s arms, and then on their own two feet. They can feel it in their whole bodies. And nothing is more central to music than steady beat.

Kindermusik kids know how to make music together, in groups both big and small. They first learn to interact with mom and dad. Then with others, in side-by-side play and exploration. Their ensemble skills come into full bloom as the children successfully play their instrumental part with the rest of the class, on cue and in rhythm.

Kindermusik kids learn to read, write, and compose music at a young age, between 4.5 and 7 years. What they grew to love in their hearts as babies, toddlers, and preschoolers becomes what they delight in understanding and creating as big kids. The Kindermusik formula stays the same – singing, moving, exploring, listening, playing – all gently leading a child to a level of understanding that could only be the product of such a joyful, process-based approach.

Kindermusik kids are confident musicians. From their very first classes, they’ve been encouraged to explore, to try new things, to think outside the box, and to use their imaginations – not because they were trying to find the one right way, but because there are oh-so-many ways to participate in Kindermusik class where process is always emphasized over performance. This process-based approach develops a unique kind of self-confidence, not just at the piano, but also in the classroom and later, in the workplace.

Kindermusik kids love music, from the top of their heads to the tips of their toes. This is the deepest kind of love that grows the strongest as it is lovingly nurtured and encouraged from an early age. It’s the kind of love that opens the door to reaching the fullest potential in musical study.

Many Kindermusik kids have come through our doors over the years. They have all left with a song in their heart that will stay there forever. Many also left with another incredible gift – the ability to play the piano and enjoy making music the rest of their lives.

Do you want to prepare your child for piano lessons? Find a local Kindermusik class and see for yourself how Kindermusik prepares kids for formal music lessons later on.

Shared by Theresa Case who has been the Director of Piano Central Studios in Greenville, South Carolina for over 20 years now.