Music helps overall brain development, creating pathways that improve a child’s cognitive functioning. For example, rhyming and popular songs help children develop their vocabulary and use of language.
Music also helps with motor skills, especially when combined with activities like dancing and singing. It improves coordination, a fundamental skill for all types of physical play and learning. Your child will most likely learn music practices in nursery Glasgow.
Motor Skills
Whether they’re singing, playing a drum or dancing to a song, children use music to develop their fine and gross motor skills. Playing, clapping and dancing to music helps kids build motor coordination, while the rhythm of songs and rhymes builds auditory and general memory skills that they’ll rely on throughout life.
Babies who are spoken to directly tend to have larger vocabularies by the time they’re toddlers, and the repetitive phrases in familiar songs can help children memorize words, which in turn will aid them in reading development. The musical aspect of music can also introduce kids to new concepts that will spark their curiosity and imagination.
Sensory Development
At this age, musical experiences allow children to express themselves creatively and feel free. They build a sense of confidence in their abilities and learn to trust their instincts. They are eager to repeat songs and rhymes, which builds memory skills that will benefit them throughout their life.
They also start to recognize and interpret visual information (e.g., colors, movement, brightness). They can tell the difference between sounds and recognize the pitch, rhythm and closeness of those sounds. They can understand the meaning of words and identify a variety of smells.
Cognitive Learning
Musical activities like rhythmic clapping, dancing and singing can help children of all ages improve their motor skills. Gross motor skills involve large muscle groups, and include things like sitting independently or walking, while fine motor skills involve smaller muscles, such as coordinating the movement of fingers for tasks such as typing or fastening buttons.
Moreover, music can also teach children the importance of practice and hard work in attaining their goals, which is an important life lesson that they will carry into adulthood.
Emotional Development
Parents instinctively use music to soothe upset children and congratulate them on achievements, but the benefits of musical experiences can extend far beyond that. Musical activities that involve a group, such as singing, dance, playing instruments, and call-and-response songs, help develop social skills. Learning to play an instrument helps kids practice focusing their attention, and practicing regularly can improve test-taking abilities and self-discipline.
From their earliest days, young children are sensitive to sound patterns and respond to them emotionally. They often aspire to mimic sounds they hear in the world around them, and this activity strengthens neural pathways that will eventually enable them to listen and speak.