Wednesday, October 24, 2012


Kindermusik - Developing Your Child's Aesthetic Awareness while Teaching Music.
It's age-appropriate.  It's research-based. It's the best learning experience for preschool-aged children.



Kindermusik Imagine That! is a curricula designed to use pretend play with movement to teach your child music.  But it's SO MUCH MORE!  In our current unit, Hello Weather, we're using the concepts of rain and wind to teach these young children about the musical concepts of Legato and Staccato while practicing Inhibitory Control (which also helps with Ensemble Development).  As part of this unit and the others for this age group, there are several art/craft projects suggested for the weekly home activity.  Sometimes the reasons for these projects are not always obvious to parents.

Did you know?
While decorating a rain hat does encourage pretend play, it also encourages a child's aesthetic awareness and creativity, which can later lead to advances in critical thinking.

While making a rain shaker or a percussion instrument can help us learn about Staccato sounds in music and can promote playing a steady beat, it also helps the child learn to take joy in the creating.  

With the inclusion of these projects in our Kindermusik Imagine That! curricula, we are always promoting your child's aesthetic awareness or aesthetic sensitivity which improves the quality of learning.

So even if we've done similar projects in other units, there is MUCH VALUE in repeating this experience in a similar way to promote the benefits listed here:

Benefits of Aesthetics Sensitivity
        Aesthetic sensitivity is important for children because it improves the quality of learning and encourages the creative process.
        Development of an aesthetic sensitivity is an initial talent that can later lead to advances in critical thinking as children develop greater insight into their environment.
        Aesthetic sensitivity promotes self-learning because they become more sensitive to gaps in their knowledge.
        Children are more tolerant because they learn that there are many possible ways of doing things. 
       Consequently, they are also better able to deal with complexity because they do not expect to find one best answer.
        Children are more independent because they are more open to their own thoughts. They are good questioners for the same reasons.

The point is this – the things we are doing in Kindermusik Imagine That! are not only age appropriate but ON TARGET with developing a child's natural abilities and inclination to integrate all the fine arts  (Graphic Arts, Movement, Dance, Drama, Music, And Poetry In Their Expressive Activities).  Music should NOT be learned separate from ART or MOVEMENT.  It should be integrated for a better overall developmental experience.   That's Kindermusik Imagine That!



No comments: