Finding Your Child's Favorite Instrument

Musical Parenting Tip:  Help your preschooler find the “perfect instrument for me!”

Why?

• Playing instruments helps develop your child’s fine motor skills.
• Listening to the timbres (sound qualities) of different instruments uses your child’s auditory discrimination skills (using focused listening to categorize sounds).
• Playing instruments in a group develops your child’s ensemble skills.

How?

• Play “Hey, Who Said That?” to hone your child’s listening skills.
• Turn on the ‘French Folk Tune,’ and have your child review rest position, ready position, and then play her new castanets to the beat, once the music starts!  Go back to rest position when the music is paused, then ready, then play once the music resumes.
• Go on an instrument treasure hunt at your house.  What household musical instruments does your child prefer?  What non-traditional household noisemakers are popular with your child (hint:  start in the kitchen ;) )
• Create your own "Instrument Collection." Did you know that you can buy a frog guiro (scraper) from your Kindermusik @ Home page, with free shipping?  We recommend that you store your instrument in a separate box that toys to help your child differentiate. "These are musical instruments, not toys. We handle them gently so they can make music for a long time."

Want to learn more?

On our blog, read:  The Color of Music!

Looking for more quality instruments for your child?  Look on the West Music website!