Use Music to Help Baby Learn to Move!

Musical Parenting Tip:  Move baby and label his movements

 

Why?

Spatial awareness is the knowledge of where you are in relationship to other people and objects in your environment.  To develop spatial awareness, children learn concepts such as direction, distance and location. 

Studies have suggested a link between a well-developed sense of spatial awareness and artistic creativity, success in math, and the development of abstract thought. 

The ability to organize and classify abstract mental concepts is related to the ability to organize and classify objects in space. 

 

How?

Look at 'Play it Safe.'  As your child explores the space around him, use these ideas and tips to keep him safe ;) 

Also, have fun with, 'On the Road to Counting.'  As you enjoy these activities with baby, be sure to throw in some spatial orientation labels.  Can she see which utensil is 'beside' the spoon?  How many fingers does Mommy have 'on' her hand?  How many scarves are swirling 'above' baby's head?  Count the laps as you dance 'around' the coffee table, together. 

Cue up Mrs. Murphy's Chowder, on the Kindermusik "Yum" CD, and teach the dance to your whole family!  Don't remember the steps?  Make up your own, unique, family version!  Don't forget to label, using directional words, and words of position...

 

Want to Learn More?

On our blog:  What is 'spatial awareness?'

 

Kindermusik 7-year continuum:

Right now, you move your baby's body for her, so that she becomes aware of different ways to move. 

As a toddler, your child will use those body movements to connect to the music, and to learn basics like steady beat. 

In preschool Kindermusik classes, your child will use body movements to represent musical concepts like high and low sounds, and loud and quiet sounds. 

As a big kid, in Young Child classes, those early experiences in movement and spatial awareness will help him as he explores the geography of a glockenspiel (with low notes on the left side, and high notes on the right). 

 

Rhythms & Toddlers - We've Got the Beat!

Musical Parenting Tip:  Bounce to the beat, and pat the rhythm with your toddler!

 

Why?

A study by movement expert, Phyllis Weikert, showed that being "able to keep a steady beat helps a person to feel the cadence (rhythm) of language" and can also affect their sense of equilibrium (www.earlychildhoodnews.com). 

Rhythmical abilities show a strong positive correlation with decoding skills, both in reading accuracy and reading prosody.

Plus, being able to keep a steady beat helps a child feel the cadence (rhythm) of language.

 

How?

Go on a video field trip to the Farmer's Market! 

Try making your own guiro/shaker.  Keep the beat, or make up a fun rhythm on your instrument!  Can you play the rhythm of words?  What about your child's name? 

Turn on a favorite track from the 'Time for Lunch' CD (like Vegetable Soup!), and invite the whole family to suggest ways to move to the beat!  Will you walk?  March?  Sway?  Jump?  Clap?  So many ways to move!

 

Want to Learn More?

On our blog:  Learn more about the Benefits of Steady Beat.  Also, find 14 ways to celebrate the new year, through early childhood music! 

 

Kindermusik 7-year Continuum:

In Kindermusik Sing & Play classes, you modeled the steady beat and the rhythm patterns of the music for your baby. 

Now, as a toddler, he still counts on you to model, but is beginning to imitate the way you keep the beat, and clap the rhythm. 

In Kindermusik preschool classes, your child will have opportunities to be the leader of the group, when playing steady beats and rhythm patterns. 

As a big kid, in Kindermusik Young Child classes, your child will begin to master the steady beat, while learning to read traditional rhythmic notation. 

 

 

Movement is BIG for your preschooler!

Musical Parenting Tip:  Create a 'Big Movements' dance, with your preschooler

 

Why?

As a preschooler, the fruits of your playful labor in our babies' music classes and toddlers' music classes are exposed and expanded as your children begin to own their movements both large and small!  This week, she designed her own Punchinello dance, for her friends to emulate.  He also helped us list all of the ways that the carnival clowns like to move - then we moved, too!

When you send in the clowns, you can also introduce a whole lot of fun practicing all kinds of ways to move, jump, listen, focus, and even stop.  At first glance, it might seem like an activity such as "I Am a Clown" is just about moving and dancing.  But watch a little more closely, and you'll see that there are a whole lot more benefits than just developing gross motor skills.

 

How?

Login to your Kindermusik @ Home account, and have more fun with clown movements!

Then, take a video field trip to the carnival!  Can you move like the rides that you see?  Can your voice follow, too? 

Make your own merry-go-round!  Cue up the Merry Go Round song from the Carnival of Music CD, and gather some family & friends to help.  Using a large sheet, blanket, or tablecloth, put your child in the middle, and rotate the merry-go-round (or use a parachute)!  Have fun - and don't forget to pack your pretend toolkit, for repairs

 

Want to Learn More?

On our blog:  Send in the Clowns, and move! 

Kindermusik 7-Year Continuum:

In Kindermusik baby classes, adults move their baby's body for her, so that she becomes aware of different ways to move. 

As toddlers, children use those body movements to connect to the music, and to learn basics like steady beat. 

Now in preschool Kindermusik classes, your child uses body movements to represent musical concepts like high and low sounds, and loud and quiet sounds. 

As a big kid, in Young Child classes, those early experiences in movement and spatial awareness will help him as he explores the geography of a glockenspiel (with low notes on the left side, and high notes on the right), the technique of strumming a dulcimer, and the muscle-memory needed to use proper fingerings on a recorder.

--

 

Steady Beat Fun for Preschoolers

Musical Parenting Tip: Clap, Pat, Stomp & Play to the Beat with your Preschooler!

 

Why?

Thanks to the steady beat of our hearts, we are created to respond to a steady beat. It's probably why we can't help but tap our feet or nod our heads along to the beat of the music we hear.

The ability to consciously recognize and demonstrate steady beat, however, takes practice. In our early childhood music classes and early childhood curriculum, we help young children, including at-risk students, to develop steady beat by leading children to move their bodies to a beat, play instruments, clap their hands, or even walk, jump, and tiptoe to a steady beat. 

 

How?

Read the e-book, Shoofly Pie, with your child.  The children all seemed to relate to Barley Bear, who really wanted to try some yummy 'shoofly pie,' but was always being delayed by the other activities at the carnival, and by the needs of his family members.  

Going along with our classtime drum exploration, watch the Big Drum, Little Drum video. 

Do you have drums (or containers that can be used as drums) in your home?  Maybe you can have a family, carnival parade?  Try marching and playing the beat to songs like:  'Liberty Wagon', 'Ta Ra Ra Boom De Ay,' or 'Marching Band/Brass Serenade' (all on the Carnival of Music CD). 

Cue up the 'Bands and Balloons' track (also from Carnival of Music).  Play a game, with your child, of listening to hear whether to float like balloons, or march like a band!

 

Want to Learn More?

On our blog:  Discover Four Reasons Why Steady Beat Skills Matter in Early Childhood Education.

 

Kindermusik 7-Year Continuum:

Kindermusik babies are patted, moved and bounced to the steady beat by their parents, as the music plays.

Kindermusik toddlers imitate the steady beat as adults demonstrate how to play & move to the beat, as they find their own, internal, steady beat (usually matching the tempo of their heartbeat). 

Kindermusik preschoolers practice matching an external steady beat source (like musical recordings, or following the beat played by their teacher), as they begin to take ownership of their own music education. 

Kindermusik big kids use the steady beat skills they have learned to play, in ensemble, with their classmates.  In this way, we can start and stop each song, together, as we play our glockenspiels, recorders, and dulcimers. 

--

Juli Wright

Voice & Kindermusik Teacher
(BM - BGSU;  MA - Wyoming; Audio - The Recording Workshop, Ohio)

Contact:

julisongsKM@gmail.com
330-407-4326

julisongs.com

Musical Variety Benefits for Little Singers

Musical Parenting Tip:  Listen to a variety of music with your toddler

 

Why?

Introducing children to a wide variety of musical genres gives them a greater understanding of what is possible through music. 

Introducing a variety of musical styles and musical modes/patterns invites the brain to analyze the pattern. Did you know the brain is pattern seeking device?

How?

Login to your Kindermusik @ Home account, and read the e-book 'Gingerbread Boy.'  Enjoy the different ways each animal speaks, as they ask the Gingerbread Boy to go back to his home.   

Bedtime?  Cue up 'Duermete, mi Niño,' and rock your child to sleep :)

Listen to, and discover all of the musical variety in the "Time for Lunch!" CD. Be sure to listen to Rise, Sugar, Rise (an American folksong), Sweet Potatoes (Jazz), Vegetable Soup (Rock-n-Roll for kids), and more.

 

Want to Learn More?

On our blog:  Read What Jazz Teaches Us About Language Development!
Also, find Three Ways to Use Music to Take Children Around the World!

 

Kindermusik 7-Year Continuum: 

Musical variety for babies expands a child's 'ear vocabulary.'  Using recordings and live instruments help baby 'fine tune' his ear to recognize and imitate sounds that make up words & language.

When a child listens to different styles of music, her mind perceives the sound in multi-dimensional ways.  The sounds is loud or soft, fast or slow, moves up and down, or left to right.  Kindermusik toddler classes use spatial movement, along with musical variety, to help build skills for learning how to get around things, jump, run, and move in zig-zag pathways.

Musical variety in Kindermusik preschool classes helps set the scene in an imaginary world, where a child can start with his own experience, and then move to imaginary places with princesses and superheroes, then back to reality, again.  This ability to go back & forth from reality to imagination comes from temporal reasoning, a skill used in music writing, storytelling, and problem solving.

Musical variety for big kids (like Kindermusik Young Child students), supports a child's awareness and understanding of different moods and emotions.  As we learn to play glockenspiels, recorders, and dulcimers, that variety of music helps to establish a vocabulary for children to pull from, as they interpret notes on a page in their own way.

--

Juli Wright

Voice & Kindermusik Teacher
(BM - BGSU;  MA - Wyoming; Audio - The Recording Workshop, Ohio)

Contact:

julisongsKM@gmail.com
330-407-4326

julisongs.com

High and Low Voice Sounds for Musical Explorers

Musical Parenting Tip:  Use contrasting high voice and low voice sounds with baby!

 

Why?

As an older baby, your child is actively involved in the mechanics of producing words (proper mouth, lip, and tongue placement) and in understanding the meanings of words (acquiring vocabulary). 
An activity that pairs opposite concepts (like high & low) allows toddlers to comprehend not only what something is, but also what it is not.  This helps children to clearly understand and define what each word represents. 

As we move our voices up high WHILE moving our bodies up high, and move our voices down low WHILE moving our bodies down low, we are training your child's musical ear for the upward & downward contours in musical melodies (and using multi-sensory activity to glue that information into her developing brain).

 

How?

Read the e-book 'Cookie Party' with your child.  Enjoy the rhythmic chanting, in the book.  What if you add the contrast of using a high-pitched voice for the odd pages, and a low-pitched voice for the even pages?  What if you bounce baby up high when the oven timer 'beeps' that the cookies are ready?  :) 

Check out the sign language video, for this album, to familiarize yourself with some of the signed words we will use, for the next few weeks. 

Cue up the track 'Rise, Sugar, Rise,' (from the 'Yum' CD).  Dance around the room, with your child.  How can you move 'up' for the words:  'Rise, Sugar Rise?'

Next time you cuddle up with your child, recite the  'A House for Me' poem together - bounce and sway the time away.  For a jazzy house building rendition visit Play.Kindermusik and find Build Myself a House.

 

Want to Learn More?

On our blog:  Read how to use your voice in response to Baby Babble in a way that will encourage language development!

 

Kindermusik 7-Year Continuum: Modeling high and low voice sounds gives baby experience in hearing these opposite musical concepts, and allows an opportunity for your child to imitate those sounds with his own voice. 

This vocal imitation continues and thrives during Kindermusik toddler-aged classes, as children become more confident voice users.

In Kindermusik preschool classes, children move from general high and low vocal play into matching specific pitches, like sol & mi. 

Kindermusik Young Child students learn to find high and low pitches on instruments, and on the musical staff. 

--

Juli Wright

Voice & Kindermusik Teacher
(BM - BGSU;  MA - Wyoming; Audio - The Recording Workshop, Ohio)

Contact:

julisongsKM@gmail.com
330-407-4326

julisongs.com

Ensemble Development and Steady Beat for Preschoolers

Musical Parenting Tip:  Create a Kitchen Ensemble for "Trot, Trot, Trot!"

 

Why?

Ensemble play helps your child practice keeping a steady beat. 

A steady beat coordinates sounds and movements in time. 

Developing an internal sense of steady beat helps children develop in many areas of learning, including music, movement, language, and mathematics.  It's at the core of what gives us the ability to walk effortlessly, speak expressively, and regulate repeated motions like riding a bicycle, dribbling a basketball, hammering, writing, skipping, dancing, and running.

 

How?

See how many ways you can move to the beat for Walking in the Green Grass! 

Find sound-making items in your kitchen, and give one to each member of the family. 

Play along with 'Trot, Trot, Trot' (from the Around the Farm CD) Can everyone keep the beat, together?  Will you  play the whole song together, or take turns?  Are you using wooden sounds, shakers, metal sounds, or scrapers?

Want to add some pitches to your steady beat?  Fill 5 water glasses with differing  amounts of water.  Line them up, from  left to right, with the most full on the left, and the least full on the right.  Label the glasses (left to right) with numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  Create your own 5-note melodies and add them to the ensemble.

 

Want to Learn More?

On our blog:  find ideas for practicing the steady beat, right at home!

Check out these fun videos of water glass performances: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL6YwPazc8I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdoTdG_VNV4

--

Juli Wright

Voice & Kindermusik Teacher
(BM - BGSU;  MA - Wyoming; Audio - The Recording Workshop, Ohio)

Contact:

julisongsKM@gmail.com
330-407-4326

julisongs.com

Music and Movement Helps the Kinesthetic Toddler

Musical Parenting Tip: Move to the music to help your child's brain!

Why?

Learning is optimal when child, parent, and teacher each take an active role in the process.  When we explore music and movement together, we provide an opportunity for each child to explore, experiment, imitate, try out new ideas, and reinforce strengths and developing skills.  This allows them ownership of their own learning at their own levels.

Kinesthetic Learners – Experience the world "hands on". They are drawn to tactile experiences and need to physically MOVE in order to establish stronger memory connections.  About 15% of the population is STRONGLY aligned with kinesthetic learning styles, but ALL benefit from kinesthetic learning activities.

How?

• Act out the stories in the song to help your child understand what's happening.
• Add some dancing / movement to the learning process!
• Move to music while learning something new – a moving brain is a learning brain for kinesthetic learners, especially. Add some dancing / movement to the learning process!
• Pretend Play / Role-Playing is a key to successful learning with kinesthetic learners. Warm up your imagination with some Morning Sun Has Risen pretend play. 
• Use rhythm and balls to help your child with auditory processing.
• Take frequent breaks when learning something new.

Want to Learn More?

Read 'Encouraging Kinesthetic Learners to Read & Write'

Find out more about Kinesthetic Learning.

Young Voices Love Making Animal Sounds

Musical Parenting Tip:  Make Animal Sounds with Your Child

Why?

Speech is a complex motor task.  One of the most important steps in speech development is the ability to copy or imitate mouth movements and sounds. 

Since young children imitate sounds more easily than words, and are motivated by things that make fun sounds, imitating animal sounds is a great place to start!

The consonants and vowel sounds in vocal play will become words and phrases as your child strengthens his verbal skills. 

Including simple nonsense syllables, like 'lah,' (from Kindermusik Sing & Play's 'Hello' Song), or 'ba ba'-ing like sheep, or 'moo'-ing like a cow, allows each child to tap into pre-established skills, increasing the likelihood that he will join in the vocal play.  This, in turn, improves your child's confidence, and encourages her to continue exploring language.

How?

• Learn how to make some puppets!  Maybe your puppets make sounds?  How can you turn puppet-play into vocal play with your child?
• Create a family circle dance to Did You Feed My Cow.  With each verse, enjoy making the animal sounds with your child, as you dance. 
• Take a  trip around the barnyard, and talk to the animals, in their own language. 
• Turn on the Hello-Lah song (from Kindermusik's Sing & Play CDs), and sing along with your child!  Who else, in the house, can you sing a 'la - la' hello, to?
•  

Want to Learn More?

On our blog:  Read Why Music is One of the Best Things for Early Language Development. 

Help Baby Learn to Move, So He Can Move to Learn!

Musical Parenting Tip for Babies:  Move Baby to the music, so she can move to learn!

 

Why?

Movement and sensory awareness are the primary ways young children learn about themselves and their world.  For example, a child moves up and down before learning the words 'up' and 'down.'  By labeling our movements while flying, marching, leaning, etc, we help babies make connections between what they are feeling and the words they are hearing. 

"Movement is a way of knowing."  All of Baby's sensations are coordinated through the kinesthetic sense.  It is important for movement to be an integrated part in all kinds of learning.  -from Dance and Grow, by Betty Rowen (1994)

 

How?

Log into your Kindermusik @ Home account, and share A Moving Story, with your baby.

Read about the benefits of baby massage, and intentional touch.  Then sing a verse or two of 'Hey Diddle Diddle,' while massaging baby's chest & tummy, arms, and legs.  

Cue up I Am Rooster, and dance around the room with baby!  Try different ways to move, and label the movements as they happen.  What if you bounce?  Or sway?  Or rock?  Or march?  When you find the movements that baby loves the most, lean into those, the most :)

 

Want to Learn More?

On our blog:  read about how moving to music stimulates your child's vestibular system, and how this, in turn, stimulates your child's brain for learning. 

--

Juli Wright

Voice & Kindermusik Teacher
(BM - BGSU;  MA - Wyoming; Audio - The Recording Workshop, Ohio)

Contact:

julisongsKM@gmail.com
330-407-4326

julisongs.com

Engage your baby in some serious "coo"

Musical Parenting Tip:  Speak, sing, and make voice sounds with your young baby!

Why?

• Exchanges of cooings, babblings, smiles, gestures, eye contacts, and tonal babbling are all part of vocal play.  As a communication game between adult and baby, it's basic components consist of touching, observing, gazing, listening, and imitating. 
• Pausing and waiting during vocal play demonstrates the important conversational element of 'turn-taking.' 
• Baby's responses to verbalizations are a rudimentary form of speech, language development, and conversation.

How?

• Log into your Kindermusik @ Home account, and watch the Baby Talk video!  Learn about your child's language processing, and why games with vocal play are important to learning. 
• Refresh your knowledge of the sign language for the animals we've sung about, then add the animal sounds, too.  What is baby's reaction?  If your baby has a vocal response to your sounds, extend the game by copying his sounds, yourself! 
• As you listen to your home CD, begin adding animal sounds, when they make sense:  crow during I Am Rooster;  Add animal sounds to the Old MacDonald dance; meow for the cat, moo for the cow, bark for the dog during Hey Diddle Diddle, etc.

Want to Learn More?

On our blog:  Read how engaging in vocal play with baby can speed your child's language development!

Kindermusik helps your preschooler distinguish between sounds, instruments, and language.

Musical Parenting Tip:  Notice & classify sounds with your preschooler.

Why?

• Listening to different timbres while playing various musical instruments allows children to learn to attend to relevant sounds and match these sounds to a specific instrument. 
• Preschoolers can then begin to code, sort, and categorize sounds according to timbre.  Activities in which children identify, compare and analyze sound qualities of instruments help children to develop auditory discrimination skills. 

How?

• Log into your Kindermusik @ Home account, and take your child on a trip to Grandpa's Farm!  Be sure to include some vocal play, as you imitate each of the animals you see :) 
• Cue up  On the Farm (from the ‘All Around the Farm’ CD).  Choose sounds from around your house to represent each animal (could be traditional musical instruments, or just some stuff from the kitchen that makes sound when you tap/shake it).  Have fun listening for the identifying timbre of each animal sound, and play along with the corresponding instrument! 
• Have a family dance party to the songs There Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens, and I am Rooster.  Be sure to talk to your chicken & rooster friends, while you dance.
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Want to Learn More?

• To learn the ways that musical instruments are classified by professional musicians and music scholars, check out this slideshare, featuring traditional ‘families of the orchestra,’ as well as the more current ‘Hornbostel/Sachs’ classifications.
• On our blog, read how our Kindermusik games dealing with timbre & auditory discrimination can help your child's readiness for school!