Toddlers - Today's Expressive Movement Means Musical Expression Later

Parenting Tip: Act out a musical story with your toddler – like the Robin Story!

 

Why?

Neural pathways in a child's brain develop through all kinds of movement.

Movement combined with a concept helps you remember that concept.

Cognitive learning is activated by movement.

Children learn movement from others the same way that they learn speech, by imitation and repetition. 

Did you know that each person has their own instinctive way of moving, called a 'movement signature?'  When a child imitates another's movements, her movement vocabulary increases, and her personal movement signature begins to form.

 

How?

Go on a Bird Walk! 

Then, Be a Cloud! 

What if you use items from around your house, and re-enact the Robin Story (from Kindermusik's Up in the Sky CD), as a family?  Use as many or as few props (and makeshift 'costumes?') as you like, and have fun! 

 

Want to Learn More?

On our blog - Learn why movement & learning go hand-in-hand

 

Kindermusik 7-Year Continuum:

As a Kindermusik baby, your child heard lots of labeling and saw pictures of many new things (animals, clocks, whatever was in this week's song).  Now, in toddler class, your child is beginning to 'be' those animals (like a robin!) and act out stories about it (with you as his model).  As a preschool Kindermusik kid, your child will take ownership in her own expressive movement, by deciding just how a Pirate might move to swab the deck, or hoist the sails.  In Kindermusik Young Child classes, children take what they've learned about expressive movement to control their hand muscles, and breathing, to play glockenspiel, dulcimer, and recorder with just the right amount of volume – musical expression!