Another Reason to Turn Off the TV and Turn On the Music!
Babies love to share music with others. They use sounds, movements and expressions to interact with others and connect with their own feelings. Music often becomes the first form of creative expression for infants and toddlers. It can also give them a way to connect and bond with the caregivers around them. Music can also be a powerful way to connect babies to their own heritage or culture or another language.
Music has so many developmental benefits. There is no doubt that babies and young children seem to love music, but what are they really getting out of it? What does dancing, bouncing and clapping really have to do with development?
Familiar, soothing sounds.
Many parents play an instrument or sing to their babies long before they are born and some babies respond to music played to them in utero by becoming more active. Infants also can recognize songs or sounds familiar from pregnancy, and make a distinction between a song that a mother sang during her pregnancy, and one that they have never heard before.
Young children are attracted to musical patterns and structure. Research has shown that music helps children build early mathematical skills by teaching spatial properties, one-to-one correspondence, sequencing, patterning and early counting. Babies seem to have a natural affinity for rhythm. Babies follow the beat of music playing and move their body to the tempo naturally when parents sing to them.
Benefits of steady beat. Patting the beat of a song on your baby’s legs, or bouncing to music rhythmically helps your baby “feel” the steady beat. Steady beat also has similar brain relationships to the coordination needed for other rhythmic skills like marching and running.
Finger Plays help fine motor skills. Infants and toddlers learn imitation, fine motor and language skills through the hand motions that accompany many songs for young children. Most songs we sing with infants and toddler include clapping at the end of songs or special finger plays for special parts, like the mama duck quacking in “Five Little Ducks” or the wheels turning on “The Wheels on the Bus.”
Language Development. As older babies begin experiencing rapid language growth and their ability to distinguish between spoken sounds exponentially increases, so does their ability to distinguish between musical sounds, note and tones of instruments. Music development and language development support each other and support the baby’s sense of making himself understood in the world.
Feel the Music! Music is an outlet for energy, emotions and creativity. Music can be joyful and exciting, and it is impossible to sing silly songs to a child without a smile on your face. Music can also be soothing and calming, like a lullaby that is shared at the end of the day, or the tender humming while walking a newborn to sleep.
Music helps to establish routines and transitions. A familiar song will help a baby feel safe and secure in an unfamiliar setting, just like a lovey or familiar toy. Music plays an important role in establishing routines. The same song for bedtime becomes part of the transition from awake to drowsy, or a clean-up song becomes the transition from playing to tidying up for dinner.