4 Fun and Easy Ways to Introduce Music To Your Child
Do you want to introduce music to your child but are not sure how or if it is the right time to start lessons proper? Start by bringing music into your everyday lives at home!
Studies have shown that children who are exposed to music AND actively participate in music activities from a young age forge strong neural pathways that give them a mental advantage. Parts of the brain associated with math and logical thinking, reading and emotional wellbeing are stimulated; motor skills and creative thinking are developed.
So, the question is where and how to start? Besides just listening to music at home with your kids, why not make it more engaging for them with these 4 fun ways!
1. Morning Mission Possible
Start the day with music by including it into your daily morning routine. Mornings may not be the best part of the day for some of you out there, having to prepare for work while getting your child ready for school on a tight schedule. This is especially if your little one is not cooperating. Try playing the Mission Impossible theme song (or any other upbeat song such as Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry) every morning for some motivation for your child to get up and go! A little upbeat music helps to keep the mood up, turning your morning routine into a mission for your kids to ‘achieve’ every day. You can make it more exciting by challenging them to be ready before the music ends!
2. Music-making Playtime
During playtime with your child, turn on the radio or your Spotify playlist and let your child move and groove to the music! Through movement, their coordination and rhythm awareness will improve. Place hula hoops or pieces of paper on the floor like stepping stones, and jump to different beats together. You can jump forwards, jump backwards, jump three steps quickly, or jump from one step to another slowly. The sky's the limit! Up the fun quotient by encouraging them to make music along with the songs, such as by hitting on cups and bowls with chopsticks as shown like this video below!
Psst...You might want to avoid doing this at night!
3. Do your chores (and have your tot help you)!
If the thought of putting away yet another toy fills you with dread, why not get your little one to help you! Using Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee, pretend to be bees buzzing around the game room, picking up pollen (in this case, toys!). The room will be tidied in no time!
4. Musical Apps/Websites
If making music by hitting on pots and pans isn’t for you, how about trying some mobile apps or websites for some fun music-making? There are many entertaining and easy-to-use apps out there for you to introduce music to your child. Toca Band is a cute mobile app available on the App Store that allows you to create your own music. It features a band of characters who will produce different sounds when you ‘drag’ them onto the performance stage.
Another app to try is called DoReMi 1-2-3: Music for Kids which lets your child learn to play popular kids’ songs by ear. This tone-training app that’s available for Apple, Android and Kindle Fire devices includes many different visuals that makes it entertaining.
If you prefer to use a computer, music-making website Incredibox is an interesting alternative for your child as they can put together different beatboxers who produce varying sounds to easily create their unique song.
For more of our favourite music apps, click here!
Practice can be a trill!
Love,
My Piano Room
