The Magic of Music and Movement

Children’s brains grow at their fastest rate in the first three years of their life. Sensory learning experiences during this time such as musical activities can enrich these years. Music an early age can have long term effects. Children enjoy- tapping, rocking, marching, rolling, clapping, wriggling, tickling, bouncing and moving to the beats. Music is a natural part of life for toddlers. It is critical for the child’s social, emotional, intellectual and physical development.

At KLAY, Music and Movement is an integral part of the daily activities. While rhymes are sung during multiple times of the day (like during circle time, during lunchtime, during transitions and even during hand wash), Music and Movement is a focused activity time intended to meet certain objectives. The role of the teacher during music and movement is critical as she needs to make observations on the developing milestones of children.

Objectives for Children’s Learning

Role of Music:

Children learn through while seeing, doing and repeating. Movement, whether it’s running around or dancing away to music, is critical in a child’s development. Movement is important for developing strength in their bones and muscles, developing their blood circulation and overall health. Some obvious yet unstated developments and growth in toddlers are listed as follows:

Co-ordination:

Movement is the sign of life and kicking starts in the womb. Music makes us move through songs which require movement and children learn to co-ordinate their hands, feet and bodies in actions that are not normally part of everyday life but can help develop extensive connections across their brain.
Songs with a beat or lyrics which encourage children to walk, hop, jump, gallop, skip, crawl, stamp, or creep all help develop their motor skills, balance and co-ordination. Songs which ask children to swing, stretch, bend, twist and spin help to develop their body awareness and balance.

Language development:

The first cry is a mere sound, an expression with no words… By immersing children in musical activities, they start to develop their language skills too. Children’s songs often have repeated phrases and use rhyme, which makes them easier for young children to remember. Songs which have words that describe their actions help children to understand language.

For example, if you sing a song about going up and down, and your hands and the melody move up and down, then the little one will start to develop a real understanding of the concepts ‘up’ and ‘down’.

Focused listeners:

Sounds produce an immediate reaction in an infant. Once the children are walking, listening to music builds focused listeners as musical activities use sound and there are constant cues for children to notice and react to. They learn to move their bodies to match the music and then change when the music changes.

Musical activities are multi-sensory and because they involve vision, hearing and movement, many brain areas are involved. There are lots of sequences in music whether they are words, rhythms, melodies or actions and this help to make the memory and learning more lasting than just watching or hearing something.

Imagination:

Stories and songs make the children think and imagine what is described. Songs which are about pretending to do something or be something help develop children’s imagination as well as the language associated with that topic. For example, digging a garden or flying a spaceship is strange if the child has not seen it but a song related to it can make them understand the movement. Songs can also help children to visualise what they’re singing about. Different words use different actions and these open the world of imagination for them.

Feeling good:

Rhythmic natural sounds are soothing and our senses are tuned automatically to them. A lullaby makes us sleep, a chant gives us peace. In children, the upbeat tempo of the music is energizing and fun and movement associated with that music oxygenate their brains and pumps blood around their bodies making them feel good.

Stimulation for Cognitive Development :

Music and movement is a great way to stimulate young children. For example, when a child marches around the room to music while clapping hands, many different sorts of stimulation enter their brain at once which are:

• They listen to music and then need to co-ordinate their walking in time with the beat.
• They clap with their hands while co-ordinating their feet, building complex connections in their brain.
• Sometimes the clap may be at half the speed that their feet are moving. This introduces maths concepts of division into their brain.
• Children develop eye strength through hand-eye co-ordination as they bring their hands into contact with each other.
• They develop body awareness by knowing how much space they take up in a room, and their spatial awareness by walking in free space around objects or other people while they are also moving.
• They sing, using their ears to aid them in tuning their voice to match the song.
• They develop their language capabilities by learning the words of the song, with the aid of the rhyme and rhythm.
• They develop their memory by learning the sequence of words in the song.
• They develop social skills by moving with other people, sharing space and giving way to others.
• So do not think that children were just playing and dancing around, in reality, there are so many possible learning opportunities planned with the Music and Movement sessions.