Mini-movers and mood music

As adults, we know how music affects us. It can make us feel happier when we’re sad and have a calming effect when we’re stressed – and it’s no different for babies and children. Young children’s brains are wired to enjoy and learn music, just as they are to speech and speech patterns!

So, how can you take advantage of this?

There used to be a theory that listening to Mozart was beneficial to maths learning. While there’s some evidence to suggest that music can impact older children’s academic approach, experts believe it has benefits for infants, too – particularly on brain development. All children have the potential to be musical, but it needs to be nurtured early on.

It’s thought that newborn babies can distinguish between their native language and an unfamiliar one by listening to pitch and rhythm. At two months old, according to one study, infants can remember brief melodies. Some experts say that foetuses as young as 35 weeks can distinguish between – and remember – different sounds!

Making music a part of children’s lives is sowing the seeds of a lifelong love and interest in music, and music or singing groups are a great way to start. Information about these can be found in local libraries, newspapers and noticeboards (as well as the internet!). No age is too young to start the musical immersion.

Often, music groups sing children’s songs and nursery rhymes while also using simple instruments – such as drums, tambourines and bells – to add melody, beat and rhythm. It’s a great way of introducing your child to playing an instrument for when they’re older!

Playing music throughout the day is also beneficial. Perhaps use music to signal the end/beginning of activities? Or to settle them down when the end of the day is near, or bright music that builds up to start the day?

Research suggests that very young children like harmonious music rather than harsh sounds, so think about how you can match the music to the activity or purpose.

Music can aid children’s learning, as well as their physical, social and emotional development, with some experts believing that music participation at an early age can help improve children’s learning ability and memory due to stimulating different patterns of brain development.

In fact, studies have found that babies engaging in music-making using simple instruments and moving to music use more communicative gestures than those who listen passively. And, as the theory goes, the more expressive their gestures, the more likely they are to acquire language skills!

Songs and nursery rhymes also introduce children to new words, with research suggesting that putting words to music helps the brain to learn them more quickly. It is thought that playing to music also helps to build self-esteem in very young children.

Singing to children and mimicking their responses to your song or rhyme – by clapping when they clap, for example – can help to boost their confidence.

Making your own instruments can be done both cheaply and easily! Plus, it gives children the opportunity to play around with the effect of texture, shape, size and material on the types of noises made, while also building various fine motor skills. Lentils or uncooked rice in an empty plastic bottle makes a great sound, or you can hit a wooden spoon on a biscuit tin or a saucepan. You could even venture outside and run sticks along fences.

Basically, if it makes a noise, it’s an instrument!

Letting babies and children make sounds with an instrument encourages self-expression and gives them a way to communicate how they’re feeling before they can talk.