Whatever your taste in music, it probably plays an important role in your everyday life. That’s why we believe it’s truly a gift to instil in your baby or toddler the joy that music can bring.
But pleasure aside, why is music important for a child’s development? There are a number of benefits of music for children’s learning, so let’s take a look at them.
Why Is Music Important For Child Development?
A study by the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California found that musical instruction appears to accelerate brain development in young children.
The areas of the brain that are responsible for language development, processing sounds, reading skills and speech perception especially benefit from musical interaction.
The Benefits of Music For Children’s Learning
The wonderful thing about music and its many benefits in helping children learn and grow, is that it’s fun! Music lends itself to sociable activities, whether it’s through singing nursery rhymes, learning to play an instrument, dancing, or simply clapping along.
In addition to this, using music as a tool for child development can never start too early and your infant doesn’t need to understand the words of a song to benefit from it. In fact The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America found that babies as young as two months old can recognize melody.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the learning benefits of music.
Creates a Sense of Community
As adults, most of our singing might be done alone in the shower, but singing songs helps children feel connected both to the adult leading the sing-a-long as well as to other children taking part.
At this crucial stage of a child’s development music is important because this sense of inclusion helps them learn about the concepts of ‘belonging’ and ‘not belonging’.
This also has a role to play in helping children understand inclusivity. If the adults in their lives include songs and music from different cultures, children will learn early on that there is a bigger world out there which will help them embrace diversity.
Helps Grow Vocabulary
In order for babies to develop the neural pathways that they need to listen and talk they need stimulation. A baby babbling away to themselves may not sound particularly meaningful, but it actually helps them develop these pathways.
And infants who are interacted with orally generally tend to babble more, which in turn leads to a greater vocabulary when they do start speaking.
Imitating the sounds they hear – or at least trying to! – is a baby’s way of communicating with the outside world. This is why, even at an early age, music is of incredible importance when it comes to a child’s development.
Improves Listening Skills
If you’ve ever struggled to get your toddler to listen to you, one of the biggest benefits of music for child development is its ability to help improve those all important listening skills.
That’s because singing even the simplest nursery rhyme or learning the hand gestures that go with a song will require a child’s full attention if they want to learn the words and actions and join in.
And of course, when it comes to playing an instrument – no matter how simple – a child has to listen carefully to their teacher’s instructions, as well as learn to hear rhythm, tone and pitch.
Develops Hand-Eye Coordination
One of the main reasons why music is important for a child’s development is the part it has to play in developing gross and fine motor skills, and hand-eye coordination.
From clapping, foot tapping and actions through to learning to play an instrument, these physical activities help the brain make essential connections.
Learning to play an instrument requires the brain to work at greater speeds so that it can convert the written sheet music into the physical act of playing the instrument. Not only does this contribute to a quicker thought process, but again, to better hand-eye coordination.
Promotes Emotional Development
Returning to the idea of a sense of community and diversity, one of the benefits of music for early learners is that it can help promote emotional development and empathy.
Music in child development is less about mastering the piano and more about self-expression – something which can help children develop their creative skills.
Moreover, from learning a new nursery rhyme to getting to grips with the recorder, the act of learning something new helps children grow in confidence and develop better self-esteem.
After all, there’s nothing quite like seeing the smiles on the faces of proud parents and teachers that will help with that.
Music Classes For Child Development
At Little Angels we love nothing more than combining fun and education. And our music lessons for children certainly provide a good dose of both!
As we’ve seen, the benefits of music classes for children are many and whether your child is playing an instrument, dancing up a storm, or singing their heart out, they’re learning something new and they’re expressing themselves.
We recognise the benefits of music for child development and through our classes, we encourage children to embrace their creativity and let their imaginations run free through the use of a wide variety of genres and styles of music as well as with fun props.
Learn More About Little Angels
Looking for nursery open days near Perkins Square and Southwark Bridge? Come and see what Little Angels has to offer.
If you’re interested in finding out more about our music classes for children or any of our other fun extracurricular activities such as French lessons, sign language lessons or cooking classes, we’d love to hear from you.
Sign up for our upcoming nursery open day!
We understand that you’ll want to make sure that Little Angels nursery is right for your child, and the best way of doing that is with a visit. Join us on an open day and we’ll be happy to show you around and answer any questions you might have.
Not ready to book an open day? No problem. Download a brochure to learn more about us and our fun and educational activities for babies and toddlers.