Music is one of the most crucial aspects of early learning. The value of engaging in music activities with your children is endless and it should be a part of your daily play together.
Here are a few of the benefits of music in early childhood education, as explained by Anet le Roux in her book “Music in Early Childhood Development and the Foundation Phase.”
1. Intellectual Development
Music has a huge impact on a child’s cognitive development in many ways:
- When children sing and use actions along with the words, they develop an understanding of symbolism which leads to pretend or symbolic play, an essential activity in early childhood.
- Children build an understanding of concepts such as high/low, fast/slow, numbers, letters, etc., and their language skills are stimulated, leading to increased vocabulary.
- They also learn about cause-effect relationships with simple movements (“If I shake this the bells make a sound”).
- Engaging in music activities that are guided by a parent is a great way to improve children’s attentiveness and attention span, as well as memory, due to the repetition in songs and constant exposure to lyrics.
- A simple activity such as sorting instruments can develop classification skills.
2. Emotional and Social Development
Here are a few ways music has a positive impact on children’s social and emotional growth:
- The best advantage of singing is that music is an activity that children always feel a sense of success with. There is no right or wrong way to do things, so the experience is always positive.
- Children feel successful by singing simple songs, moving to music, playing a simple instrument such as bells, and having their names used in a song. This leads to feelings of increased worth, competence and self-esteem.
- Many reserved children find they are able to come out of their shells when singing and dancing and they have a way to express their feelings in a healthy way. They show their emotions through moving, listening, singing and playing instruments.
- Music is a form of creative expression which develops a child’s sense of self.
- When playing together with your children they learn how to take turns and be considerate, whether sharing equipment or allowing others space and time to sing and express themselves.
3. Motivational Development
Motivation comes from within a child and nurtures their urge to learn. It comes from a desire to be successful as well as a need to associate positively with others.
- During music games, kids feel good about themselves, which is important to even very young children.
- During a game where children are given choices, they build a sense of will by making their own decisions and choosing what to do.
- They learn self-control and impulse control, which means they think before acting and stay engaged in one activity instead of moving from one to another.
- Music generally relaxes, energises and motivates children.
4. Motor Development
Motor development refers to how the body grows and develops. Music activities are packed with opportunities for movement, such as dancing, marching, walking, hopping, touching and moving body parts.
Gross Motor Control
It is important for children to learn how to execute movements correctly and in a controlled way using their whole body. They start by developing their large muscles (gross motor) and later develop their small muscles in their hand (fine motor).
Action songs, dances, playing with instruments and all kinds of games are excellent opportunities to move the whole body. Music is seldom a static activity.
Through movement in music, they discover and explore their own bodies and understand what their bodies are capable of doing.
Body Image
For young children, musical activities are a great way to develop body image. This is learned through songs and action rhymes that name body parts.
Hand-Eye Coordination
Hand-eye coordination is developed through simple activities such as playing instruments or using body percussion (tapping, clicking, etc).
Vestibular and Proprioception
The vestibular system (in the inner ear) is responsible for balance, eye movement and a child’s awareness of their body in space.
This awareness is called proprioception and allows a child to understand where his body is – above, below, in, out, in front of, behind, near, far, up, down, etc.
The vestibular system is critical for development and is responsible for nearly all of our motor functions and some of our sensory functions. It can be stimulated through sound (listening and auditory discrimination) and movement.
It also affects mood, activity levels and general focusing of attention.
The ear, brain and sense of balance are connected through the vestibular system, as explained in this video about the vestibular system.
Rocking, swinging and swaying to the music, walking on tiptoes, walking on a rope and hopping on one leg are examples of activities that will stimulate this important system.
Lateral Dominance
Music games are also a medium through which children can develop lateral dominance. This means having an inner awareness of the two sides of the body.
As it develops, they start to prefer using one side (of their ears, eyes, hands and legs) and this usually happens by the age of 5 or 6.
Midline Crossing
The next stage is known as midline crossing which means crossing one side of the body to the other side.
It is an important milestone and can be practised during action songs where the arms cross over the body, or when playing instruments that require crossing one arm over to the other side (e.g. hitting a drum to the left with the stick in the right hand).
By starting to cross the midline, young children improve their physical growth in both hemispheres of the brain.
Fine Motor Control
Children who have control of their large muscles then start to develop the small muscles responsible for holding a pencil, cutting, tearing, threading, tying shoelaces, fastening buttons, undressing, etc.
Activities such as playing with instruments, clicking fingers or drawing to the melody can build fine motor skills, necessary to learn to hold a pencil and write later on.
5. Visual Development
Through music, children are able to discover their environment through their senses (seeing and listening). This is known as perceptual development, and visual and auditory skills are two components of it.
- Visual-motor development is the ability to execute movements as guided by the eyes. It includes eye-hand, eye-foot and eye-motor (both hands) coordination. An activity such as playing with instruments will develop eye-hand coordination.
- From the age of around 5 or 6, children are able to start understanding concepts from what they see. The brain stores information in short and long-term memory by breaking things up into smaller parts and putting them together again. Examples of this would be completing a picture, song or rhythm.
- Music activities can also develop a child’s binocular functions, which means he is able to merge the two fields of vision from the two eyes into one field of vision when he looks at something.
- Attention span can be built when playing music games, which enables children to do long periods of work where their eyes have to stay focused.
6. Auditory Development
Auditory-motor development is the ability to execute movements as guided by the ears. It includes ear-hand, ear-foot and ear-motor (both ears) coordination.
Children who grow up listening to sounds – frogs croaking, dogs barking, planes flying overhead, poetry, stories and music – will develop their auditory skills.
The ear (vestibular system) plays a central role in language and movement development. The whole body is directed by the ear as the hearing organ.
When a child listens and looks attentively, he uses his whole body and is then able to focus on what is needed from the environment for his development.
Listening is a skill that children must learn in order to become aware of sounds in their environment.
It leads to better attention skills, a good listening ear for learning, and well-developed auditory discrimination skills – an important skill for learning to read.
Here are some auditory-perceptual skills children learn through music:
- They learn to hear similarities and differences in pitch, volume and intensity; sounds, words and sentences; numbers; rhythm and distance.
- Auditory sequencing and memorizing means what is heard can be stored and recalled in a meaningful way.
- This is also important for reading, as well as auditory analysis – analysing words or clapping syllables or sounds and auditory synthesis – adding sounds and syllables together to form a word or pattern.
- Finally, auditory closure means children are able to process instructions in less than 4 seconds so the content is not lost.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this overview of the many benefits of music for young children.
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