What Are The Benefits of Music to Young Children?

Research indicates that early introduction to music helps develop young brains, strengthens listening abilities and assists with problem-solving skills. Singing to a baby from birth can include such old classical rhyming poems such as: Humpty Dumpty, Baa Baa Black Sheep and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. The following are some of the main reasons why introducing music to your young child is important.

- Music provides opportunities to develop social skills. It assists children in being creative. Music can be incorporated into a child's play. This will be advantageous to children because play is really a young child's version of work.
- Singing is verbal play with rhymes and melodies which help children with speech development. Research indicates that music can give children a head start; they are better able to verbalize, are more aware, better able to reason and it increases their cognitive skills.
- The most important brain development takes place in the first six years of their life. Music has been proven to have positive affects on the brain. I have seen this happen with my two year old granddaughter who has had music as a large part of her life since birth. She has been able to carry on a conversation since she was eighteen months old and is able to read such words as gorilla, chimpanzee, giraffe and elephant at an age when most can barely say the words. She also has a fairly good repertoire of songs she can sing on her own.
- Music makes children less inhibited. They enjoy the wonders of sound and are naturally receptive to rhythm and dancing. For this reason, music encourages creativity and interaction in non-threatening ways.
- Motor skills are developed also with the use of musical instruments and dancing to a beat. Involvement with music develops the skills of concentration, coordination and encourages self-esteem and confidence. As a further benefit, music stimulates the senses. At an age where the brain is developing so quickly, this will help the child not only now but as he/she furthers their education and emotional and social development.
- Music of any kind further aides emotional well-being and calms and focuses the mind. Even as an adult I have found this to be true.

What better time to start than now when there are so many Christmas songs that children enjoy while they focus on the exciting day ahead. Most children enjoy songs such as: Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Jingle Bells and Here Comes Santa Claus. They are fun, lively and can be interactive. But there are many other fun and interactive songs that children also enjoy such as: The Wheels On The Bus, The Eensy Weensy Spider, Old MacDonald Had a Farm, The Farmer in the Dell and Whistle While you Work, to name but a few. So take the time to enjoy singing and dancing with your young child.