Children absolutely love music, making music one of the best vehicles to aid in early childhood development. We at the Boys And Girls Club Central Texas, a leading child care and kids activities center, make use of this valuable tool in many of our programs, to help take musical learning to the next level for our young members. Research has continually shown that music has a positive effect on children, on different levels, ranging from reading and quantitative skills to their social, physical, and creative abilities. We help the children at our club to draw the maximum benefits from music, by incorporating it into our set of activities.
We are constantly exploring the different ways in which music education can be incorporated into our after-school curriculum, by creating countless kids activities centered around music, and helping children to find exciting new ways to enjoy music. The young children at our club benefit immensely from singing songs and reciting poems. This helps to improve their literacy skills, as they build connections to the familiar words in the songs, which results in the firing away of neural transmitters in their brain.
Children who develop an inclination towards music at an early stage also have higher self-esteem, self-confidence, and curiosity. The ability of music to address multiple needs of children can be attributed to it being nonjudgmental. Music also encourages children to listen with concentration, which has a highly positive effect on their learning ability. The varying pitches of music help in boosting the auditory development in the brain.
The benefits of music can also be seen for older children, in whom music stimulates brain connections, hence training the brain for advanced forms of thinking. The exposure of children to the complex multi-sensory stimulation involved in musical activities like keyboard lessons and group singing helps in developing their spatial reasoning, which is an important skill that they use later in math, science, and engineering.
In addition to the several positive effects that music has on the mental development of children, it also boosts their physical development by making it easy for them to move from one activity to another. Children who are exposed to music from an early stage develop motor coordination and rhythmic movements, which help to keep them active, and develop in them a sense of direction.