No learning without movement! That's a strong but true statement. It's why physical activity is vital and why music is so important to a child's development and growth.
Rhythm, a basic element of music, has been a part of a child's life while still in the womb. Mother's natural movements and rhythms are familiar to baby. These continue after birth in similar ways as baby is cared for - rocked, spoken and sung to, walked and danced with. With these experiences baby forms the patterns of movement, perception, and organization of information on which she builds relationships to herself, to others and to the world. Facilitating movement during infancy greatly enhances baby's physical, emotional and intellectual abilities.
Movement benefits the whole self--it promotes physical fitness, self-esteem, self-confidence and learning, just as lots of physical activity and healthy eating serve as the perfect antidote for early childhood obesity.
Movement is the major component of music class. There's large movement activities, small movement activities, timed movement, shared movement--just all kinds of movement that develop competence in rhythm while making the connections so important to learning. Riding bicycles on your back, tiptoeing fingers, patting the tummy, flying a scarf - the list goes on and on as far as your imagination can dream it up.
That's the best part of music class. Refreshing your ideas on movement, starting to move again like a little child and sharing that with your child builds a happy childhood filled with fun memories of togetherness while stimulating learning.
