The Power of Your Touch

Music and movement are magical ingredients to learning for both the child and parent. A baby’s first communication is through movement. A toddler immediately responds to lively music with silly gyrations and flailing limbs – and while these movements usually make us giggle, to him they are serious attempts to coordinate movement with rhythmic patterns. The preschooler seems to be constantly moving – leaping off couches, rolling down hills, and spinning around and around 

Movement is fundamental for the development of the central nervous system, and science proves it. But what’s more, movement and rhythm are also essential for the development of the soul. These are things that can’t be measured with research and studies.

When a parent moves with her infant, a special bonding takes place that is key to social and emotional growth. When a parent sings to her child, not only are language skills being developed, but also a sense of love, comfort and harmony. The special touching, laughing, and rhythmic moving that takes place in a music and movement class lays a very strong and much needed foundation for a happy, healthy and joyful life!

Here are just a few of the ways that Kindermusik children learn through the interactive music and movement activities of the Kindermusik classroom:

• Intentional touch is designed to provide stimulation of the nervous system, relaxation and bonding.
• Activities involve unilateral, bi-lateral and cross-lateral movements that help develop the brain and muscles.
• Movement and dance steps allow the caregiver and child to experience different rhythms and locomotor movements.
• Synchronized dances develop sequencing, provide reassuring repetition and social interaction.
• Expressive movement provides variety, creativity, and opposing feelings such as fast and slow, high and low.
• Rocking and swinging stimulate the vestibular system, which is so important to balance and even eye movement.
• Props, such as the “humongous” scarves and parachutes, provide tactile and visual stimulation.

So put on your Kindermusik CD at home and don’t worry about performing the dances “just right.” Don’t even worry about right and left! Simply move to the music and have fun! It all makes a difference.

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Unusual recipe for learning success!!!

Photo Carla Hannaford (award winning author and eductor) writes, “Movement is essential to learning. Movement integrates and anchors new information into our neural networks. Every time we move in an organized manner, full brain activation and integration occurs, and the door to learning opens.” "Combine movement, which fully activates the brain, and creates and strengthens neural networks, with music, which is the only activity that simultaneously stimulates every area of the brain, and you have a recipe for successful learning. As a home schooling mom, here’s some things that we’ve done that combine music (or the components of music like rhythm and meter) that assist in learning. (You don’t have to home school to do these things. You are your child’s first and most important teacher!) 1. While singing learning songs or poems and chants, we have a small indoor trampoline for jumping on... Jumping really seems to make the just inputted information stick in brains better. 2. My children all sit on exercise balls. I’ve noticed that when new or more difficult concepts are being learned, their ability to sit still decreases. All that electrical energy in their brain is going towards creating new or stronger neural pathways. An exercise ball allows them to have the movement they need, without being distracting, so that brain energy is spent focusing on learning, rather than using that brain power to sit quietly.... 3. When learning to spell difficult words or ... counting by 2’s, 5’s, etc., we get up and bounce a ball back and forth, taking turns counting or giving the next letter in a word. The kids love it, and they learn faster and better. 4. Playing background music is great, too. One suggestion – during homework or school time, the best music to listen to has no words. 5. Be sure to give your children plenty of get up and play breaks to rest and refocus eyes, and allow the brain to process everything they just learned. Otherwise, the information really will be in one ear and out the other." Source What a revolutionary learning technique for academic information!!!

Bilateral integration

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There is a reason we provide and encourage two instruments, one for each hand. It relates to your child’s fine motor development. We are encouraging bilateral integraton which allows your child’s eyes to track a ball or the words on a page. Bilateral functioning helps keep balance while sitting, standing, and moving. It allows eyes and hands to work together to complete a variety of tasks.

To achieve bilateral integration, a child must first engage in bilateral play which requires holding two similar items, one in each hand. Holding one item would alter his interaction with the instrument and not encourage bilateral exploration, but rather focus on unilateral play.

As fine motor development progresses, a child will move his or her arms simultaneously (like patting knees or drumming hands together). Then he will move both hands symmetrically (think of clapping hands or tapping bells together.) After that is well established, he will begin to alternate like movements (one and then the other in a repeating pattern). The ultimate goal of this integration is to be able to use both sides of the body in non-symmetrical movement cooperatively. Examples of this are holding paper and cutting with scissors or holding strings down with one hand and strumming the strings of an instrument with another.

Capoeira

http://youtu.be/WV-Sf5-aCcc
Have you ever heard of capoeira? It is a fun, musical, rhythmic, culturally enriching, exciting, usually painless form of martial arts from Brazil. Try some moves with your child and check out the video. It can help in many aspects of children's development (socially, emotionally, musically, and physically). Remember - no hurting each other!

MOVEMENT AND LEARNING

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Balance, coordination, spatial awareness, directionality, and visual literacy are developed [when movement is used in learning]. These components are developed as children roll, creep, crawl, spin, twirl, bounce, balance, walk, jump, juggle, and support their weight in space. Self-awareness, self-esteem and social skills are also enhanced through movement (Lengel & Kuczala 2010).

Crawling is a cross-lateral movement that activates both hemispheres of the brain in a balanced way... [which] heightens cognitive functions and increases learning. Activities such as reading, writing, thinking clearly, and problem solving are skills that involve both hemispheres of the brain. Cross lateral movements help the hemispheres to work together (Hannaford, Smart Moves).

Try showing or helping your child to cross arms and then tickle their toes while sitting, standing and bending, or kicking forwards or backwards. And doing this to a musical beat is even more fun!