Hearing Patterns

Photo "When children drum along to the rhythms in a song or to their own name, they practice careful listening and pattern recognition. This is one way children hear sounds in words – a skill necessary for word recognition, speaking, reading, and writing. Each time a child is exposed to a new object or experience, new neural connections are made in his brain. Turn a plastic bowl or empty oatmeal container into a simple homemade drum. Let babies learn the cause and effect by just banging on the drum. Allow your toddler to drum away – to a favorite recording or just to the song in his heart. You can also play an easy “Echo Me” game where you chant a short, simple rhythm and they tap it back to you on their drum. You can up the challenge for your preschooler or big kid by asking them to tap back the rhythms in a favorite song or the rhythms of some fun words. -Theresa Case

Words and more words...

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"Exposure to a variety of movement words helps children link movement and language at a time when word acquisition is occurring at a fast pace. Between the ages of 18 months and 4 years children are comprehending an average of one new word for every hour they’re awake. By age 4 most kids know around 10,000 words." -Cheow Yu Yuan

Nothing can replace your role as a parent in talking to your baby or child. TV does not even come close to teaching words and language the way your conversations do. Don't let life get too busy that you don't make some time regularly to sit eye-to-eye and talk with your little one - but mostly LISTEN (and help expose them to a few new words at a time)! Dancing together also accomplishes great strides in vocabulary acquisition if you describe the movements you are making together - it is priceless!

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.

MOVE IT!

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"Children are naturally on the move most all of the time. You can help focus their movement “practice” by encouraging them to dance along with some favorite music and suggesting that they try different ways to move. Or play a game [like Simon Says] where you call out a movement word (like creep, run, tiptoe, or slide). Your child gets to move (creep, run, tiptoe, slide, etc.) until you say “Now let’s stop!” Not only will their movement development be enhanced, but you’ll also help contribute to their creative self-expression, language development, and self-control!" - Theresa Case

I am an artist: this is my movement picture

 The best way for your child to learn is through the kind of integration represented by this activity. In this one activity there was an integration of movement, music listening and art (symbolic drawings). Drawings and paintings communicate your child’s thinking and often display early attempts to create symbols, a step toward literacy. This weeks family activity #8 continues this experience by suggesting other movement verbs and other fun art projects. 

Choose a movement word to draw on a 3x5 (or larger card) One nice thing about drawing a verb is that there is no "right or wrong" way to draw it. The child can draw how it feels to them and it will be completely accurate. Write the word on top of the drawing and the child will begin to associate the written word with the movement. When you have a few made, break out your CD and choose a card and get moving!

“A profound connection exists beween experience and ability in drawing and interest in and ability to write. Drawings and paintings not only communicate children’s thinking (when they reach the level of drawing that is representative of the enviornment) but also often display early attempts to create symbols. Some of these symbols may be recognized by adults, but others seem to be unique and represent the world in the child’s own way. Children often want to talk about their work and create stories to accompany graphics (Kane 1982)” Early childhood Experiences in lanugage Arts: Emerging Literacy, by Jeanne M Machado, p 347

MARCH, 2, 3, 4 AND MARCH . . .

In all Kindermusik classes, there is always emphasis on hearing, feeling, moving, and even “seeing” a steady beat. It may seem very elementary, but it is essentially the cornerstone of music.

More importantly, steady beat plays a huge importance in our speech, movement, thoughts and verbal organization. From a baby’s first hesitant steps, he slowly finds his pace and soon starts to walk steadily and confidently. Our preschoolers who have a strong sense of beat would be able to use the scissors more skillfully. Ever watch a basketball game? The steady dribble of the ball before it is tossed into the basket require an acute sense of beat and timing. A master chef needs to have a command of steady beat in his knife skills. Even writers rely on a sense of steady beat and rhythm in their prose to produce a good read.

Because it is such a fundamental element, parents and teachers often do not give sufficient attention to the development of this very important underlying skill – a strong sense of beat. The consequence of insufficient steady beat experiences in early years can result in poor physical coordination, halting speech (in some cases, stuttering), and even weakness in thought flow. Would you have imagined that something so apparently a strictly musical characteristic can have such bearing on so many areas of our functioning?!

You could invite your whole family to march around your living room or throughout the house. The leader may want to proudly carry a “baton” (even a wooden spoon is great!). If you march to Radetsky's march, notice the volume changes, and encourage your leader to adjust his movements to reflect the different sound levels (Wiggles and Giggles home activity book - online). Have fun taking turns with leaders or providing different instruments for the "band" to play as you march!

Wishy Washy Weeee! COORDINATION

Playing instruments, such as sandblocks or zig zag blocks with a back and forth alternating movement, like the movements of "Wishy Washy Weeeee!" gives the child an opportunity to develop eye-hand coordination. The eye leads the hand movements, so that the internal knowledge becomes the basis for the movement. This connection of movement with sight is essential in writing, drawing, playing an instrument, learning a sport or dancing.

Wouldn't it be fun to do the hand-rubbing action of "Wishy Washy Wee" in the bathtub (and splash a little on "weeeee"!)? You could do it even when you see water elsewhere with your child by making the sign for water and then singing "Wishy Washy Wee". You can try singing it fast or slow, quiet or loud, high and low, or even echoing each other.

What exactly is a Vestibular System?

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To be honest I never heard of the the Vestibular System until I began my training to teach Kindermusik. It seemed odd to me since I've always been fascinated by the human body and even took an advanced biology class in college. I've told lots of parents about the benefits of stimulating it but 

what exactly is it?

I did a little research and  here are the basics of what I learned:

(This is the readers digest version, more detail to come)

from Wikipedia "The vestibular system, ...contributes to our balance and our sense of spatial orientation, is the sensory system that provides the dominant input about movement... Together with the cochlea, a part of the auditory system, it constitutes the labyrinth of the inner ear,... The vestibular system sends signals to the neural structures that control our eye movements, and to the muscles that keep us upright. {source}

"A baby's learning during the 1st 15 months of life is centered on the development of vestibular control. Balance, coordination, and locomotion all depend on the proper functioning of this very important system." {source}

Stimulating the vestibular system by using movement is a key foundation for learning (Promislow, 2003). "The vestibular system, which controls our sense of balance and movement, is also centered in the ear. The vestibular system is interconnected to the cerebral cortex, as well as the eyes and core muscles, and is highly important to the learning process" (Promislow, 2003, p. 123). {source}

 

You know when you spin around a lot and then stop and your eyes move back and forth and you feel like you are still spinning?.... Vestibular system! 

The vestibular system is a use it or loose it system. If we move less as we age our vestibular system doesn't work as well. This results in a decreased sense of balance and ability to right ourselves making older people prone to falls. Often the feeling of unsteadiness results in a reduction of movement, which in turn decreases the functionality of the vestibular system. {picture credit and source}

This is just a sliver of what I learned.

Stay tuned for more...

Get moving!

 In Kindermusik we do a lot of moving! 

Movement is a universal, full time occupation for little ones.

Continuous activity is essential for optimal growth and motor function and control.

What does this mean?

Turn on some music and dance!

As a child moves around the room they learn how to organize their space

in relation to themselves and other objects.

Go for a walk, crunch some leaves, touch the cold rushing water, 

let the sand slide through your fingers 

(and if a little ends up in their mouth, don't despair,

little ones learn a lot through their mouths)

 

And what do you do when they won't hold still long enough to take their picture?

Take a blurry one and be happy they are learning and growing!