Over the decades, there have been numerous scientific studies done to correlate the relationship between music and brain development. In the end, the overwhelming majority of these studies say that children with more musical stimulation at a young age have faster and slightly more advanced early brain development. Here are four things you can do with or for your kids to help them through this time of development.
1. Sing to Them
Even as new born babies, children pick up on harmonies and tones. That is why there are so many nursery rhymes that we associate with soothing a baby to sleep. If you aren’t a great singer, download some of these easy melodies to play to them while you cradle them. As their ears pick up on more differences, they will little by little register in the baby’s brain as normal.
2. Get them Toys that Make Music, Not Noise
Babies love things that make noise. Rattles, horns, etc. These are all great, try to avoid things that just make random noise like a squeaker toy; save those for the dogs. Sears actually has a great assortment of infants instruments. Find a few nice things that your child really enjoys playing, instead of a lot of little things.
3. Advance Gradually
As your child gets bigger and their brain has the ability to absorb more information, you can advance their learning by upgrading their instruments. If you start them with a small basic keyboard as a baby, you can get a slightly bigger more advanced one in a few years.
Eventually, they will be playing a full size grand like it’s nothing at all!
4. Always be Supportive
This is key to anything your child does. As they progress with their musical aspirations, there are going to be natural highs and lows. As a parent, it is important to know how to handle these. During the highs it is easy to be supportive, but don’t let them get an ego. On the other hand, the lows will be more difficult. During these times, allow them to take some breaks if they want to but always encourage them to move forward at some point. The key is to encourage, not pressure them.
