MUSIC & MOVEMENT

Children need to move. The boundless energy of young children is something that many adults find amazing. When children arrive at school at the beginning of the day they are likely bringing with them a vast amount of energy that needs to have an outlet. Many teachers find that their students are better able to focus once they have been given the chance to move and dance in creative ways and thus expend much of the excess energy that they have been carrying. There is no shortage of music intended for early childhood classrooms. Much of it is very low quality or lacks the vital interactive element. Music is not for children to listen to while sitting passively. There are many ways that children may interactive with music. Some songs are great for children sitting and singing while making hand gestures that coordinate with the music. Other activities involve the children moving their bodies like various animals or modes of transportation. We call they Imaginative Movement. Still, other songs will direct them to move their bodies in various ways like tapping feet, wiggling shoulder, hopping and stomping. Toddlers love to dance and move to the music. The key to toddler music is the repetition of songs which encourages the use of words and memorization. Silly songs make them laugh. Try singing a familiar song and inserting a silly word in the place of the correct word, like “Mary had a little spider” instead of lamb. Infants recognize the melody of a song long before they understand the words. They often try to mimic sounds and start moving to the music as soon as they are physically able to support it.