Kids instinctively are attracted to music. The sound and beat instantly will get their feet moving. Educators as well as parents use songs as a way to remember things such as their ABCs and many other songs that help them with their development. As a parent, you may want to take your child’s appreciation for music to the next level by teaching them a little bit more about music. Remember that each kid moves at their own pace so don’t get disappointed when your child is not showing Beethoven-like qualities. You want them to start appreciating music and develop the same love for it as you do.
To start teaching music to children, you can first start by instrument identification. Let them go through a few instruments and allow them to try play each one. You want them to get familiar with the sounds each instrument can make. A fun activity is to incorporate musical pieces you’ve found that have those same instruments in the song. Have them try and identify the instruments that they hear. Ask them which instrument is their favorite.
Another great tool to start your child’s musical education is this Rhythm Band 8 Note Metal Hand Bells found on Amazon. Each bell has a corresponding color and note writing on top of each handle. Children love listening to the different sounds that they make. It also has the musical letter on the handle so you know what each note sounds like. This is the first step to learning to read music. This instrument is a great way of not only teaching children different musical sounds but also timing and rhythm of the sounds.
Introduce your child to different kinds of genres of music. From concertos to country and jazz to pop, let them listen to it all. Ask them which type of music they like best and why. Get out of the house and visit places that these types of music are played. Research your community to see what types of music festivals are available for families to visit. If you live in the downtown area, a fun activity is walking around and listening to the music played right on the streets.
You can also introduce them to musical notes and symbols. Having a fairly good understanding these symbols will help them out before the really start to study how to read music. They can practice making notes with spaghetti noodles and learning about what each symbols mean like how long do they hold a note for and what sound can you expect it to sound like when it is played.
Make sure you make it fun and like you are exploring a whole new world. Music is a great self-expression and there are only benefits when a child has the same love of music as you do.