Tag Archives: Education

Apr 12 2012

Musical Moments

First band concert by kids

First band concert by kids (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My grandson brought home a flyer for the school concert this week.  It delicately (In Giant Bold Print)reminded me that this was Music in Our Schools Month, and offered a free concert for my listening pleasure.

Now, I’m not sure when the first (or last) school concert you attended was, but I sure remember my last concert.  The oldest grandchild was 9 and had second chair for a rendition of “Oats, Peas, and Beans” on the Violin.  I can assure you it was a phenomenal treat to hear the sheer artistry of the composition played in the acoustically designed cafeteria as I sat on a  lunch table bench labeled with a piece of computer paper stating “peanut free” secured with packing tape directly beneath my behind.  You may now breathe a sigh of relief that I did not record it at the time and will not be linking to a site that you can share the experience with me over and over.

However, I do think music is a critically important part of a growing child’s education at any age, and some of my favorite suggestions for introducing music are below:

Infants through Toddlerhood:

Singing favorite songs over and over.  Before they are even six months old, infants can benefit from music.  My daughter, a speech and hearing therapist, shares that developmental research has shown that mapping the auditory cortex helps develop pitch and encourages spatial-temporal abilities… Who would have guessed? The Next Bieber can be in your arms right now!  And humming Row, Row, Row the Boat is just the jumpstart he needed.

Sitting until 3 Years:

Pots and Pans from under your sink.  That’s right – a spoon, a Tupperware container with a lid, and a metal pot makes an excellent drum set.  And the basics of  banging a spoon on your pan improves hand-eye coordination! So if it has become clear by the time your grandchild is toddling he will not be able to carry a tune, banging the pots and pans may help him become a better athlete.

3 Years to 5 Years:

Musical Games like “Ring around the Rosey” or “Patty Cake“.  Clapping, waving, jumping, dancing, and singing along reinforces thinking skills like visualizing and forethought.  According to my grandson’s Physical Therapist, musical games assist tremendously in focusing young children’s energy for five or six minutes at a time on gross motor skill development and coordination.  I have witnessed his receptivity to learning is much better when music is included in his therapy.

6 Years to 10 Years:

The Radio.  If you are not able to introduce your grandchild to learning to play an instrument, due to lack of resources at school or lack of personal opportunities, do not let that discourage you from continuing to take advantage of the many free musical options.  Introduce your grandchild to many styles of music, not just the current pop trend.  Share your favorite teen beats, my grandchildren love to Doo Whop.

This is the point at which your grandchild will begin to notice that music has structure.  Most published research on music and improved academics originates from this age group, and not just because this is the age group where testing becomes popular since kids are in school: math and reading is about patience and patterning. Listening to a song long enough to start singing along with the lyrics helps develop the longer attention spans needed for reading, and being able to repeat the rhymes and inflection in a chorus is a blend of concentration skills and patterning found in math.

If your local school has a music concert this month, and it is free, you may want to venture out, if only to have an idea of what you are in for later on or to show community support for the program so it is still there when your Mini Mozart has an opportunity to participate.  But if not, or if you prefer to keep a little closer to home with the little ones, I hope you can find a way to put a little music into your day.

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Jan 27 2012

Playing with Your Grandchildren – It’s Important!

Play is one of the most overlooked important things that we can do with our grandchildren which benefits us as much as it benefits them.  Hopefully you are a young grandparent, like I am, and you can get down on the floor and chase toddlers on your hands and knees.  Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely days I have to put the heating pad across my shoulders at night, but for the most part, I have as much fun as they do.  Even if you have physical limits, some of the play you can participate in is mental, and that is just as important! The more activity we participate in, the less likely we are to suffer the effects of aging on our bodies.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Council on Aging agree with me.  They have published articles on the importance of play in promoting healthy child development and maintaining strong adult-child bonds.  You can follow these links for more information:

http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;119/1/182

http://www.healthyagingprograms.org/content.asp?sectionid=73

Or you can just take my word for it, what is above is a bunch of scientific gobbledy-gook, and I bet if you have grandchildren, you also have better things to do.

There are several types of play, you can follow the six types of play laid out by child Psychologist Jean Piaget, or you can follow my more practical list. Each has distinct benefits for your grandchildren and some happens at different times, my goal here is to introduce you to some different types of play, and then follow up with how they benefit you and your grandchild.

Pretend Play

There is a ton of information out there about the relationship between “high-quality pretend play” and your grandchild’s smarts. It helps them think, socialize, speak better, and perform better in school.  I am not sure what high quality is, but if that includes putting on rock star shows where my four year old granddaughter climbs up on the coffee table stage and sings her best made up song while I cheer her on, I have this one covered!  For you, pretend play helps keep your brain active – and an active brain is the best way to prevent against diseases common in older people, like dementia.

Baby Play

Playing with babies may seem silly, but even if you have physical limitations, you can hold and gaga at your grandbaby.  This very early play time is essential for developing bonds, creating early social skills, developing brains, learning movements, and school readiness.  That’s right, simply holding your grandbaby and making eye contact while you sing their favorite song helps them get ready for the repetition they will face in school. And passing them a toy or rattle helps them learn special awareness and coordination. For you, baby play just plain feels good.  Growing social and emotional connections and knowing you are an invaluable contributor to your grandchild’s development from the start is important for everyone’s emotional health.

Solitary Play

Playing alone is an important part of developing play skills.  For this, all you have to do is set up the area that your grandchild can navigate on their own: books, balls, puzzles, blocks, stuffed animals, art or coloring.  This helps your grandchild develop and master new skills, learn leadership skills, independent thinking, and social security.  To keep them learning regularly exchange the play items for new ones so they gets lots of opportunities to experience new things.  For you: Not much, it is way more fun to be involved that to be an onlooker, but watching your grandchildren as they master new skills can definitely give you something to brag about to your friends.

Sensory Play

Until last year, this was a whole new concept for me.  My youngest grandson faced some very difficult challenges making his way into this world.  He was born with partial right side paralysis and some minor neurological deficits.  His mother and I were surprised to discover a whole area of play focused just on developing your grandchild’s senses. Containers of water, dirt, sandboxes, spoons, measuring cups and your help will allow your grandchild’s math skills to blossom.  Like solitary play, you can set up an area for the two of you to discover what happens when your grandchild scoops sand into a container of water (the water line goes up!).  But unlike solitary play, you play too.  The advantage for you: the fine hand and finger movements help keep arthritis at bay, and the thinking involved in creating the next sensory experiment will keep your brain young!

Guided Play

This type of play is play that you design for your grandchild to participate in.  This type of play is important in developing the foundation for social skills, give and take negotiations, and learning.  You can create a theme, build off a favorite story, or make an enticing change to your house, like tossing a sheet over the sofa and coffee table to go “camping”.  After that, your grandchild takes off with the rest, and your job is to follow, but reinforce the boundries of the activity, her imagination might build an alien zoo in your outer-space, but not at Cinderella’s castle. For you: again that pesky “keep your brain young” advantage.  And depending on how active your creation is, you could also benefit from moving your body to stave off the affects of inactivity. Imagination is fantastic!

Physical Play

This rough and tumble play is close encounter play.  It is not fighting, but it does involve touching, tickling, gauging strength, discovering physical limitations or advantages.  You can encourage physical play through a game of tag, a game of kick, or a game of catch.  There are endless ways to encourage and participate in physical play, and it is important for developing bodies to gain new physical skills, like skipping, jumping, rolling, and running. For you the advantage is staving off age-related diseases like obesity, arthritis, or loss of flexibility.  If you can participate at all in physical play, I highly recommend it.

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