Teaching Musical Instruments to Young Kids The Fun Way!

Is it a good idea to teach music to young kids? Absolutely! There are many reasons why you want your kids to learn and enjoy music and musical instruments from the time they are toddlers. Playing musical instruments helps kids of every age build their cognitive skills, enhances their focus, and boosts creative thinking. Here are a few more ways kids benefit from learning/playing musical instruments early in life:

1. They learn to focus and listen. Those who study music early tend to pick up foreign languages easier and are able to distinguish words amidst the noise more readily than children who aren’t studying music as a disciplineStudies show that the ability and capacity to focus and listen well position them to do better in school. In fact, SAT takers that studied music scored, on average, 47 and 43 points higher on their verbal and math sections of the test, respectively.
   
2. Music stimulates the brain’s emotional region. Music helps people feel good, because it stimulates the parts of the brain responsible for emotions and reward, and has the potential to bolster  your child’s self-esteem.
3. Music helps kids stay engaged with school. Music is one of many avenues for kids to express their ideas and their feelings. It also improves their problem solving skills and critical thinking ability, and makes them more open for criticism. Approximately 9.5 out of 10 high school principals surveyed agree that participating in music education encourages and motivates students to stay in school.
4. Music instills core skills. Music enhances coordination, teaches patience and responsibility, aids social skills development and elevates memory. Playing an instrument can also help kids with motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

It’s clear that music helps young kids grow. Question is which instrument(s) should they learn first? 

For toddlers, playing with drums and xylophones will provide them with an easy entry point into the world of music. Although real drums should be played by older kids, there are wonderful toy drums that can help preschoolers grasp the fundamentals of rhythm. For infants, percussion toys are the go-to. \\Slightly older children will definitely love to play loog guitar, piano and kalimba. 

How do we introduce music and musical instruments to young kids? Here are some fun ideas for how you can introduce young kids to music:

1. Turn everyday objects to music instruments.
   
2. Play music in the background. Memories get attached to certain songs, and certain songs can trigger a memory or two.
3. Associate games or activity with music. Examples are clapping games, singing nursery songs with gestures, musical chairs, etc.
4. Let kids play with the musical instruments. It is such a joy to watch them learn how sound is made from the instruments. They need not be expensive. As they grow older, you’ll see which instrument they are most interested in.
   
5. Give coloring activities that revolve around music. 

It is so important to incorporate music and musical instruments in your child’s learning activities as early as possible and hone important skills and character development early in their life. So important that it is an integral part of what we do at Peek-A-Boo.