The Important Role Music Plays in Early Childhood Development

How many times have you seen a child happily dance to music and it lights up your heart? Every time you see that or even videos of it, it just makes your heart smile because it’s evident that even at a young age, children see how beautiful music is. As adults, you know the beauty of music but it’s a beautiful thing to see a two-year-old singing and dancing along to songs.

Parents who have a deep love of music will sometimes play music for their baby while in the womb, in hopes of their baby being born with a natural love and interest in music. Some parents will wait until the child is born to expose them to music but nonetheless, the earlier you expose children to music, the more they’ll have an interest in it as they grow older.

The funny thing about music is that it’s inescapable. You hear music on television shows, you hear music on social media, you hear music in restaurants, and you sometimes even hear music on elevators and when you’re on hold on the phone! And that’s the beauty of music… you hear it everywhere and you can even hear it in different languages!

With children, there is television programming specifically made for them with cartoon characters in bright colors with playful music in the background for them to sing along to. There are even interactive games for children to play on mobile devices, like tablets, that play music.

Music is especially important in detecting developmental delays. Most children, when they hear music, will either dance, clap, or make some kind of sounds that let you know they’re enjoying the music. When you notice your child not responding to music in any way, that could be signs of developmental delays.

The thing about developmental delays is that they can be caused for various reasons and come in many forms. If you notice any of these developmental delays, that’s when you know it’s time to see a developmental specialist.

• Cognitive Impairments
• Speech Delays
• Fine and Gross Motor Difficulties
• Social Intolerance

How Children Benefit From Exposure to Music

There have been proven studies on the academic benefits of exposing your child to music but its effects go way beyond academic achievements. Music lays the foundation in all facets of early childhood development. It encompasses everything from intellectual and social skills to language and motor skills.

Parents love seeing their children dance to music… they look at it as being “cute” but what they’re actually witnessing is their child’s mind and body work together building their coordination and motor skills.

According to a study by USC, there are significant brain and auditory differences in children who attend schools with music programs and schools that don’t. It’s all about the ear to brain processes. These processes enhance a child’s IQ, social and emotional development, and language. If you haven’t tried to get your child interested in music, here are the reasons why you should enroll your child in music lessons.

Music’s Effect on a Child’s IQ

Music has been looked at as this magical force that makes kids “smarter,” so to say. It’s not necessarily that it makes kids smarter but there definitely is a relationship and connection between music training and spatial reasoning in young children, which in turn increases a child’s IQ, especially at a very young age.

Music’s Effect on a Child’s Social and Emotional Development

When children are exposed to music at a young age, it helps them bond with others on an emotional and intellectual level. The way they move to the music and express themselves creatively builds a strong foundation for emotional literacy and it helps them to be more social, happier, and able to pick up on social cues.

Music’s Effect on Language and Memory

You know how babies “babble” and engage in “baby talk” when you interact with them? Well, they do that because they were born ready to learn how to talk and decode sounds and languages… From birth, their minds are like sponges… everything you say, they repeat it. That’s why parents have to watch what they say around babies and young children. But if you expose them to music at such a young age, just imagine the language benefits they’ll receive.

The left part of the brain is the side responsible for processing language. Exposure to songs that offer educational information is what leaves a big imprint on their minds. Why do you think children learn their ABC’s in the form of a song? Teachers are even teaching math and sciences in music form because it’s a teaching tool that helps students retain information better.

In Closing…

Music is a very important art form in our culture. If you think about your daily routine, you’ll notice that you listen to music every day in some form. Everything from watching your favorite television shows that play music in the theme songs and movies that use music to highlight a specific scene to educational programming for toddler and adolescents children, music is a universal language that speaks to all ages.

So as you can see, music plays a significant role in our daily lives. Because it plays such a significant role, it shouldn’t come as a surprise why parents use it to engage their children and for the positive effects it has on children in early childhood development.