Children's Work is to Play

All children play. Whether it's a child playing alone with an imaginary friend or groups of children playing favorite games such as 'hide and seek,' all children engage in some type of play every day. But play isn't purely for fun and entertainment-it serves numerous roles in the development of children.
Play involved diverse activity where a broad range of learning can thrive and flourish. Children use play to test ideas, discover relationships, extract information, express their feelings and ideas, define themselves and develop peer relationships.
Children are actively involved in play. A child internalizes his or her discoveries, which belongs to that child for the rest of their life. Therefore, it is essential that play be an important component of the educational process. For young children, curriculum should be child-centered with open-ended learning experiences with a broad range of developmental goals. This type of program puts more emphasis on motivation, learning by discovery, cognitive process, and the well being of the child from a whole child perspective. Kindermusik classes provide these important ingredients of play.
This is very evident in our Hello Weather Let's Play Together class on Tuesday mornings. We love to splash in pretend mud puddles, put on our goulashes and dance in the rain, and tip toes with the rain all around the town! There is never a shortage of giggles and fun, all while we are learning!

Music and movement are magical ingredients to learning for both parent and child. A baby's first communication is through movement. A toddler will respond immediately to lively music with what seems to be humorous, uncoordinated movements but to him are quite serious attempts to coordinate movement with rhythmic patterns. The young child seems to be moving constantly-leaping off couches, rolling down hills, and spinning around and around until she falls down in a giggling flop on the floor.

Our brains fully develop through movement activities such as crawling, rolling, turning, walking,s kipping, reaching, swinging and much more. The brain has a plan for development that involves specific and intensive motor activities to make full use of our complicate nervous system. The nervous system of each human being must go through a series of developmental stages before the brain can operate at its full potential. All children 'program' their motor and perceptual equipment, nerves and brain cells by using their whole body and all their senses.

Movement is fundamental for the development of the central nervous system but movement and rhythm are also essential for the development of the soul. When a parent moves with her infant, a special bonding takes place that is extremely important for social and emotional growth. When a parent sings to her child, not only are language skills being developed, but also a sense of love, comfort and harmony. The special touching, laughing and rhythmic moving that takes place in a music and movement class lays a very strong and much needed foundation for a happy, healthy and joyful life!

The Kindermusik curricula are specially designed to provide opportunities are for infants, toddlers, pre-schoolers and young children to learn through interactive music and movement activities. Kindermusik class provides parents and children a variety of stimulating experiences that will be beneficial for everyone.

http://play.kindermusik.com Is a great site offering free music for you to download and enjoy in our home, in the car, or on your MP3. Take a few minutes with your kids and find some music you like, turn it up and get moving together! Enjoy