Legato & Stacatto

Zoo Train was all about smooth and connected (Legato) and short and disconnected (Staccato). Understanding and controlling movement is an important skill that helps children with balance, expressive movement, and coordination. I hope you have discovered that your family experiences each of these aspects in your everyday life. Movement and music can affect the way we feel: we feel different when we see or experience bumpy movements instead of smooth ones. Just like in movement, music can be smooth or bumpy. Our world is most commonly organized in straight lines, emphasizing efficiency and directness. When children have the opportunity to explore lots of different ways to get from one place to another, they enhance their awareness of the world around them, and develop increased agility. When a child creates curves and zigzags with their arms and upper body, they frequently crosses the mid line, helping to strengthen their corpus callosum and the ability of the brains' two hemispheres to communicate with each other.

We also got out little beach balls and enjoyed being seals in the sea, rolling and bouncing them all around. Playing with a ball not only provides your children with a means for social interactions with peers and adults, but also enhances the development of arm and hand muscles, eye-hand coordination, and cause and effect relationships. Ball play also strengthens future recreational development including blowing, baseball, basketball, football and soccer.

So head on outside and bounce, roll, throw a ball curvy, zigzag and straight. Have a 'ball' and feel good knowing your growing child is learning and the same time!