The Social Aspects of Kindermusik
For children, social development includes many areas of skills and abilities including such things as sharing, expressing emotions appropriately, solving problems/conflicts, waiting calmly and quietly, understanding and following rules, having fun in the company of others, recognizing when someone may need help, as well as an internal desire for success. Parents are the first true role model that children have when learning how to socially engage with other people and children progressively build up their social skills through interactions with their parents, in addition to other family, friends, and teachers as well. Children that are given the opportunity to interact, play, sing and move with their peers are able to build lasting relationships, develop inner confidence and self-awareness, and understand that learning can happen in a variety of ways depending on the situation and group you are in. Most importantly they are able to practice self-regulation and in turn, better able to focus and control their impulses. For example, waiting in a line without experiencing frustration.
By making social interactions fun, age appropriate, group oriented and part of recognizable routines such as attending Kindermusik class, children are given a head start in social emotional development. Children regularly enrolled in Kindermusik become familiar with what it takes to thrive in a group social setting. As babies they are given the opportunity for regular emotional bonding with caregivers. As toddlers they are able to spend time in imaginative play expressing themselves through song and dance. As a preschooler, using the relationship with their caregiver as a foundation, they build upon that and grow their confidence and happy memories with their peers and teachers on their own outside of the parental relationship. For example, here at Sing N Move, we offer a Kindermusik ‘Laugh & Learn’ class that combines a preschooler’s natural love of music, storytelling, and imaginative play with age-appropriate activities that introduce early music concepts and fosters independence, social and emotional skills, language growth, and self-control on their own as parents/caregivers are invited for the final activities in class during “sharing time.” Children in Laugh & Learn class actively expand their base of knowledge through trial and error, talking, moving, and of course, being silly! They have been engaging in practice and observing the necessary social skills through their early and toddler years, and during Laugh & Learn, are given the opportunity to test those learned skills in a safe, familiar, yet independent social group situation. Their imagination, a lot of music, the joy of being with friends, and some sharing time with family takes them on their way to becoming social, developed, promising musicians in their own right.
The social skills learned during all Kindermusik classes, especially Laugh & Learn, are skills that will assist children for their entire lives at home, in school, and collective society at large. Take a look at the video below of Laugh & Learn in action enjoying a circle dance during sharing time with their grown-ups! To practice self-regulation and social skills like sharing and patience Here’s a “Try It Tip” for home! The next time your family is gathered around the dinner table, try passing an instrument around giving each person a turn to play. Explain that everyone will get a turn to play the instrument however they would like and while the person holding the instrument plays it, the rest of the group can clap or pat along! This can translate to the future and having conversations about each other’s day, that in turn will assist your little one in building empathy and compassion for the experiences and interests of others.
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