Dear Family Time Parents, Welcome to Kindermusik’s Family Time! I am so delighted to share this time with you. Already in class this week you saw how music can help your family laugh, share, and learn together. But did you know that making and exploring your own home-made instruments provides opportunities for your children to learn and discover? Together they will make comparisons, conduct sound experiments, and talk about their findings, which in turn will strengthen their thinking skills.
Next to making music in class with your child, the most important thing you can do to accelerate and nurture your child’s development is found in your At Home Materials. The more you use the book, CD, and home activity ideas, the more you’ll discover just how much your child can do. This week, you’ll find ideas for making other shaker instruments at home using dried beans, rice, beads, popcorn, or paper clips.
I can’t wait to hear all about it next week! Rituals – Greeting and good-byeituals help children feel comforabl, knowdged, and ready for learning. The ritual of beginning and ending class the same way each week creates a sense of emotional security for the child, provides order to the child`s world, and can ease feelings of vulnerability.
Laughter – To your health! Laughter helps strengthen the immune system, lower blood pressure, and reduce stress levels. In addition, humor helps young children handle problems or crisis situations, enhances their social skills, and helps them to create social bonds – so laugh away!
Literacy – Children who participate with adults in piture-book reading will begin interalizing some of the basic skills and concepts that are so critical for true literacy. Reading together:
Expands vocabulary and knowledge of story structures
Promotes critical thinking and problem solving
Fosters creative expression and language play
Develops the same skills that build musical language literacy
Emotions and Learning – Emotions have a tremendous impact on learning. Simple family activities like rocking together help develop a child`s sense of security and worth, allowing him to grow into an assured, confident learner with healthy self-esteem.
