Enhances musical skills with music and sound activities.
Babies are sensitive to sound patterns early in life and respond emotionally to voices. Even before they are born infants detect and monitor sound to a certain extent. During the second half of their first year babies are particularly sensitive to differences in beat and rhythm. Music is a complex form of auditory stimulation that is linked to human movement. Infants are drawn to music and are very good at being able to discern different musical structures. In a recent survey we found that parents often choose a particular traditional nursery, for example twinkle, twinkle little star, because of the gestures linked to the song. Babies love music and nursery rhymes that have plenty of repetition and gestures.
Children also love to experiment with music. Toys that allow children to create their own tunes facilitate learning. Children can learn about a wide variety of sounds and tempo. They can also learn about the sounds of different musical instruments through pressing keys on a musical toy. Children who grow up in the Western world tend to be exposed to the typical even-beat pattern of Western music. There is a link between learning, singing and rhythm that is related to the type of culture that children grow up in. Musical creativity can be nurtured through the infant’s and child’s exposure to music, musical toys and instruments.