Music and movement activities are a lot more important in your child’s Montessori daycare than you may think. Songs and music offer benefits such as helping soothe restlessness, and encouraging the development of everything from motor skills and building vocabularies. To demonstrate how music and movement activities promote early development, here are 4 activities and how they encourage different types of development.
1. Bang Your Drum
The Montessori Method works by mimicking the natural way of learning, and Montessori daycare children are certain to find basic musical instruments they love. Making noise by banging, shaking, and rattling different objects has been a favorite activity of young children for a very long time, and is essential to Montessori. Activities like these develop fine and gross motor skills, encourage learning sounds and language, and more
2. Repetitive Lyrics
Repeating words and sentences helps children develop language skills, build a stronger vocabulary, and associated benefits such as learning to count. This is at the core of traditional children’s songs such as “Old MacDonald Had A Farm.” Another excellent example is “Put Your Left Foot In,” which encourages the development of both fine and gross motor skills.
3. Dancing with the Scarves
Another great music and movement activity that helps with coordination is to provide Montessori children with variously colored scarves, flags, and ribbons and let them move dynamically to a variety of musical input. You can also instill an interest in culture and diversity by using different types of music from all around the world– an idea that fits well with using national flags as the movement medium. It is also a progressive activity that children can use for learning new things throughout their preschool years.
4. Counting Songs
“Five Little Monkeys” is a well-known example of a song that incorporates math into music and movement activities. Counting, basic math functions, and things like sorting are all good for teaching children math skills while developing language and conceptual thinking. Another great children’s song that promotes critical thinking is the Sesame Street song, “One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others,” a simple ditty that can be used in all sorts of sensory comparisons including taste, scent, sound, and touch.
Music and movement are tools that reinforce most aspects of early development. It encourages social interactions as children sing as a group, teaches concepts like timing, and encourages children to think about what they are doing as they participate. The first 6 years are crucial to childhood development, and music activities are one of the best ways to help children develop properly.
The best way to learn more about the Montessori prepared environment is to see it in action. Schedule an appointment for a tour today to see Montessori in action.
