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Learning through play: music and movement

Have you ever noticed when you are happy that you hum? When you are driving do you sing to the radio and not even realize it’s happening? Adults turn to music to express themselves. Children do the same. Children need to have music and movement available to them daily.

Music is a very important part of an early childhood classroom. Children love to sing songs, play with rhymes and rhythms, dance, and pretend to move like animals. They love to make sounds with real instruments and ones they have created out of boxes and sticks. Children should be given the opportunity to express themselves through music and movement. Turn on music and give preschoolers a scarf and watch them dance and move to the music. Children learn literacy skills through music as they sing and rhyme words. They learn the names of their body parts and how they can move and stretch them as they sing and move to songs.

When children have the chance to play with music, they are learning patterning and counting skills. Children enjoy hearing a variety of musical instruments and learning what sounds each makes. Learning the types of music of different cultures provides children with a variety of musical styles and the opportunity to respect music other people find enjoyable. Making music and movement an everyday experience for children will enhance their language, social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development.