Music plays an important part in our life and culture. We are exposed to music through aspects of our lives: radio, television, ceremonies, celebration, advertising, and many of us use music to express ourselves. From birth, parents sing lullaby’s, nursery rhymes and even made up funny songs to calm and soothe infant, to express love and interact with them. As they get older, Parents will add the musical instruments into their toy list. Being able to play, touch and make noise with a variety of musical toys helps toddlers learn and develop in so many ways. Below are the seven benefits of musical instruments for toddlers.
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Develop gross and fine motor skill
A great variety of instrument toys of different sizes, shapes and different ways to play can help to strengthen and develop young child’s different muscle areas. Banging on a drum, shaking the maracas help with gross motor skills. For more tricky movements such as clicking the Castanets by opening and closing fingers or using the little finger to correctly striking a xylophone which requires the skill of handling the drum sticks and good hand-eye coordination, it will help build fine motor skills.
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Accelerate brain development
A lot of research has been done on the benefits of music for young kids’ development. New research by scientists at the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS) shows that a series of play sessions with music improved 9-month-old babies’ brain processing of both music and new speech sounds.
And another five-year study by USC neuroscientists finds that those young children who played musical instruments had an acceleration in brain development, This is particularly in the areas of the brain responsible for processing sound, language development, speech perception, and reading skills.
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Cultivate patience
Before mastering the skill of playing the musical instrument the toddler needs to practice many times. They will repeat to play the same tunes over and over again until they are gradually able to maintain a steady rhythm, during the time, that will teach them to be patient.
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Boost creativity
Early childhood is the most active and abundant stage of imagination, and it is an important period for developing children’s creativity. Through music activities, can help train the right brain. The musical instrument provides a visual, tactile, and experience of all musical elements. Using instruments in an imaginative way can help young children discover how to create familiar melodies at their own level of understanding. They will enjoy exploring the different sounds they make with a variety of musical educational toys.
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Encourages self-expression
From 1-year-old, a variety of rich emotional experiences and feelings have begun to emerge. At this stage, the toddler has feelings on the emotional scale, and at the same time, his self-awareness is also increasing, he knows what is happy emotion and what is a bad emotion. As language skills develop, they begin to discuss, show and respond to emotions. But they don’t always have enough vocabulary to express themselves, The musical toys and music provide them the chance to express how they are feeling at the moment. They can follow the music to dance, beat the drums and that will help them release any pent-up energy, as well as a great entertain time.
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Improves listening skills
Toddlers are naturally curious and will get excited exploring the different sounds they can make with various kinds of musical instruments toys, and as time passes, they can recognize the sound. which in turn develops their listening skills.
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Assists with developing self-confidence
When the young children are first introduced to instruments, they will think and practice using the instruments, and when they understand how the instrument works, and maybe they can master how to repeat the familiar tunes, they will feel the pleasant emotional experience and that will help build self-confidence, gain a sense of achievement.
Get your little one musical instruments now
Music and instruments have many developmental benefits for young children. And there are so many sorts of musical instruments on the market, what musical instrument you will choose for your little one? Share them in the comment section below!