Families logo

Music for Young ones

Engaging Kids in Music

By Stephanie FernslerPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
Like
Music for Young ones
Photo by Eye for Ebony on Unsplash

As a music educator, I have always been an advocate for engaging children in music from an early age. I myself started piano lessons when I was four years old, and those music skills have stuck with me for 26 years now. Engaging kids in music is not only good for their cognitive skills, but it can also help them to come up with their own creative environment. There are countless amounts of times that we hear kids singing a song they made up...let them! Let those creative skills show!

Many parents ask me if their child needs to be in a music class run by a trained musician. The answer is NO! You can have your child be musically creative within your own home. While having your child in a class specifically taught by a music teacher is helpful, you can certainly do the same activities at home with your own materials! Below are some activities that you can use at home with your children.

1. Same-Different: Having children recognize the difference and similarities between sounds is a good skill to have, especially going into elementary school. You can do this activity one of two ways: play either the same song or two different songs, and have your child hold their fists up if they hear the same song, or hold one fist and one flat palm up in they hear different songs. You can also do this by creating basic rhythm patterns of four beats. Speak one rhythm, then the second one, having your child respond by holding their hands up for same or different.

2. Movement: I am an advocate for having students move around to music. This opens up slowly being able to move to a steady beat, but it also opens up creativity and moving to what they hear in the song. You can do this by giving them a scarf or a towel to wave around to the song that is being played. Give the student a variety of genres of music to move to...something classical, a rock song, etc. See how they interpret the song by their movement towards it.

3. Clapping Rhythm: Sit with your child and clap a steady beat to a song you are listening to at home. If they don't quite match you it's ok! Keep maintaining a steady beat for them and they will slowly use their listening skills to match what you are doing. Soon, they will be able to clap a steady beat to any song that could be played within your home. You can even clap a four-beat pattern, and have them either clap it back exactly as they hear it or clap back a different pattern.

4. Moods of Music: Have your child draw happy or sad faces on a piece of paper to small snippets of music they listen to at home. Engage them in a conversation about why they felt those feelings. You can also have them draw other images that match their feelings/mood with music.

Most importantly, let all of your child's creativeness show while engaging in music.

advice
Like

About the Creator

Stephanie Fernsler

I am a music educator based in Colorado. After having received a Master's in music education, I have currently been teaching private music lessons and writing about music education within rural areas in the united States.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.