Musical toys plays an important role in a child’s development. Mothers instinctively know how to soothe an infant with a gentle lullaby, but there are many other ways music can help with the emotional and intellectual development of a child. A little musical toy attract a baby’s attention and sometimes, when a baby cry mother start to sing to calm down their baby.
Emotional comfort
Music plays an important part in our lives – we use it to express our feelings and to interact, and babies greatly benefit from this. They might not understand the words to a song, but they will know that the person singing to them loves them, which will bring them emotional comfort.
As children move into toddlerhood, parents strive to teach them colors and numbers, which is all very good, but unfortunately many ignore the importance of music. Musical toys can be loud and sometimes annoying to a parent, but children need to be allowed to bang on a toy drum or piano for as much as they want. Or listen to the same little song over and over.
Brain development
It might look like child’s play, but music does wonder for a child’s developing brain.
According to a 2016 study by the University of Southern California, music accelerates brain development in young children, especially those parts that have to do with language acquisition and reading. This happens because frequent exposure to musical rhythms helps the brain learn how to process sound, which will facilitate learning new words and using them.
At the same time, the complex pattern in a song improves a child’s math skills, which will be of great use later on in school.
Motor skills
Music also improves motor skills. A small child swaying to the music is adorably funny, but while parents laugh and clap their hands, the little one’s brain is hard at work. Dancing improves motor skills and balance as the brain is forced to keep track of the complex movement and keep the child from falling.
Even more important than that is letting a child play with musical toys, which helps with the development of fine motor skills and hand to eye coordination.
Developing talent
Giving children plenty of opportunities to play with musical toys allows parents to discover if their little ones have musical skills. This is something you want to find out early rather than wait for the moment when they’re taught how to play a musical instrument in school. If the kid has a talent for music taking music lessons at an early age will help him develop his full potential.
Did you know that the best age to start learning piano is 5? For guitar, the best age is 7.
The reason you should encourage your child to take music lessons early is that you want to take advantage of the fact that in a developing brain it’s easier to establish the nervous connections needed to play an instrument. You can learn an instrument at every age, but it gets harder and harder for the brain to form new pathways.
This does not mean that you must absolutely take your child to piano lessons starting from kindergarten if the kid is not interested in music. Forcing a child to study something he doesn’t care about will only make him hate that.
Better wait and see, have them listen to music, let them play with their noisy little toys, and gently suggest going to music classes. When the time is right, they’ll let you know!
