Music for the (little) Soul

Any of you who know me, will know that I love music! Always have, since my toddler years dancing to Boy George on the TV, to getting my first Walkman and being reminded that everyone could hear me singing along to my tapes through to playing drums in the R&B band at school! Today I have so much going on that I barely get time to just relax and listen or play to music, so my favourite place is in the car...turn the radio up loud and sing along, especially on long drives to the city and back. You will often see me at the lights singing my heart out.

But even though I get to sing along in the car, it makes me sad sometimes that as I've grown up I can't just spend half an hour playing my favourite CD and not doing anything else, or that I "don't have time" to play in a band anymore, or that I should be too embarrassed to dance or sing in the car when other people can see me.

As we grow up, life gets more serious, we play less, we laugh less, we get stressed, we have worries, we lose our creativity and imagination we had as kids and we have to be "professional".

But I think it's time we put the music back in our lives and got our little ones involved in it! Singing and dancing is an activity that nearly all kids love! They are inhibited by embarassment; they just move to the groove. They will sing along even if they don't know the words, and they won't care if you can hear them because they are having fun!

I have used music in my tutoring and found it works absolute wonders! Getting kids to read song lyrics from their favourite pop stars is so much easier than reading books they aren't interested in. And once they have learned the words, they get to sing along without mumbling! It's a real achievement, and teaches them reading and vocabulary where they would otherwise just hum over the words they don't know or understand. I have also used musical instruments like bells and tambourine to play along to Christmas Carols to again, learn the words they would normally hum. And the best thing about it? The kids don't even realise they are learning!

So put the music back in your life.

• Instead of bed time stories, why not try bed time songs? My Nanna and my Mum used to sing lovely songs to me and my siblings. Such sweet memories in our minds.
• When the kids are watching their favourite characters on TV, get in there and sing along and dance with them.
• Sing songs in the car together, especially nursery rhymes and kids songs that help teach them about life and learning.
• Get copies of song lyrics, or the teen music magazines that have lyrics in them and read the lyrics together to learn the words.
• Better still, have the kids sit and listen to the songs and write down the lyrics themselves. Have them decipher what the artists are singing and practice their writing and spelling while learning the words to their favourite songs.
• Put musical instruments into your kids toy boxes and encourage them to play along to their favourite songs, no matter how bad they may sound. If they are having fun and learning rhythm it will improve their motor skills and enhance their creative brains.
• Take them along to kids musical performances. There are many groups and performers out there who are tailored to kids and have so much educational benefit, all in the name of fun!
• If you're lucky enough to have someone who isn't too shy, have them come along to your child's next birthday party and sing and dance with the kids! Or volunteer to do it yourself...I can guarantee you from personal experience, it is an absolute hoot!

For more ideas like these ones check out our eBook Learning that's Fun.

Happy Learning!