Minds on Music

4 Lesser Known Childhood Milestones Worth Celebrating

Developmental milestones exist for good reason and can be a great help, but “pushing” for development will only cause stress for everyone. Here are some “milestones” that are just as important, but parents may not have thought to celebrate. Milestone: Your child pretends to have a snack with their teddy bear. What it means: Exhibiting pretend behaviors may seem like no big deal, but are
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It’s 6 o’clock. Cue the meltdown.

Talk to any parent of a young child, and they’ll tell you. Young children often save their biggest meltdown moments for the early evening time (around dinner). Reasons: They are tired. They’ve spent most of the day trying their best to “behave” at daycare, preschool, or at home. So, by the time the clock strikes 6pm, they are exhausted (although, of course, they would
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Two Simple Ideas for Supporting Children’s Vocabulary Development

Up, down, in, out, under… Those relational prepositions mean something very specific to us as adults.  But when toddlers hear a phrase like, “Put the block under the cup,” they’ll probably put the block in the cup, because it’s the obvious thing to do. Toddlers understand that they are supposed to do something with the block and the cup, but just what all those
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Popular Pinterest Pins for Summertime Fun

Looking for a few new ideas for summertime fun to add to your family’s list? Here are a few of the most popular Pinterest Pins from our Kindermusik boards. Favorite Kindermusik Pinterest Pins for Summertime Fun 1. Create a Ball Maze. A great activity for shape identification, predictions, cause and effect, and fun! 2. Hula Hoop sized bubbles. What is this beautiful concoction? Hula
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4 Musical Ways to Entertain Young Children While Lying Down

You need a break. I don’t even know you, but if you are a parent like me, well, you need a break. Of course, no law states that parents are entitled to one 15-minute break for every four hours on duty much less an hour-long lunch break. A break from parenting is best taken in small increments throughout the day. It’s the real reason
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18 Signs You Are A Musical Family

Are you raising a musical family? If you find yourself relating to this list, then chances are the answer is Yes! Your toddler thinks you’ve been hiding white egg shakers in the refrigerator and can’t understand why he can’t play with them, too. Your kids yell at YOU to turn the music down. Your child insists on sleeping with his favorite instrument. Your child
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Music Paves the Way to Literacy

Listening to and identifying sounds is the earliest phonological awareness skill and one of the most important pre-literacy competencies. Without this skill, there will be no progress toward phonics, spelling, or text comprehension. How Children Become Phonologically Aware Children become phonologically aware in a specific developmental sequence, beginning with the larger sound units (e.g., tapping each word in a sentence), then focusing on parts
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Music Can Navigate Kids’ Emotion Headquarters

On Friday afternoon, our family watched the new Pixar movie, Inside Out. I must ask: Did any other parent cry over Bing Bong or shed a tear when witnessing Riley’s first memory? I did. Well, I don’t know about you, but I would love to gain access to my kids’ Emotions’ Headquarters. It would make this parenting thing a whole lot easier if we could more
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