language development

Scooby-Dooby-Doo-Wap Your Way Through Jazz Appreciation Month

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Throughout the Kindermusik experience, we deliberately introduce children to a wide variety of musical genres to give them a greater understanding of what is possible through music. This month we celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month! We wanted to make it easy for you to celebrate it, too, so the children in your life can experience the value of improvisation and emotional expression and gain an
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How to Teach Babies Language Skills Before They Can Talk

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Do you ever wonder what newborns would say if they could talk? Where am I? What just happened? Who turned on the lights? Whew, that was a lot of work! I’m exhausted. Why is everyone staring at me? Do I have something on my face? Mom! Dad! It’s me! Truth is—most newborns all say the same thing: WaaaaWaaaa! Of course, children aren’t born talking.
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Babies Benefit from Learning Two Languages at the Same Time

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We get fired up about the importance of early childhood education. The reason is simple. In the first seven years of a child’s life, their brains are firing up with learning—literally! Every new experience lights up the synapses in the brain and repetition makes those pathways stronger. At the age of two, a child’s brain includes over a 100 trillion synapses. That’s 50 percent
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Answer that Baby Babble to Speed Up Language Development

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Hang around babies long enough and you start hearing things. From soft sweet coos to long monologues of “dadadadadada,” babies talk a lot—even though we have no idea what they are really saying! That’s okay. We don’t need to understand all the words (or non-words!) to join in the conversation. How Parents Respond to All that Baby Babble Matters New early childhood research from
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How to Talk to Babies When They Can’t Talk Back…Or Can They?

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Caring for an infant can be a bit like visiting a foreign country, especially considering the language barrier. After all, most grown-ups—from first-time parents to experienced early childhood educators—are no longer fluent in Baby. Take a look: Do you know what these babies are talking about? They certainly seem to understand each other! How to talk to babies Even though we may not know
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Music & Movement Benefits: Language Development

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Lifting. Squatting. Twirling. Bending. Whew! Sometimes Kindermusik class feels more like a workout than, well, a workout. Okay, maybe not P90x, but still! While a parent works out muscles each week, young children build early language skills through music and movement activities. 2 benefits of music and movement on language development Pairing the word with the movement helps babies and young children understand the
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Music & Movement Benefits: Playing with Sound

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According to the authors of the book Ladders to Literacy, “…playing with the sounds of words encourages children to practice perception, production, word recognition, and memory  for words, phonemes, all important foundations for phonological awareness.” Phonological awareness, the ability to recognize that words are made up of sounds, is an important first step towards success in reading later on. So, while it may seem
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FOL Fridays: Pairing Language with Movement

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Pairing language with movement sets the stage for cognitive and kinesthetic learning.  The right hemisphere of the brain is our emotional side where much of our creativity is channeled.  The left hemisphere organizes logical skills, such as language.  When children are engaged in movements determined by the lyrics, the brain automatically cross-references both hemispheres, mapping creativity and logic (Fishbourne, G. 1998) Tips for parents: 
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