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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Music Can Navigate Kids’ Emotion Headquarters Read More »
A new study recently found that children who simultaneously participate in a physically engaging, time-based activity feel more positively towards each and can experience greater empathy for one another. According to the lead author of the study, “[s]ynchrony is like a glue that brings people together — it’s a magical connector for people.” The word “synchrony” is key. When people interact together in rhythm
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Want to Teach Kids Empathy? Try Music. Read More »
Pew Research Center recently asked a national sample of adults which skills were most important for children to have in order to get ahead in today’s world. Out of the 10 skills from which they could choose, more respondents said communication skills were most important for success, followed by reading, math, and teamwork. Much of the groundwork and preparation for successful development of these
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The One Thing that Can Prepare a Child for Success (It’s not what you think!) Read More »
Children can easily find a reason to laugh—throwing a spoon on the floor, jumping into puddles, saying a made-up word, a dog eating popcorn. Hil-ar-ious! You couldn’t help but laugh, right? Children literally bring more laughter into our lives by laughing 10x more each day than the average grown-up. (No wonder Peter Pan never wants to grow up!) All this laughter and silliness is
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Music is a Laughing Matter Read More »
Research continues to show that academic success relies heavily on social and emotional well-being, right from the start. Helping young children to recognize and label feelings supports healthy social-emotional growth and is a vital skill in early childhood education. Emotional awareness includes: self-awareness self-regulation social competence social awareness The Arts can be a tool to help children recognize and express emotions. Music inspires a variety
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Let Music Draw Out Your Emotions. (Literally!) Read More »
Anyone around young children long enough soon realizes that a bulk of the time is spent getting them ready for something….ready for bed, ready for preschool, ready for a playdate/library/park, ready for bath, etc. But getting children ready for Kindergarten means more than just making sure they have everything on the school supply list. So what can early childhood educators and families do now
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Music: The Ultimate Playlist for School Readiness Read More »
Young children (and parents of young children) instantly recognize the “Happy” song by Pharrell Williams. We feel happy and can’t help but “clap along.” We love this version: You clapped along, too, didn’t you? It’s easy for adults to acknowledge the “feeling” of happy in the song. However, young children must learn to identify feelings such as happy, sad, angry, scared, surprised, etc. In
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Singing when you’re happy (and you know it!) builds kids’ social-emotional skills Read More »
It’s Halloween! In many parts of the world, this means dressing up in costumes and pretending to be a cowboy, ninja, ballet dancer, or even a cowboy ninja ballet dancer. (Hey, it could happen!) While the stores—and Pinterest—overflow with costume options for children this time of year, truth be told, children love dressing up and pretending all year long. And they should! It’s good
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Why Halloween Should Last 365 Days a Year Read More »
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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Answer that Baby Babble to Speed Up Language Development Read More »
Music changes us. Of course, we know that music can move us to tears, conjure up (and make) memories, or even quiet a child’s cries. However, music also literally changes our brains! A new presentation from neuroscientist Nina Kraus at the American Psychological Association’s 122nd Annual Convention displays some of the strongest research to-date proving how music changes the brains of children who are most
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New Research: Music Can Offset Children’s Academic Gaps Read More »
