For many parents of preschoolers, sports and reading often take priority. But Growing IQ, a local math-centric enrichment program that relies on discovery-based programming to instill math concepts at young ages, reminds Frisco parents that music education is another vital and often overlooked aspect of a young child’s learning landscape.

Music education for preschoolers comes with benefits in at least five major areas.

Sensory Development

Music education – whether that's singing, marching, drumming, pounding on keys, or ringing bells wildly – supports the development of a child’s sense of hearing (obviously), but touch, sight, movement sensations, and the sensation of body positioning are all supported as well through song and dance.

Coordination

Music education helps little ones develop hand/eye coordination as well as supporting the development of neurons between what the body does and what the brain perceives. The support of the development of the brain’s neural pathways in early years is vital to later achievement – who knew that support of this development could start as simply as ringing bells and pounding drums?

Vocabulary

Singing helps children develop a sense of repetition, diction, and word choice, just as nursery rhymes do. Additionally, the process of repeating (and ultimately memorizing) the same lines over and over develops important neural connections. On the flip side, children (and humans in general) are wired to remember words set to music more easily (think “A-B-C’s”), so lots of important concepts can be reinforced, digested, and cemented through song and dance.

Math Skills

Music reinforces for children counting, rhythm, and number sense. Learning about meter, beats, and rhythm helps lay the foundation for greater math achievement in children later on as children gain a sense of whole, part, fractions, and even addition and subtraction through counting beats and marching.

Mood Regulator

Music helps regulate the moods of all listeners, but especially children. We all know that music’s soothing power can help children sleep. Music can also help energize children to engage in the kind of boisterous big-body play that they desperately need. Gregorian chants can lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety, and help develop neural pathways.

Not Sure Where to Start?

Math, Music, and Motion is a revolutionary new approach to help toddlers and preschoolers learn math fundamentals through music, song, and play.

Growing IQ was founded to address a concern for STEAM learning among the youngest learners, but owners began to notice that the music education deficit among preschoolers was related, and just as deeply concerning. To combat the deficiency, the company developed Math, Music, Motion, a unique set of programming designed to partner with parents and preschools to help children develop early math concepts through musicality, song, and dance. Uma Mohan, the owner of Growing IQ in Frisco comments,

Young children are naturally responsive to and learn through music. So we use music to reinforce concepts about numbers and counting.

The framework behind the Math, Music, Motion, like the rest of Growing IQ’s programming, relies on experience and sensory-based learning to reinforce STEAM concepts. Math, Music, Motion, however, is uniquely designed for the littlest learners, using their characteristic enjoyment of play and song to create an environment rich in learning. Mohan describes a sample lesson.

We might sing ‘5 Little Monkeys’ and march around, drawing attention to the numbers in the song with our movements. Or as children march to beats, we might assign different counts to quarter notes and half notes. Not all of the play is entirely musical. Children work on fine motor skills, colors, and all sorts of other things as well. But it’s all focused on reinforcing counting and number concepts.

Math, Music, Motion has scheduled programming at several local preschools in McKinney and Frisco. Additionally, Growing IQ hosts the program on Saturdays.

Instructors are available for week-day programming as well on a by-request basis. Classes are kept extremely small so that the instructors can focus on each child’s individual needs – preschool music classes are limited to 3 or 4 students in general.

There isn’t a better time to brighten your little one’s week with music and to encourage them to start learning important math concepts. Head to Math, Music, Motion’s website to sign up for a class today!

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