Music is everywhere in our lives. Whether you are listening to music at home or watching TV commercials with catchy jingles, music is a powerful tool in many aspects of life. In early childhood, music can be incredibly impactful on the growth and development of children. Many playgrounds incorporate outdoor musical instruments to help children explore music on their terms and cultivate an environment for growth and social interaction.
Music can be a powerful tool in childhood brain and body development at all stages of childhood. Whether children are still learning to talk and communicate their needs or are trying to make friends with other children and strengthen their developed skills, music can be the key to helping them continue to grow across a variety of skills.
Music and child development go hand in hand as music engages multiple parts of the brain, allowing it to help childrens’ minds grow while they are still forming, including:
Music can incorporate several parts of the brain on the right and left sides. As children develop, it is important to stimulate different parts of their brains to encourage healthy growth and development. Music can have even more benefits when paired with movement and dancing, including improved balance, motor skills and self-expression.
Listening to music already has countless benefits, especially for younger children. Music can help young kids learn new words. Additionally, introducing children to music at a young age and encouraging their interaction with songs through singing and dancing can improve communication and motor skills. Listening to music often encourages movement, helping children gain better control of their bodies as their minds and bodies work together to create intentional actions.
Making music, however, is a much more complex activity that requires more skills, making it ideal for children who are still fine-tuning their abilities. When making music, children will need to use their language skills to develop sensible and understandable lyrics. Coming up with something unique or personal can spark their creativity and imagination. Especially for children who are still developing communication skills, music can be a great tool to help them express themselves and understand their emotions.
Because music requires a rhythm and melody, making music can encourage them to grow in their math abilities. They need to keep time to determine a steady rhythm and ensure they follow it. If they choose to include instruments or tools to help them while making music, this can help strengthen their fine motor skills as they grip and use objects.
When it comes to playtime for young children, you can opt to include structured or unstructured play. Structured play involves directions or instructions to guide them through situations and teach them valuable skills. It can consist of activities like games or classes where children and parents can interact while following guidance from an instructor.
On the other hand, unstructured play is where the child has control over their playtime to do what they wish. There is a lot of flexibility when it comes to unstructured play — children can choose to play with parents, other children or by themselves and can choose from various settings, as long as the choice is up to them. Examples of unstructured play include playing pretend or enjoying a playground.
Both structured and unstructured play have benefits for children, and both are essential for a child’s growth and development. Structured growth is great for cultivating essential skills children will need in life, like problem-solving and active listening. Children can seek out adults or other children for help setting goals and determining the necessary actions to reach those goals. Further, structured play is vital for teaching children social rules, like setting and respecting boundaries.
Likewise, unstructured play can help boost the confidence and creativity of children. With unstructured play, children can safely explore their surroundings and process their thoughts and emotions in a familiar, comfortable environment. Many children choose to play pretend, dress up or interact with imaginary friends. When playing with other children, they can put social skills into practice and learn how to best interact with other children.
While both types of play are equally important, adults need to help children balance structured and unstructured playtime. Playgrounds are an excellent environment for both types of play. Adults can set up structured games for children or let children play together or individually. With music, adults can teach children to use instruments and sing songs, and children can practice those skills and create music on their own.
Making music gives children the ability to explore their creativity and develop skills they are learning, like math, balance and social interaction. Giving music a space on the playground allows children to test the limits of their curiosity and imagination by working with other children or by themselves to create music in a safe and familiar environment.
When introducing your children to music on the playground, you can help ensure they get the most from their experience. You can structure your time at the playground by teaching them songs or rhythms with the equipment, or you can choose to let them decide how they want to interact with the equipment.
If your playground offers various instruments, encourage your child to try out all the instruments presented. You can help develop a child’s listening abilities by introducing them to different sounds. Children will learn to associate sounds with the correct instruments and can return to those sounds when they want them again.
Working with different instruments also gives children the opportunity to play together and develop social skills. Children can show each other how to use the instruments and explain the different sounds. With multiple instruments, children have the space to work together, share and set boundaries, allowing them to practice social skills together.
Adults can encourage children to use their creativity to create different sounds when using instruments. In the process, children can practice their motor skills as they navigate equipment and determine how they need to use it to make music. They will have fun making sounds, practicing problem-solving and developing motor skills.
Along with exploring new sounds, children can learn another aspect of music when playing with musical playground equipment — creating harmonies. Adults can lead children through the creation of harmonies, showing them combinations that work well together. Then children can re-create those sounds later. Children can also develop harmonies independently, using trial and error to figure out what sounds good together.
Children can work together to come up with harmonies using teamwork and social skills. They can have fun and explore sounds by trying different combinations to discover something that sounds good. Children can use their creativity to develop new songs or spark their imagination to play pretend and create fun scenarios where they are rockstars.
If children want to make harmonies alone, they can test their dexterity, fine motor skills and coordination by trying to achieve different sounds simultaneously. However, if they can’t do this, they can practice problem-solving by asking other kids or an adult to help them, perhaps even becoming a leader in the process.
Making music can help children apply what they are learning in the classroom. Adults can assist children by pairing it with counting to teach them rhythms and give them applications for math outside the classroom. Children can then create new rhythms on their own or try to recreate what they have already learned to develop their counting skills further.
Children can use equipment to match and grow their skillset. Younger children can test out simpler rhythms or copy what other children or adults can do. Older children can create more complex rhythms that require counting or greater focus. Some rhythms or patterns might need children to move around different instruments, testing their motor skills.
When creating new rhythms with other children, kids may need to communicate and make music with the desired effect. If a child has a specific beat in mind, they will need to know how to articulate how to do that to other children. They can learn patience as they interact with other children and wait to learn rhythms together.
Creating rhythms can help develop short-term and long-term memory in children. You might ask children to copy your actions in structured play, creating a memory game. Children can also try to re-create songs they made or observed from other trips to the playground or that they heard elsewhere, allowing them to exercise their long-term memory recall.
Dancing often accompanies music. Dancing can be a great form of self-expression and exercise for children, letting them react to how the music makes them feel. Further, moving can help them develop their motor skills by learning to move different parts of their bodies.
Many common childrens’ songs come with dance movements, like “My Little Teapot,” making them ideal activities for structured play with music. You can also incorporate pop culture songs with simple actions that are easy for kids to follow, including “The Macarena” or “The YMCA.” Children will learn to associate specific movements with those dances, helping them improve their memory and coordinating skills.
Movement on playgrounds can help establish boundaries and teach children to respect other kids’ boundaries. Children can establish and learn their comfort zones and personal space bubbles as they move and interact with other children. As children use and move about the equipment, other kids will have to wait their turn or share the space. To articulate their boundaries, children need to practice communication and active listening skills.
Music is highly beneficial for children, whether they are just learning to speak or have already entered school. Children can gain various skills from learning and interaction with musical instruments. The playground, too, creates a unique environment that is ideal for children to explore and learn about music.
Children seek to gain many benefits from exposure to music when they are young. Whether they are just listening or interacting with the songs, they can experience the benefits, including:
Learning music and playing instruments can lead to several lifelong benefits in children, making it an excellent idea for parents to invest time in musical activities for their children. One study measured the performance of high school students across English, math and science classes. In their findings, only 13% of students participated in extra-curricular music courses. However, those students did significantly better than their peers. When children discover and grow passionate about music, they can set themselves up for success in high school.
Children can experience music in various places. They may hear music at home or in the car and have music classes in school. Parents or guardians might teach them dances or sign them up for classes. Children often make up their songs or sing nursery rhymes together. However, integrating music into the playground offers its benefits, including:
Playgrounds are unique places within communities. With outdoor music instruments, you can add to the experience of the children who play there and foster a love for music.
At Playworld, we dedicate ourselves to creating high-quality, long-lasting instruments for playgrounds with our Concerto collection. We highly value inclusivity and accessibility, so we design all our equipment with all children in mind to have fun at outdoor instrument playgrounds.
The Concerto collection allows children to interact with various instruments for the outdoors. We designed each instrument to rest at heights and angles accessible to all children, regardless of height or ability, including children with mobility aids.
The set includes many instruments to provide children with different stimulation and experiences. Children can explore each instrument’s sounds and play together on the larger ones. Our child instruments are colorful, so children can also visually interact with the instruments as well.
Mixing playing and music can place children on a powerful learning and growth track. Music impacts several areas of the brain and can stimulate development in children, helping them improve their language, memory and other necessary skills. Especially when paired with movement or dancing, children can increase their motor skills, like balance and coordination.
Playing outside on the playground lets children practice their social and communication skills, too. Whether they are playing a game with their siblings, friends or other kids they just met, they can learn how to better communicate with others. Playgrounds are perfect places to combine structured and unstructured play, where parents or teachers can lead games or let them explore and play independently.
At Playworld, we put care and pride into every piece of playground equipment we build. Contact us today to discover how our Concerto collection can add to your local playground and serve all the children who play there.