We know that children learn through watching and experiencing new things around them. They pay attention when we speak to them, to others, and animals. They start to associate the movement of mixing in a bowl with baking or cooking. Sounds and tones are speaking and singing their favorite songs. All of these things are not just educational but emotionally creative for a young child as well. Emotions drive children. When we give them the opportunities to work on their emotions, they can connect them with thoughts, feelings, and people much sooner. This, in turn, helps with their all over development.
Humanities.
Art Education.
There has been a lot of scrutiny in the educational community on whether or not art education should be a part of a public school system’s learning curriculum. For years, people have said art and music do not add any value, and for years they have been proved wrong.
Consider this. When babies are small, only a couple of months, or even weeks old, we are encouraged by doctors and pediatricians to have colorful surroundings, books, toys, and clothing for children. Not only do these colors help our babies grow the eye muscles needed for good vision and focusing at different distances, but it also helps the development of their brain. As babies grow into young children, art creates opportunities. For kids, art is messy. Paint is a new texture that is on their hands. We learn to use scissors and cut things into tiny pieces and throw them in the air like confetti. We snap crayons and double up on the color across the page.
Some children sit and focus on their artwork. They use it for creativity, expression, and a way to understand emotions. This also helps create the drive for mastery, later on, self-expression, and the development of self-esteem as they have a better sense of who they are.
Music.
When teaching little humans, it makes sense to teach them humanities in kind. Incorporating art and music into little lives can improve language and reading skills. Songs and verses are proven to be effective when helping create the connection between simple voice and actual language because of the repetitive patterns of the song. It’s been shown that bilingual kids in particular benefit from singing songs in their second language to help solidify an understanding of the language. Songs tend to have long vowels and hard consonants. They rhyme. They’re patterned to a tune. And kids love songs and music anyway as it’s also a way of bonding with babies.
Adding instruments.
Adding instruments only makes this more fun and an even better learning experience for a child. When we give children instruments to bang on, shake, and get noisy with, they can express themselves in a loud way that they don’t usually get to experience. It gives them something to do, a new thing to explore, and an activity to do while their brains soak in the senses. In one shake of bells, one hit of a drum, or one tap on a xylophone, children experience the bright colors of their instruments, hear the sounds they get to create, notice vibrations, and they get to be a part of group activity where their part to play matters.
Humans are constantly developing. We can always learn something new, stretch a new part of our brain, and advance. Usually, humanities are not far behind. We listen to music while we study—why? Not because it just drowns others out, but because it activates our brains in a new way. We don’t just have aesthetical colors and perfectly painted walls because we enjoy the color yellow. No, it’s because colors are emotions we can see, and the color yellow makes you feel joy.
As always, children are geniuses, and they are better at enjoying the chaos of noise and color to grow up and have passions in art and music.