Happy Birthday Mozart!

The world celebrates the life of Mozart this month,

born January 27,  1756…

Though we may never compare in genius to Mozart’s gift of music, exploring and developing a LOVE for music through song, simple instruments and rhythmic activities, all play a part in early literacy!   Musical activities are not only engaging but more importantly they help children develop large and small motor skills, as well as, listening skills.

A favorite musical activity at Toddler Storytime is the Numbas Rumba by Raffi! Children and parents participate in a loose rendition of a ‘rumba dance’ while large numbers are passed and the children trace them with their pointer finger!  Did you know that tracing numbers and letters is a pre-writing, literacy skill?  What’s even better is that this ‘learning’ activity is just plain FUN for Toddlers!   This activity crescendos with children hopping across the ‘numbas’ rug!  This entire musical activity enhances children’s awareness of numbers and letters and they develop an interest to explore these symbols even more!

Check out Rise and Shine by Raffi!

Another way of exploring and developing a love for music at storytime is to sing a picture book.  One of my favorite pieces of music in the whole wide world is, What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong. It has child friendly lyrics that ALL ages easily understand!  The music is played from a CD while turning the pages of the wonderfully illustrated children’s book by George David Weiss, of the same title!  This is but one example of a picture book that can be sung instead of read and in this case set to the music as well!

So next time, you pass by Toddler Storytime take a moment to enjoy the music!  They really are exploring and developing a love for music and books!

Your city library has a wide variety of children’smusic CDs and DVDs to enjoy with your child no matter the age!

The Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts is a wonderful DVD collection for the more musically minded elementary age kids that teach all about music and the orchestra.

…and who knows…introducing and developing a love of music early may lead to more formal music training known as,  “The Mozart Effect.”

Research shows, “Teaching the music of Mozart or Beethoven to children as young as three can improve their academic performance. Scientists have proved that children who practice for as little as 10 minutes a day on the piano score dramatically higher results in intelligence tests.” (Norton, Cherry. “Early music lessons boost brain power.”  Sunday Times (London, England) Oct 12, 1997)

-contributor, Jeanne Taylor, Children’s Librarian

Happy Birthday Mozart!