5 ways to create a great musical environment at home

Music plays a very significant part in a child's life and by creating a stimulating learning environment at home you will not only increase their engagement but provide them with a happier learning setting.

Children spend most of their time at home especially at a younger age and children learn by listening, copying and memorising. By creating a musical environment at home you are providing a great setting for your child's development.

Music has an extremely powerful influence on our emotions. Is it not true that when one of your favourite tunes starts playing on the radio your mood is instantly enlightened? This also applies to a song that can trigger a bad or sad memory and you just cannot bear to listen to it.

By sharing a musical environment at home with your child you will create the best learning environment and set them up for a better and happier academic future. Here are a few ideas to help you incorporate music into your daily routine and see your child prosper and grow both emotionally and mentally.

1. Play music

Children love music and they love learning new songs or nursery rhymes. How many times has your young child come home from nursery school reciting a new nursery rhyme they have learnt? Simply just playing music in the background whilst your child is doing something or teaching them new songs together is a great way to enhance your child's intelligence.

Try to help your child interact with music as often as possible. Ask them questions about the music they can hear and ask them what it makes them feel like doing. Striking conversations about music is a great way to help develop your child's imagination and stimulate different emotions.

2. Sing together

Singing along to songs together with your child is another great way of spending some fun time together. You don't have to have an angelic opera voice to sing simple songs with your children (I have probably got the worst singing voice in the entire universe!) It is simply about sharing the time together and having some fun. Children are extremely perceptive and can easily memorise songs that are presented to them on a regular basis. This will also help your child learn some basic melodies and hear basic rhythms.

3. Dance together

Dancing together can be so much fun and stimulate many different emotions. Listening to different beats and practising different moves together will not only trigger happy emotions but will alleviate any stresses both you and your child may have. Always praise your child with comments such as "nice moves" and "ooh, I like your style" and remember it is all about having fun together.

4. Make music together

Making music together can be a lot of fun and stimulates creativity and imagination. You can create your own musical instruments from different objects around the house. Use different surfaces and instruments to create different percussion sounds or make trumpets using straws, kitchen roll tubes or rolled up cardboard. Create you own unique atmosphere using your child's ideas and help their ideas come to life. If you are lucky enough to play a musical instrument spend some time playing to your child and have them improvise their own musical instrument. Creating music together will encourage a love of music and the development of many skills including creative skills, imagination and confidence building.

5. Play musical games

Children learn through senses and social interaction so playing musical games with your child is a very natural way to encourage their learning. Exposing your child to different sounds and playing fun games such as 'creating the best animal sounds' or 'creating sounds from different textures such as paper, foil and tissue paper' will spark your child's imagination in a fun way. Musical chairs and musical bumps are also great games to play and certainly do not have to be limited to birthday parties. You can introduce music to practically any game or any activity you share with your child throughout the day.

To conclude

We as parents are our children's role models and setting examples is the best way to teach our children. If you enjoy music and incorporate it into your life then your child will almost certainly follow suit. Helping your child find a love for music from early on will see your child grow and nurture new skills continuously. And if they are particularly interested in learning a specific instrument then a private tutor is a great way to get them started.

Different kinds of music encourage different emotions from creativity, imagination, energy and activity to relaxation, meditation and stress-relief. By sharing these emotions with your child you are not only experiencing true bonding and treasuring precious time together you are giving them one of the world's greatest gifts; the gift of music in their lives.