A musical instrument is any device used for producing sound or playing music. These instruments include piano, guitar, drum, saxophone, violin, flute, accordion and concertina, trumpet, and xylophone. Young children, being very curious learners, are often quite ready to learn new things. Nonetheless, they learn better when these new things are presented in a manner that appeals to them.

Children naturally love music and we have quite a number of great musicians who started playing musical instruments from a very tender age. Once you are determined, creative and imaginative, you will have no difficulty introducing musical instruments to your young child too.

Benefits of Introducing Musical Instruments to Young Children

Apart from entertaining your youngster, music also introduces your child to learning, developing a routine, and also offers a lot of other benefits. Some of these benefits include:

• It teaches rhythm.
• It also encourages him to develop skills that will be important in the future.
• It also improves their academic skills.
• It helps to cultivate social skills.
• It also encourages brain development.
• It makes appreciating other cultures easier.
• It also boosts self-esteem in your young child.
• Children will learn to concentrate better.
• Their listening, reading and writing skills will also be improved.
• Their motor skills are also enhanced as the muscles in different parts of the body are exercised while playing musical instruments.
• It also increases individual development by teaching children to have a higher level of self-control and confidence.

5 Ways to Introduce Musical Instruments to Young Children

Music is a beautiful thing that comes quite naturally to children and can be introduced to them at a very tender age. Even before enrolling your child in a music class, it is important to be your child’s first teacher. Beyond that, your presence, motivation and cooperation will go a long way in helping the child enjoy music better. Here are 5 ways you can introduce musical instruments to young children:

1. Use objects they use every day. One of the best ways to introduce young children to musical instruments is to make them use objects found at home or in the classroom. Using these objects will make them familiar with musical concepts like rhythm. When these objects are treated as percussive instruments, the children will have fun and look forward to playing more often.

2. Introduce them to real instruments. You can actually get real instruments for your children to touch, feel, and interact with. This will encourage them to produce actual sounds from these instruments, know how they feel, and easily differentiate sounds. If unsure which musical instrument to choose for your toddler, internet is full of trusted reviews like those on Music groupies and Music radar. It is also important to play along with your child or sing as they play to encourage him. If you know how to play any of the instruments, you can teach them to play some simple rhythms. It is also important to improvise and experiment so that the child will not be discouraged when he makes mistakes while playing.

3. Create your own instruments. Creating musical instruments with your child is a fun activity that will help your child appreciate music. You can use recycled materials or things like empty containers and rubber bands to create instruments. Shakers, small guitars, and drums can be made this way. This will teach your kids music appreciation as well as the importance of recycling.

4. Expose them to music early. Exposing your child to music can begin from conception. As you sing to your unborn baby, you are developing his interests in music. More so, you can expose your child to different types of music from different cultures and periods and then ask him to identify any instrument from the music. You can also add dance, clapping, foot tapping, and any other form of movement that suits the kind of music you are listening to. By doing these, your child will appreciate different forms of music and learn different music concepts.

5. Use coloring books. One of the best ways to introduce musical instruments kids is by getting them coloring books that contain pictures of musical instruments. There are a lot of bookstores and coloring pages on the internet that feature musical instrument coloring books. You can further encourage your children by getting sound samples of whatever instrument he is coloring at the time. By so doing, you will engage the child’s sense of sight, touch and sound in the learning process. This will also make the child feel more connected to the instrument he is coloring.

Music has a way of shaping the way a child sees and interacts with the world. Learning instruments at an early age has benefits ranging from better social interaction skills to refined management skills. In between, children learn empathy, and how to manage time. By learning music, your child will be exposed to different tastes, sounds, colors, smells, and textures. In fact, the experience is always worth it.