From the time your child wakes up in the morning to the time he or she goes to bed a night, sounds surround her: music, children at play, traffic, birds, TV, ticking clocks, and more. The ability to focus on one sound and distinguish it from background noise is different than simply hearing — that’s why listening is truly a learned skill.
You can help your little one develop the awareness needed for active listening when you stop and listen to the nuances of sound. Developing good listening skills is vital to helping her learn to follow directions, read, or play an instrument.
Here are some Kindermusik tips for you:
• For your baby: Sit comfortably and hold your baby on your knees so that you’re facing each other. Imitate her facial expressions and sounds. Allow long pauses, letting her notice that you’re really listening.
• For your toddler: When you hear an interesting and easily repeatable sound, such as a doorbell, a knock, or footsteps, ask your toddler, “What’s that sound?” Imitate the sound yourself and then ask if she can make the sound too.
• For your preschooler or big kid: Play “I Hear” (instead of “I Spy”). Start by saying, “I hear with my little ear . . . something in the kitchen.” Your child can ask questions about the sound or try to identify it. Then switch roles. Here's another one — try playing the “If you can hear me” game. Say, “If you can hear me, hop on one foot.” Let your voice get softer and softer, while the actions get sillier and sillier. The crazier the actions, the more fun you'll have.
You can find all kind of fun, silly, and exciting learning games at Kindermusik. Check out a class today.
Babies and toddlers enjoy blowing. As they practice blowing, they strengthen mouth muscles and develop awareness of their breathing, which will help their language development.
The more you expose your baby to language, the stronger his verbal skills will be. Language acquisition is a gradual process that involves many facets of development including listening, imitating facial expressions, playing peekaboo, and babbling. Your child will learn language naturally by hearing it used in context when you sing, read, talk, and listen to him.
In order to develop balance and stability, babies age 1-2 should practice walking in different directions and in different patterns. Non-walkers begin to develop the sense of balance by experiencing varied movements in a grown up’s arms.
Isn’t it amazing how fast these children in Kindergarten and First Grade are learning, gaining new skills and loving all they can do on their own? It’s easy (and frequently, a relief) to let them do just that – proceed on their own – especially with a younger sibling at hand. 
Ahhh! Life with a preschooler. New skills, new questions, new activities, new friends. It can be downright exhausting! But you learn to embrace the emotional rollercoaster. Equilibruim: “I love you." "I love my hamster." "I love everything.” Disequilibrium: “My shoelaces aren’t right." "I hate salad." "I won’t go to bed.” (Do they still make shoes with shoelaces?)