How Does Birdie Beats Support Child Development?

• Musical Development: Music is a universal human experience and we believe that supporting a music-rich childhood for all children is integral to the health of our communities. Birdie Beats is centered on affirming and celebrating the benefits of connecting with self and others in music. These benefits include developing our musical sense of self; a musical sense of community; a commitment to a craft; and connections with beauty, imagination, and wonder. We explore all of the above in ways that only music can!

• Language Development: rhythmic pattern learning is an important pre-verbal skill that precedes language and reading development. We choose songs that help children explore sounds, words & phrases, contour and rhythm of speech, and communication of ideas.

• Motor Skills: children's natural engagement with our music can facilitate body awareness, coordination, and motor planning, in addition to specific skills like walking, clapping, drumming, or jumping!

• Caregiver Bonding and Child Confidence: Babies and toddlers react to the emotional qualities of music. They will turn their awareness and attention inward to their selves and a caregiver during lullabies vs safely and securely stretching their awareness outward during playsongs.

• Self Concept & Self Confidence: when engaging in our music groups, children explore social-emotional skill-building through the depth of sensory, cognitive, and social experience in musical play. Songs that have us singing, moving, bouncing, clapping, and playing in sync also activate the parts of our brains that engage when we cooperate and identify with others. Our music therapists gently guide families through this incredible development of the musical self.

• Sensory Engagement: music is an immersive sensory experience, involving the classic senses of touch, hearing, and vision, but also our sense of balance, movement through space, and our sense of internal body sensations which can relate to our feelings and emotions.