March 2017
March is National Reading Month, as well as Dr. Seuss’s birthday! What better way to celebrate than to explore the benefits of singing, storytelling, and reading for young children?
Children exposed to music have demonstrated improved memory, reading comprehension, language, and math skills.
This March, Singing Machine is raising awareness of the benefits of having a karaoke machine in the classroom or at home as an exciting new way to encourage and develop children’s reading skills.
Educational benefits of having a karaoke machine in the classroom or at home:
- Character Development – Confidence Building
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- Performing a song in front of their peers takes a good deal of confidence! Shy children especially learn to come out of their shell with the help of music and reading out loud.
- Therapeutic – Speech Issues, Anxiety, Social Dysfunction
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- Proven effective for children with speech and language development delays.
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- Studies have shown that music therapy can help children on the autism spectrum improve interpersonal and communication skills, stress management, and self control. We don’t know exactly how this works, but experts suggest that autistic children often suffer from sensory overload, and music seems to play a role in calming them, and helping them organize that incoming sensory information.
- Communication Skills
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- Singing and storytelling lets students hear their own voice, teaching students to recognize different emotional tones. (For example: Sad, Mad, Happy, Excited.)
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- Learning new words in books and songs broadens a child’s vocabulary, teaching them about rhyme and cause and effect: "If this line ends in one, the next line must end with fun!"
- ESL, Cultural Learning, Attachment
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- Children can learn new languages through song, and grow more connected to their cultural roots with books, music and storytelling.
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- Music fosters attachment in children, who love the sound of their parents’ voices; songs become a part of a newborn’s safe, comfortable home environment.
- Memory Muscle – How We Learn ABCs
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- Children (and adults) learn more rapidly when new information is attached to song. Many Alzheimer’s patients can’t recognize family members, but come alive at the sound of a song from their youth.
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- Children often learn to sing before they learn to walk.
- Mathematics
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- Music enhances brain development in areas tied to pattern recognition, counting, organization, time and division.
Share with us how you are celebrating National Reading Month with your classroom or family by tagging us in your social posts, using the hashtag #singingmachine and handle @singingmachineco - We love to repost our favorites.
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