This presentation examines the physical development of infants and toddlers, its impact on cognitive development, and teachers’ classroom activities to promote both.
Tag: gross motor development
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Piano Hands: Motor Skills
Integrating both fine and gross motor activities into piano teaching can significantly benefit students. Their full piano-playing potential will be unlocked by laying a strong foundation in motor skills.
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Piano Hands: Bilateral Coordination
Imagine you’re trying to pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time. That’s using bilateral coordination – using both sides of your body together in a coordinated way. It’s like your left and right hand are working as a team, even if they’re doing different things.
To have good posture for piano lessons, a student needs to have a good understanding of what good posture is and maintain it in other settings as well. In order to do so, one must have the muscles required to maintain balance. These muscles can become strong through movement. If a student has bad posture at the piano because they have weak core muscles, simply telling them to “sit up straight” won’t help. They need to strengthen those muscles first through repetitive movements, and then practice calling on those muscles to maintain balance for good posture.
Christine just did a break-out session on pre-handwriting at the 2019 Mississippi Early Childhood Association Imagine Conference in Jackson. If you’d like to refer back to it for reminders and web links, it is available to download.
In Early Intervention, our job is to find that delicate balance between letting the child explore independently and gently guiding them to the next skill. We can root this “gentle dance” in two foundational learning theories
Every home has its own stuff. Learning how to use what you have to teach babies in their natural environment can be a creative puzzle.
Working with children, I love using action songs, especially the simple ones most mamas and daddies already know. “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” is one I use frequently for things like rocking and swinging activities. To me, it lends itself to rocking movement.
All Things Early Intervention 