Photo: Jelleke Vanooteghem at Unsplash

The Importance of Music

Whether you are a musician or not, you can’t dispute importance of music on our lives. Music is a part of us. It is in our history books, our memories and life without music would be too quiet.

If you want to open your children’s minds up to the arts, childhood musical instruments are the way to get a start on this. I know you're thinking, "how exactly can a silly, noisy little toy make any difference in your child’s life?" Trust me. It can be done and you will be so glad that you brought music into their lives.

If you are still on the fence about it, I will prove the benefits to you. Here are 8 benefits of musical toys for kids:

1. Promotes creativity - The truth is, your child is going to make noise regardless of what is put in front of them. They are curious, they want to know what sounds they can make. When an instrument is put in front of them, they get to test out different sounds and different patterns, which is a great way to open them up to being more and more creative.
2. Encourages cognitive skills - Music has been proven to stimulate neural pathways in a child’s brain. The popular theory that “listening to Mozart makes babies smarter” is being proven time and time again.
3. Encourages sensory development and offers therapeutic benefits - Children who are introduced to music have been proven to have stronger language skills. Additionally, music therapy has become a very real thing in the world of psychology for its benefits to learning as well as trauma recovery.
4. Encourage motor skill development - Many musical instruments are difficult to handle and master for adults, let alone children. Getting experience playing with these instruments from a young age encourages muscle strength and development of these motor skills that can benefit the child later in life.
5. Encourages and rewards patience - Playing music takes time to master. It is very unlikely that a child will pick up an instrument and automatically be amazing at it. They have to be patient and learn. Once they display patience in growing their skills though, they are rewarded nicely with a new talent.
6. Promotes positive social interactions - Children often have a hard time learning proper social interactions. When they stay home with mom or dad during the days, it is often hard for them to come out of their shell, but the music has the ability to change that. First of all, they often want to show off their new found skills, plus, many children love to play music so it gives them something to bond with other kids over.
7. Promotes self expression - Maybe your little one can’t yet speak, and is trying to express their frustrations with something. The ability to play with instruments like this can help them “vocalize” their feelings without having to say anything. You can often tell when a child is playing happy music or frustrated music.
8. Promotes self confidence - When a child learns something new, their self confidence will grow. When a child masters this new hobby, their self confidence will soar.

If you couldn’t tell from all of the benefits I listed above, I really love introducing kids to music. I think that it can benefit them greatly. Now that you know all about those benefits, how about we take this opportunity to grab some musical instruments for the kids?

Musical instruments from Sassafras®

Look no further than right here at Sassafras to find some of the most fun musical instruments for your little ones. Make sure to buy extra though, so you can join in the musical fun!

bee bells - bee bells are all the buzz! shake these and make music fun!

ladybug, fish and frog castanets - click and clack a ladybug, fish and frog castanet–– get them individually or as a set of three!

bright stripe tambourine - our tambourine lets kids keep beat to the music both with a beat rhythm as well as through the mini cymbals.

stripe kazoo - budding musicians can hone their musical skills early with these kid-sized musical instruments. each instrument is sure to not only help develop a sense of musical timing, but is great fun as well!

bright stripe xylophone - kids love discovering notes on the xylophone, creating their own little songs. it boosts their concentration and their creativity.

Whether your child is an infant or a pre-teen, it's never too late to introduce them to playing a musical instrument.
Get your little ones banging and clacking away towards a brighter future!