Kindermusik is…
Child-centered
The Kindermusik classroom environment celebrates the individuality of each child. Kindermusik educator finds delicate balance between direction, guidance and responsiveness that allows every child to flourish.
Developmentally Appropriate
- Age Appropriateness: Activities are selected within the context of understanding the typical development of children within the age range. Human development follows a predictable sequence or growth which serves as a frame work from which to construct the environment and select the activities.
- Individual Appropriateness: While child development follows this predictable course, children develop within their own unique timetable, drawing on their unique personality, learning style and family background.
- Integrated learning through all domains: Cognitive, physical, emotional and social. Any activity that stimulates one area of development automatically influences the others. Good curriculum design must recognize this integration.
- Learning emphasized as an interactive practice: Children learn through interaction with materials, adults, other children, and their environmental space.
- Activities and materials are varied, and they increase in difficulty and complexity as children develop skills and understanding.
Concerned with the Whole Child
Our primary goal is total growth for the developing child, and we are constantly aware of how the experiences of music and movement foster growth in other areas: physical, emotional, cognitive, language and social. The carefully integrated selection and development of activities in every Kindermusik curriculum set the stage for optimal learning experiences.
Process-, not Performance-oriented
Rather than being concerned with an outcome, product or performance, a process approach places more value on the experience itself. Every child can enjoy and gain benefit from appropriate musical experiences. It is not necessary that the result be perfect, merely that it be. Imagine the joy of a 2-year-old playing the drum; a 4-year-old moving regally to Handel’s Royal March; or a 6-year-old having fun playing a glockenspiel, a dulcimer and a recorder! The Kindermusik curricula provide experiences for all developmental levels with no predetermined level of achievement demanded. Our goal is musical children rather than child musicians.
Fun for the Child and for Families
Young children respond when something is fun and enjoyable. Over and over they will repeat an activity, song, or musical game that they like. In Kindermusik, this repetition creates opportunities to build and extend an activity, which leads to the mastery of skills or the learning of concepts. The Kindermusik experience offers families the time and materials for sharing the bonding and respects the need of the parent to be a vital part of their child’s learning experience.
Inclusive of the Parents
Parents are the most important people in a young child’s life. Children learn the most from their parents and are most comfortable with their parents. We mus reach and teach parents who will then support and continue the musical experiences of their childrenin the home. Kindermusik is a community of adults and children, sharing and caring for each other. At no other time in a child’s life do parents need affirmation, education, and community more than in these early years. Kindermusik provides that opportunity for involvement in class as well as through At Home Material for each family, fostering this crucial learning partnership. Parent education occurs in every class through the Kindermusik Foundations of Learning statements and shared observations.
Use of Quality Audio and Visual Learning Materials in Class and at Home
What is learned and experienced first is best remembered. It is this early and repeated exposure, both in class and primarily at home, that sets the stage for learning and enjoyment. Teacher materials and home materials must be of the highest quality possible. In order to provide these high-quality materials for educators and families, Kindermusik International engages in extensive research and development. Piloting, testing, and consultants in a variety of fields contribute to the quality of materials.
At Home Materials are an integral part of the Kindermusik program. They allow the class experience to continue in the child’s most comfortable environment – at home with parents.
