Are your children good at remembering songs and melodies? Or at singing and dancing?

If yes, they show signals of musical intelligence. Let’s see together what it is and what signs indicate it is particularly developed.

Almost two decades after the book’s publication Frame of mind on Howard Gardner’s revolutionary study, terms such as multiple intelligence have become commonplace in our daily lives. In some way, the professor of neurophysiology from the University of Harvard confirmed what teachers and parents had always said: children learn in different ways. 

In that book, Gardner suggests that each person possesses a portfolio of various types of intelligence. He mentioned eight categories of thinking: linguistic, math-logic, visual and spatial, interpersonal, kinaesthetic, naturalistic, and musical. We have a dominant one that combines with others differently from individual to individual.

In particular, musical intelligence is the ability to enjoy, create, and express musical forms. Playing an instrument is a clear sign of its development, but thinking of associating intelligence with a single ability would be simplistic.

People with this inclination can hear and recognize patterns easily. For example, they look for patterns in nature or new information to increase learning. They also search them in speeches and language. They remember things by turning them into lyrics or rhymes. They usually have a strong appreciation of music and are sensitive to rhythm and sounds. Of course, they can easily understand musical structures, notes, and tones.

Most of the skills linked to musical intelligence become more evident with age. But how can we detect it in kids?

Aptitudes usually display more clearly than we think. So, check these behaviours in your children for discovering a music predisposition.

Sounds sensitivity

Your children don’t resist the music and are even good at dancing. It is a signal of developed musical intelligence. Indeed, having a good rhythm means being able to move to the beat of the music. This proves that children who are good at dancing can understand music tempo unconsciously.

Do your children love singing? Kids with music thinking can remember rhythms and lyrics after simply hearing them a few times. They usually sing in tune and enjoy singing together with others.

Concerning learning style, they tend to remember things by turning them into lyrics or rhymes.

All these behaviours show that children are sensitive to sounds. The reason why they tend to replicate them. Have you ever found your little ones tapping their fingers according to the music beat without realizing it?

Searching for patterns

Observe their way of looking at the world. Some children try to detect patterns around them.

They search for a scheme in the tree structures, city buildings, games. If they are playing with wooden blocks, for instance, children probably build towers replicating a sequence.

As musical language reproduces patterns of notes in the staff, these children will likely feel comfortable learning it.

Music toys are their favourite

For detecting kids’ dominant mental processing, you should look at them when they play to see what activities or toys they prefer. Trying to duplicate sounds in various ways, using kitchen utensils to bang, for instance, reveals this predisposition for music thinking. If they usually choose music toys for playing, there is no question.

Children have a lot of fun with music toys. Beyond that, it is indeed that listening to music or playing an instrument at an early age enhances kids’ growth. Many scientists conclude that music helps the brain’s development. It produces physical effects on the brain structure and functions, improving many cognitive skills such as language, memory, and attention.

Parents can play a role in developing the musical aptitude of their children by doing simple actions. Singing songs is a good way to engage your child in musical activities, dancing, or putting music on too. But the best way to train musical intelligence is learning to play an instrument.

You can give children the opportunity to make this experience through play, which is the most appropriate way to acquire basic skills for them.

Music toys are very suitable for introducing children to learn music. It is also a great opportunity to explore various instruments to verify your kid’s inclination toward a particular one.

Hape toys range includes some high-quality toys made from sustainable materials designed to inspire toddlers and pre-schoolers to play music for real.

They can start playing with Learn with Light Ukulele. With a flashing light system for children to follow, this toy teaches them to play their first tunes to explore the world of music in a fun way.

The same system is adopted by Learn to play Harmonica. Your kids follow the guiding lights of the Light Up Play Panel for playing this wind instrument. Red lights indicate to blow out and blue ones to suck in. Learning the base of harmonica hasn’t ever been so fun!

Then, Learn with Light Drum helps kids explore music with six basic tempos and five songs for practice. In the advanced mode, tunes play and, the star lights in the drum surface flash along. Babies need to react quickly by following the signal for tapping the drum. If done right, the stars turn red. Otherwise, no colour changes.

If you have detected some music intelligence signals, encourage them to introduce your babies to instruments. Hape music toys are perfect for reaching this goal.