Baby’s musical awakening: how to choose the right musical games and toys?

Music is omnipresent in our lives and that of our baby. Did you know that musical awareness is excellent for children’s cognitive development? TipsForWomens takes stock with Nawal Abboub, researcher in neuroscience and cognitive sciences, and author of the book “The Power of Babies” published by Fayard.

From his in-utero life, your baby hears your voice, but also the music you listen to. Moreover, many future parents play soft music to their baby during pregnancy. Once born, he will be able to recognize these sounds. Later, musical awakening will allow him to develop many senses, as Nawal Abboub, researcher in neuroscience and cognitive sciences, specialist in the baby brain, explains to us.

When music stimulates language…

“Processing sounds is innate in babies. They are very receptive to music, it gives them many emotions. Research has also shown that their brain is capable of very subtly analyzing different sounds, in very precise ways, particularly when they hear music in utero.“. The incredible powers of babies’ brains have also been the subject of a book by the researcher “The Power of Babies” published by Fayard. In the latter, she also explains that both at birth and at At the age of 4 months, we found stronger activity for babies exposed to the melody in-utero compared to the control group. In addition, the amplitudes, that is to say the height of brain activity, recorded when they were presented with the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star modified or were correlated with the degree of prenatal exposure. (…) They were therefore very attentive to the music if they had heard it several times. These results show that “a large prenatal exposure to a melody can induce “neuronal representations” which last several months. Our expert tells us that the regions of the brain stimulated by music are the same as those of language. In addition to providing musical richness and cultural to your child, you will undoubtedly allow him to master the language well.

…And social interactions

If the simple fact of listening to music, but also of offering musical games and toys allows the child to develop his language, this is not its only virtue. Indeed, according to the researcher “sounds and music are associated with moments of life, with words; but also to the parent-child bond. These interactions nourish these bonds and develop children’s social skills. Music is much richer than we think!“.

Adapt toys according to the child’s age

Nawal Abboub specifies that musical games and toys are an excellent way to pursue this innate musical appetite in little ones. Be careful, however, to offer objects adapted to their age, particularly depending on the noise they make. Indeed, a 4-month-old baby could be afraid of an instrument that emits an intense sound. Our expert also points out that around 3 or 4 months babies are more interested in soft sounds and rather slow rhythms.

When they grow up, we can offer them a wide variety of instruments and toys to leave room for experimentation. The interest is multiple: they will exercise their breathing, develop their musical ear and enrich their vocabulary and their knowledge. “Multiplying experiences is an absolute asset for the well-being and brains of children” insists Nawal Abboub.