National Childminding Week

12th -19th June 2010 will be this year's National Childminding Week and registered childminders and nannies all over the country will be doing events and activities to celebrate!   They aim to promote home-based childcare and hope to spread the word about the services they offer.  The event has been organised by the National Childminding Association and this year's theme is "Reaching the right notes".  The focus will be music and singing and there is even a special song: Ode To Childminding.

Childminders are registered professional child care providers and thousands of children throughout the country rely on the caring environment of a childminder's home.

Music is an integral and vital part of learning and can help children with vocabulary, speech, confidence building and simply having fun!

Scientific research shows that the neurological and developmental effects of music on children can be significant.  It has fascinated scientists for years and they are yet to be completely in agreement.  Compared to the long history of research on language, music is relatively un-researched and much less understood.  It doesn't have to be classical music: all music can be beneficial from pop, to tunes on a child's toy, to the music at the ballet lesson.  All music can be fun and encourage a child's physical, emotional and educational development.

Does music make children clever?

It does because whether they are learning a tune, a song a dance they are learning and using their body and mind to do something.  Music helps spatial-temporal reasoning (which is vital for learning and understanding maths) and moving to music helps physical movement and develops the gross motor skills needed for moving and running.  Fun is an important part of music too and is probably what toddlers and children are most interested in!

So, put on some music, have fun, and let's celebrate National Childminding Week in style!