Learning Through Music Strikes A Responsive Chord (NAPSA)—Music makes learning fun. Increasingly, that is the view of both educators and parents who rememberlearning their ABCs through the Alphabet Song or learning their numbers to the repetition and rhymeof 1,2 Buck- le My Shoe. An increasing number of studies with young children support the theory that music making contributes to the development of essential cognitive systems, which include reasoning, creativity, thinking, decision-making and problem solving. Young children begin by chanting words and syllables and then move on to narratives and imagi- native stories. They enjoy substi- tuting new words in familiar songs. As delightful as this may seem, important learning is taking place as children are exposed to music. Musical elements are introduced and the rhythm, rhymes and repetition sensitize children to the sounds of language, an important predictor of later success in reading. With this in mind, today’s preschoolers are now able to learn their lessons through the repetition, rhythm and rhyme of musical sounds and lyrics with help from Learn Through Music. This new, interactive early learning system from Fisher-Price helps toddlers between 18 months and 4 years develop the building blocks of learning with their favorite friends from Barney, Blue’s Clues, Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street. Featuring a cleverly designed base unit, plus interactive software cartridges, the Learn Through Music learning system incorporates a wide rangeof lyri- IN HARMONY—A musical learning system has been devel- oped that captures children’s attention and imaginations and helps them absorb and remember basic concepts. cal and rhythmic devices, from songs and nursery rhymes to poems, raps and cheers. Through two modes of play, each lesson features both visual and audio content geared toward helping preschoolers grasp and retain the most basic and critical building blocks of learning, including the alphabet, observation and deductive reasoning, social interaction and Spanish language skills. The Musical Identification Mode incorporates fun and memorable songs and poemsto teach each lesson, while the Quiz Mode quizzes the child on what they have learned in the song. The touch-sensitive light-up screen makes it easy and fun for preschoolers to interact with each character driven lesson. Children can also sing along with the microphoneas they learn. Because music engages a child’s entire self—mind, body and soul—putting lessons to music makes it fun and easy for children to soak up new information. It’s almost as if the child sings with knowledge.
