Parenting Tip:  Create a ‘family band,’ with your preschooler!   Why? Three and four-year-olds are acutely aware of the important people in their lives.  Social behaviors are learned interactions that occur through their experiences with each of the people they encounter.  In Kindermusik class, one of our goals is to foster community within our classes, because children learn best when they feel connected to their own adults, as well as the adults and children around them.  Working toward a common goal (like playing music together, 'cleaning the house,' and dancing together, in the ancient tradition of communities everywhere) helps us to create connections to one another.  This same community building and teamwork will benefit your child's future involvement in musical ensembles, where working together as a group is imperative.   How? Read A House is a House for Me, with your child.  If you like, gather some scrap paper, and have a family house-building party!  Have fun watching your child add doors, windows, floor, roof, and maybe a few unexpected things to your paper house!  For a change of pace, discover Animals at Home!  Find some instruments, and have a family playalong!  Choose a favorite track from Home Sweet Home, and tap, scrape, and play instruments together!  Maybe add some other sound-makers, and take turns passing them around – whoever has the frog-guiro gets to be 'the director,' for that turn.  Now trade!   Want to Learn More? On our blog: Learn why the Kindermusik classroom is the perfect place for your child to practice and develop social skills. Kindermusik 7-Year Continuum: As a baby, Kindermusik kids are delighted to notice other babies in their class!  Grown-ups help baby move and play around their fellow babies, as they discover themselves and all of those other faces in the room.  Kindermusik toddlers start to explore their own place in the group, as they begin to move around the circle on their own, and contribute their ideas to the group.  As preschoolers, children begin to ‘drive’ the class themselves, forming a peer group that works together to sing, play and move.  In Young Child classes, big kids take that peer group dynamic, and use it to play as an ensemble – starting & ending together, playing the same note as their neighbor, and keeping the same beat throughout the song.