Parezy

1. Language Development

Our classes host children of a range of ages from 0 to 5; by listening and mimicking older children, younger children often learn to speak sooner.Not only by mimicking older children but by singing repetition songs and playing repetition games with their instructor and caregiver, children are being encouraged to develop their language skills. Listen to ‘U R My Echo!’ free on the zumbini app downloadable on the app and play stores. Silly songs throughout the class help children to attach meaning to words, songs such as ‘The Happy Song’ from Kalino Finds the Music and ‘Singing With You’ from Hili and the Dance are fun songs that add meaning to not only our feelings but the words we use to describe our feelings. Children are introduced to so many new words and concepts during our zumbini classes, may that be ‘la la la’, ‘mummy’, ‘green’, ‘diamond’, or any other word/concept. These words then develop into sentences such as “I make sound” which becomes “I can make a sound”, all whilst the children take their first steps into a secondary language.

2. Motor Development

Through jumping, running, dancing, and a lot of panting from the adults, children develop their gross motor skills. Fine motor skills are developed through our small movement dances and scarf/ instrument play when the children use their hand-eye co-ordination skills. The children learn balance and begin to develop certain motor skills sooner by watching and mimicking the instructor and other children. I remember baby G (name omitted for confidentiality reasons) coming into my class in his stroller, barely crawling around the room in class, unsure how to act around the older (walking) children. A month and four sessions later he was standing, bobbing his body to copy the jumping children. After that it didn’t take him long to start walking and I was so honoured to have him achieve these milestones during our zumbini sessions. The joy on his face when everyone acknowledged his achievements was absolutely priceless.

3. PSED

PSED for those who haven’t heard of this from their child’s nursery yet is your child’s personal, social, and emotional development. This is their emotional well being, their mental well being, their ability to work well with others, their ability to play alone, their creativity, and so much more. Zumbini allows children to connect with peers of of different ages through music and dance (and caregivers too! Who says you can’t meet up for a coffee or playdate post-zumbini?), our classes also allow children to explore and learn to identify what different emotions may “sound” or “feel” like.

4. Cognitive Development

Music and movement stimulates neural connections in our brains, allowing children to develop and learn in new ways that can have lasting impressions. Think of a catchy song you may have heard on the radio years ago, how easily do the lyrics come back to your mind? In our zumbini classes we learn about so much through song be that counting, colours, Spanish, Japanese, animals, and many more! Children use reason and logic during instrument play to identify and follow music patterns, we constantly move to the rhythm of a song without thinking much about it but we learn how to before we even turn one. We have songs that come in many styles disguised as many learning opportunities but my personal favourite would have to be our repetition songs, not only because repeating sounds and syllables enhances language development, but also because caregivers always join in and let out their inner child to just be in that moment and have fun with their little ones.

5. Bonding

A bond between a parent and their child is one of the greatest bonds we can have and being able to set aside 45 minutes a week to focus on strengthening that bond is so precious. 45 minutes a week to help your child develop. 45 minutes a week to allow your children to make and strengthen early bonds when they sing and dance with other ‘binis’ (that’s what we call our amazing zumbini babies). And you can’t forget about the bonds you as a caregiver make with other caregivers, zumbini creates an amazing sense of community.

As a zumbini caregiver you have access to our private Facebook group so be sure to send us an email once signed on for the link and join our wonderful and supportive community.