Ever considered taking your baby to the theatre? Whilst a marathon stint of Les Misérables may be out of the question, there are play and theatre productions aimed at babies and toddlers that can benefit your child in many ways.
Attending a theatrical show with your little one is a wonderful bonding experience and can provide a host of developmental benefits as well as happy memories. From the team at Cubbin Theatre Company, here are five ways that music and theatre can benefit your baby.
1. Connection time with their grown-up
There is nothing that your little one craves more than spending time with you. Sharing a creative experience while cuddled up in your arms, or when you’re lying nearby, is more beneficial than you may realise. When you attend a production aimed at babies, like Up & Away, you can also recreate the moves and actions you learn in the session to use at home, which will further strengthen your relationship. There’s nothing better than seeing their face light up and look at you with a “did you see that” expression on their face! For your baby, seeing your reaction is an important part of face to face contact, building on their lifelong social skills.
2. Regulation and soothing
By introducing your baby to a regular musical play routine, it can help to become a soothing experience for them. Music and peaceful sensory experiences work wonders to soothe babies and bring their brains into a calm state. Just like our favourite song brings us joy, babies can react positively to pieces of music that they associate with being calm and happy. They are most receptive to developing new pathways when they feel comfortable, which is only heightened when they have their grown-ups around to engage with them.
3. Brain building
During the first two years of their lives, your baby’s brain develops more than any other time. Using music and play to help encourage this can develop the emotional, intellectual, social and physical parts of their brains. Age-appropriate experiences fire up the neurons in their brain, creating positive connections that will last them a lifetime. The positive environment and experience will help shape their brains. You might be surprised to know that your baby will remember the experience for far longer than you think!
4. Happy parents = happy babies!
Having a happy baby usually makes for a happy parent! The environment of Up & Away is intended to be intimate and calming to ensure a positive experience for everyone involved. Engaging in experiences like this can build a relationship between you and your baby. The first few months of parenthood can be exhausting and isolating, so it’s important to get out of the house and into soothing and comfortable environments – once you enter the beautiful Cubbin tent that hosts the Up & Away show you won’t want to leave!
5. Introducing creativity at a young age
Introducing your child to musical play at an early age can encourage them to extend their creativity as they grow older. Music is a skill that can be fostered from very early on in life, through discovering sounds and tune with your baby. Generally, the language of music for a child is about the sensory experience – how it makes them connect, move and communicate all factors into the way they explore and see the world. Children learn to express their emotions through music and can develop a love and passion for it that they can develop further.
Content provided by Cubbin Theatre Company.
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