About Math, Music & Movement

Children arrive at school with extensive intuitive mathematical and musical knowledge; they hear music on the radio, songs sung by caregivers, TV jingles, etc. Music is a very natural part of a child’s life before school and provides the context for exploring math's components. Nursery rhymes and lullabies capture childrens' attention and provoke a fascination with music and the patterns embedded in them. The linkage of music and math is one that builds on the wholeness of children’s perspective (National Council of Teacher of Mathematics, 1989). Exposure to and experiences with music and movement feeds children’s developing mathematical concepts and skills of classification, comparison, ordering, measuring, counting, special awareness and graphing.