Music has the power to engage, relax, and energize us and has also been proven to make children smarter. In studies conducted by early childhood specialists, preschoolers who received regular music lessons over several months showed marked advantages over their playmates who did not. Children dramatically improved their abilities to work mazes, copy patterns of color, and draw geometric figures. These skills relect spatial intelligence, the foundation for more complex types of reasoning (such as those used in math and science).

Similiar studies with youngsters have linked early musical exposure to superior motor skills and even social activities. No wonder Plato called music "a more potent instrument than any other for education".

The ability to learn continues throughout life, but hands-on participation in music between the ages of two and ten seems to train the brain fo higher thinking, and children who miss out on the fun of playing music may also miss some critical developmental opportunities.

If there are young children in your life, play music for and with them, sing songs, and place an instrument into their hands!