Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.
Who is it for?
Made for babies and toddlers up to age 6 or 7, this program can be used by any child who has an interest in music education. The songs are really geared toward smaller kids, so your older kids might not find it engaging. But there are some music theory principles presented that can be valuable for anyone. If you have older kids sitting with your younger kids, they might all kid something out of it.
What do you need?
In addition to the membership, you'll want to have a few musical items at home. You can order them from the site, but there are also instructions for making your own. These include a scarf, a shaker, and wooden rhythm sticks. You'll also want space to move around and a way to watch the lessons.
How does it work?
Musik at home is a web-based program, where you can choose from any of the available videos or lessons at any time. Some of the videos are shortish clips (just one song), that kids can watch for a quick way to break up learning or boredom. The other lessons are longer, over 20 minutes, and include several components for music learning. One that we did with our 7-year-old, for example, included a singing activity where they repeated pitch and tone, movement with scarves while listening to classical music, a story with illustrations where kids learned a lesson and mimicked the sounds of animals in nature, and a quick drawing activity that encouraged kids to make musical notes and learn how different music patterns come together in a composition.
As you can see, this is a LOT to learn in a session. We found that there was so much included that we broke the longer lessons up into two chunks. The teacher does an excellent job of changing up the pacing of the activities so that they do a sit-down activity (like drawing on paper) with a movement activity (the scarf dances.) Still, my child was tuckered out after 10 or 12 minutes because he was so intensely engaged. We decided to do half in the morning and half in the afternoon.
Where can you watch it?
We used our laptop to watch the videos, but we could also see streaming them to our family TV with our Chromecast device. I did just receive an email that these are now available for Amazon's Fire TV, so that's another great way to watch. If you're doing school on the go, you can also watch these on a mobile device through the apps for both the iOS (Apple) and Android, as well.
Do parents have to help?
Aside from providing the materials, like a shaker, scarf, or wooden click sticks, you can sit back and let the very cheerful teacher do the work. She walks kids through everything, engaging them and doing everything at an appropriate level for the kids being taught. Of course, some families don't want their kids getting more screen time in a day, so there is the option of the parent watching the video and just letting the sound drive the activities. You could stand in place of the teacher from some of the lessons, like the scarf dance. For other parts of the lesson (like the story with the illustrations), you'd need the video to get the full effect.
Musik at Home Review Summary
What I love about this site is that there really has been a lot of thought put into the videos. It's not just a simple sing-along; there has been much research done on what kids at various stages can learn and how their body's physical development and coordination can come into play. What you have with this program isn't just a music program; it's about movement and expression, as well. Special needs learners, kids who are stuck in place too long while doing distance learning, and really anyone who wants a fun way to learn about and make music will adore this program. I'm excited to see what new videos are added to the library. At present, there is plenty to get you started through the over 400 musical activities and games, but for a long-time program (a year or more), I would expect to need more videos doing this 2-3 times a week.
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