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Why Watch a Tiny Great Performance™ at DuPage Children’s Museum?

Discover the magic of live performance! Tiny Great Performances™ are held on various Saturdays throughout the year, starting at 10:30 a.m. in the Creativity Connections Neighborhood on the main level. A detailed quarterly schedule is published in the DCM Neighborhood News member newsletter. The dates and performers are also included in our calendar. Performances span a wide variety of artists, are free to DCM members or free with Museum admission.

Watching and participating in Tiny Great Performances™ is not only entertaining, it enhances your child’s development of aesthetic and visual appreciation. When you and your child watch a Tiny Great Performance™, you are facilitating an appreciation of diversity in people, ideas and communication. Performing arts motivate and engage children in learning, help to stimulate their memory, facilitate understanding and increase their ability to use and understand symbolic communication. That’s a lot of learning in one short Tiny Great Performance™!

Participating in a Tiny Great Performance™ helps build upon many areas of your child’s physical, cognitive, linguistic and social-emotional development, beginning as a young infant and beyond. Developmental experiences and milestones for your child may include:

Enhancement for Younger Children

Music - As young as three months, a baby will respond by turning his head toward music or song. Your child may enjoy vocalizing and making repetitive sounds to themusic he hears. He may intuitively bang on a table or coo in a musical way. Participating and listening to music, besides being fun, helps your young child concentrate and cooperate toward a common goal.
Dance - Enjoying or participating in dance is not dependent upon capability and mobility. Even before your child learns to walk, the urge to move is evident. You may observe your child flapping his arms, bobbing his head or rocking to the movement of the dancers. Dance helps build and tone muscles. It increases flexibility, builds balance and coordination. As your child’s physical ability increases, so does his self-esteem.

Rhythm – An innate sense of discovery awaits your child as he shakes his rattle or moves to the rhythm of the instruments. Through repetition of patterns in voice, movement and sounds your young child is developing skills needed for later math and literacy activities.

Enhancement for Older Children

Music - Most children respond to music with joy. By now, your child may enjoy listening to a variety of music choices – children’s songs, rap, classical, rock, etc. You may find him imitating or singing along with the performance. As your child’s music appreciation grows, so does his ability to focus and actively listen, which builds upon his increasing attention span.
Dance - Some children are fascinated with dance performances. Your child may begin to show interest and experiment with sequencing, patterning and spatial concepts of dance. He may wish to dance with you or a friend. As your child’s physical abilities develop, so do his coordination and an awareness of his own body. The social ability of dance enhances appreciation and consideration of others. Your child may also recognize and show interest in dances of other cultures.

Rhythm - Your child may begin to recognize the pattern in rhythms. This recognition helps to contribute to his sense of time and focus as his attention to the detail of rhythm increases. Your child may recognize the pattern of the rhythms in the performance and anticipate what will happen next.

You can support your child’s aesthetic and visual development during Tiny Great Performances™in the following ways :

Sitting close to the performance may help hold your child’s attention longer. Very young children have short attention spans.
If your child wishes to dance or sing along with the performance, find a space where your child has the freedom to do so, without interfering with the performance.
You may want to help your young child clap or tap to the rhythm of the performance. Older children will model your enjoyment of the performance.
Revisit the performance by talking about it during your car ride home from the Museum. Ask your child to tell you his or her favorite part of the performance.

You can support your child’s aesthetic and visual development at home by:

Building upon your child's listening by singing to him and inviting him to sing along with you.
Singing favorite songs during everyday routines such as riding in the car, cleaning or bathing.
Offering a diverse selection of music for listening.
Moving to the music or clapping to rhythm. Your child may want to join you in the fun. Varying the size, tempo, level and direction of the movement will help with sequencing and patterning concepts.
Offering props for dancing and moving; scarves, streamers, bells, etc.

For further reading about aesthetic and visual appreciation:

Imagine! Introducing Your Child to the Arts. National Endowment for the Arts. This publication may be downloaded from www.arts.endow.gov/pub/imagine.pdf.
Young Children and the Arts: Making Creative Connections. A report of the Task Force on Children's Learning and the Arts: Birth to Age Eight. This publication may be downloaded from www.aep-arts.org/PDF.