Hand Clapping Songs Make Kids Smarter, Research Shows

Did you do hand-clapping games as a child? Play patty-cake with a sing-song rhyme? Guess what? You were improving your cognitive skills. A recent study at Ben Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Israel shows that clap-and-sing-along songs improve children's motor development, and thinking abilities. In fact, the study, "Impact of Hand-clapping Songs on Cognitive and Motor Tasks" showed striking differences between children who took a standard music appreciation program and those who were in hand-clapping song training for 10 weeks.

Dr. Idit Sulkin of the Music Science Lab at BGU, who conducted the study, was initially intrigued by the fact that children love clapping songs and begin making them up around the age of 7, but by the age of 10, the activity all but disappears. This led her to the thesis that hand-clapping songs are a transitional part of brain development, a stepping stone to the next phases of growing up. Sulkin visited first, second and third grade classrooms over the 10 week period and concluded that children who sing these songs "demonstrate skills absent in children who don't."

In fact, children who were found clapping and singing songs spontaneously on the playground "have neater handwriting, write better, and make fewer spelling errors," according to Sulkin. Teachers also noted that the hand-clappers are better at social interaction.

BGU Music Psychologist Dr. Wayne Brodsky, who supervised Sulkin's doctoral dissertation, went on to say that children who miss out on hand-clapping activities are actually more vulnerable to developmental problems like dyslexia and dyscalcula. Brodsky said "There is no doubt that these activities train the brain..."

Hand clapping songs are good for adults, too, Sulkin adds, and have been found to reduce stress, and help people focus. To ease the tension at your next business meeting, why not suggest a rousing chorus of "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!"

American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (2010, May 3).
Hand-clapping songs improve motor and cognitive skills,
research shows. ScienceDaily.

Kuwait Dsylexia Association: Hand-clapping songs

Video: Kids hand clapping to "If you're happy and you know it . . . "