In a first-ever study of hand-clapping songs, Dr. Idit Sulkin from Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) discovered a link between the activity and the development of important skills that last throughout a person’s life. These skills surprisingly included cognitive abilities, social integration, spelling and even neater handwriting. Through hand-clapping songs and games, children were also found to be able to reduce the risk of dyslexia and dyscalculia.

Originally, Dr. Sulkin’s study was conducted to find out why children pick up singing and clapping activities only until the end of third grade when the children’s interests turn towards sports. But further insights showed a more significant link between the activities and a child’s development.

The elementary-level classes that were part of the study were engaged in either a music appreciation program or a hand-clapping songs program for a period of ten weeks. At the end of this period, Dr. Sulkin found that children enrolled in the hand-clapping songs program caught up in cognitive abilities with children who played hand-clapping games more often.

This led her to conclude that the activity did play a crucial role in the development of motor and cognitive training. It also proved to help in other areas such as emotional and sociological development within those ages where children were more apt to pick it up.

While there have been no long-term studies conducted yet on the effects that hand-clapping songs and activities may have on a child’s motor skills, Sulkin was able to find that the same hand-clapping song activity had a positive effect on adults as well. University students who filled out her questionnaires reported that they felt more focused and less tense after engaging in the games.

The serendipitous nature of the discovery that was made reminds us to be open minded at everything that we do. Studies such as Sulkin’s that look into the way our activities affect us both in childhood and even in adulthood may lead to other fascinating studies in the same area. It may even help developers looking for ways to help teach students with learning disabilities.