Music is a part of every human culture, and many caregivers instinctively include musical play in their interactions with children. But music does more than entertain; there’s evidence it can help children learn emotional regulation skills. Read more in our latest tip sheets!
Music affects us on several different levels. Music can help convey a sense of safety, helping to calm activated nervous systems. On the flip side, musical play can be an outlet for our feelings and offer a chance to practice labeling different emotions. Music also presents opportunities for creativity and social interaction. And it can help groups coordinate their efforts, as when educators rely on familiar songs to help children transition between activities or focus on a task like cleaning up toys.
Did you know that in addition to being an enriching experience, music in the classroom can help children build emotion regulation skills? Download our latest tip sheets to learn more.
Our evidence-based tip sheets for early childhood professionals break topics down into two parts: theory (Introducing It) and practice (Applying It). In partnership with MacPhail Center for Music, we created a set of tip sheets exploring music as a tool to help children build emotional regulation skills. Introducing It: The Benefits of Music Integration to Emotional Regulation Development in Young Children digs into the research that supports music integration in the classroom. Applying It: Engaging in Musical Play with Young Children gives practical suggestions for use with young children.
For additional information and suggestions on integrating music into your classroom, check out these sample resources.
MacPhail Center for Music offers videos and blog posts with suggested activities and more information about the benefits of music.
A Music Together playlist brings together recorded lullabies from several different cultures.
José-Luis Orozco’s recordings of Latin American children’s songs are available on YouTube.The PBS program Daniel Tiger features “strategy songs” in each episode.
These songs talk about experiences like feeling mad or separating from a caregiver.
Search YouTube for social story songs that can help kids with social-emotional concepts, such as “That’s a Boundary” by Hopscotch or songs from the Storybots episode “Emotions.”
Below is a list of sources referenced in Introducing It: The Benefits of Music Integration to Emotional Regulation Development in Young Children.
Rosanbalm, K. D., & Murray, D. W. (2017). Co-Regulation from Birth through Young Adulthood: A Practice Brief. OPRE Brief #2017-80. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US. Department of Health and Human Services.
Mehr, S.A., Singh, M., Knox, D., Ketter, D.M., Pickens-Jones, D., Atwood, S., Lucas, C., Jacoby, N., Egner, A.A., & Glowacki, L. (2019) Universality and diversity in human song. Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.aax0868
Teie, D. (2016) A comparative analysis of the universal elements of music and the fetal environment. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1158. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01158
Harrington, E.M., Trevino, S.D., Lopez, S., & Giuliani, N.R. (2020). Emotion regulation in early childhood: Implications for socioemotional and academic components of school readiness. Emotion. DOI: psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/emo0000667
Brown, E., Blumenthal, M.A., & Allen, A.A. (2022). The sound of self-regulation: Music program relates to an advantage for children at risk. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 60, 126-136. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2022.01.002
Brown, E.D., Garnett, M.L., Velasquez-Martin, B.M., & Mellor, T.J. (2017a). The art of Head Start: Intensive arts integration associated with advantage in school readiness for economically disadvantaged children. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 45(2018), 204-14. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2017.12.002
Brown, E. D. , Sax, K. (2013). Arts enrichment and emotion expression and regulation for young children at risk. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 28, 337-346. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2012.08.002
Kraus, N., Hornickel, J., Strait, D.L., Slater, J., and Thompson, E. (2014). Engagement in community music classes sparks neuroplasticity and language development in children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1403. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01403
Porges, S.W., Bono, K.E., Ullery, M.A., Bazhenova, O., Castillo, A., Bal, E., & Scott, K. (2018). Listening to music improves language skills in children prenatally exposed to cocaine. Music and Medicine 10(3), 121-129. DOI: 10.47513/mmd.v10i3.636
Halverson-Ramos, F., Breyfogle, S., Brinkman, T., Hannan, A., Hyatt, C., Horowitz, S., Martin, T., Masko, M., Newman, J., & Sehr, A. (2019). Music therapy in child and adolescent behavioral health. American Music Therapy Association, Inc.
Winsler, A., Ducenne, L., & Koury, A. (2011). Singing one’s way to self-regulation: The role of early music and movement curricula and private speech. Early Education and Development, 22(2), 274-304. DOI: 10.1080/10409280903585739
Brown, E. D., Garnett, M. L., Anderson, K. E., & Laurenceau, J. P. (2017b). Can the arts get under the skin? Arts and cortisol for economically disadvantaged children. Child Development, 88(4), 1368-1381. DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12652
Zosh, J.M., Hopkins, E.J., Jensen, H., Liu, C., Neale, D., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Solis, S.L., & Whitebread, D. (2017). Learning through play: A review of the evidence [White paper]. The LEGO Foundation.
Webb, A.R., Heller, H.T., Benson, C.B., and Lahav, A. (2015). Mother’s voice and heartbeat sounds elicit auditory plasticity in the human brain before full gestation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(10), 3152-7. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1414924112
Tierney, A. & Kraus, N. (2013). Music training for the development of reading skills. In M.M. Merzenich, M. Nahum, & T.M. Van Vleet (Eds.), Progress in brain research (pp. 209-41). Elsevier. DOI: doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-63327-9.00008-4
Register, D. & Humpal, M. (2007). Using musical transitions in early childhood classrooms: Three case examples. Music Therapy Perspectives, 25(1), 25-31. DOI: 10.1093/mtp/25.1.25
Below is a list of sources referenced in Applying It: Engaging in Musical Play with Young Children.
MacPhail Center for Music. (2023, June 20). Sing, play, learn with MacPhail®: The finger family. https://www.macphail.org/sing-play-learn-with-macphail-the-finger-family/?filters=post_program__sing-play-learn
Cerniglia, E. G. (2013). Preschool Through Kindergarten: Musical Play in Early Childhood Classrooms: Taking It One Step Further. YC Young Children, 68(5), 68–73. http://www.jstor.org/stable/ycyoungchildren.68.5.68
Along with our partners at Mind in the Making, we’re excited to announce a new online training series suitable for professionals who work with children and families as well as parents! The series offers research-based ways to bolster children’s (and adults’) executive function skills.
We’re excited to announce a new, 8-module online training series called Mind in the Making: Essential Life Skills for Children and Adults. We’re offering this training series in partnership with the Families and Work Institute. With author Ellen Galinsky, motivational speaker Erin Ramsey, and nonprofit leader Jacquelyn Santiago Nazario as guides, the modules explore the science behind executive function through the lens of Seven Essential Life Skills.
The Seven Essential Life Skills are:
Focus and Self-Control
Perspective Taking
Communicating
Making Connections
Critical Thinking
Taking on Challenges
Self-Directed, Engaged Learning
These skills are described in detail in this downloadable graphic:
Executive function has become something of a buzzword. But what does this term really mean? It refers to a set of brain-based skills that allow us to manage our social, emotional and cognitive capacities to pursue goals. We use these skills many times every day, like when we need to follow directions, resist an unhelpful impulse, switch tasks, or consider another person’s perspective. (Check out our free, downloadable Tip Sheets on executive function for more information.)
Executive function skills are fundamental to success in school, at work, and in social environments. Like other skills (tying shoelaces, riding a bike, learning an instrument), children aren’t born with them. They learn them through practice, ideally with the help of trusted adults–people like us. So, can we adults also improve our executive function skills? Yes, we can! In fact, when we understand, value, and practice these skills, we’re in the best possible position to help the children in our care do the same.
Mind in the Making: Essential Life Skills for Children and Adults is based on research from child development experts here at the University of Minnesota and at other leading academic institutions around the country. The training series offers “virtual field trips” into these researchers’ labs so participants can learn about the studies that have shaped our concept of executive function. The series also includes plenty of practical tools and strategies. Participants will use these to apply their new knowledge right away at work and and often report that this training is life-changing.
This training series is suitable for professionals who work with children and families, such as educators in schools and child care settings, parent educators, social workers and home visitors, medical professionals, and early interventionists. It’s also appropriate for parents and caregivers with children aged from birth through eight.
