🎵 Music and Emotions: Supporting Preschool Children’s Wellbeing through Sound and Song

In the hum and bustle of early childhood, big emotions often arrive without warning — frustration, joy, fear, sadness, or sheer excitement. For preschool children, who are still developing the language and cognitive tools to express and regulate these feelings, the journey through emotional awareness can be overwhelming. But one powerful, nurturing tool can help bridge this gap: music.

Music has long been a source of comfort, expression, and connection — and in the hands of sensitive caregivers and practitioners, it becomes a therapeutic language that can soothe, regulate, and empower.

🎶 The Emotional Landscape of the Early Years

From birth, children are deeply responsive to sound. Even before they have words, they tune in to pitch, rhythm, and tone. Research shows that infants and toddlers use prosody (the musicality of speech) to interpret emotional cues from caregivers (Trainor & Cirelli, 2015). This auditory sensitivity lays the groundwork for music to become a core tool in emotional communication.

For preschoolers, self-regulation is still developing. According to Denham et al. (2012), emotional competence at this age is closely linked with positive social behaviour, academic readiness, and mental wellbeing. However, children cannot be expected to self-regulate without adult co-regulation — and that’s where music comes in.

🎵 Music as a Co-Regulation Tool

Singing a lullaby, playing calming rhythms, or encouraging movement to music helps co-regulate children’s nervous systems. Musical rhythm and predictable patterns create a sense of safety and containment, helping children transition from dysregulation to calm.

Research by Cirelli et al. (2018) highlights that musical engagement — especially shared musical experiences between adult and child — fosters emotional attunement and strengthens bonds. This co-regulation lays the foundation for children to internalise strategies for self-regulation later on.

“Music is inherently regulating. Rhythm soothes the body. Melody speaks to the heart. And lyrics give voice to emotion.”

— Dr. Marguerita Magennis

🎤 Music as Emotional Expression

Music offers young children a creative outlet for feelings they can’t yet name. When a child stomps to a drumbeat or chooses a minor-sounding xylophone pattern, they are processing internal states in a safe, embodied way.

Songs about feelings, such as If You’re Happy and You Know It or more modern emotion-themed songs, give children a chance to name, explore, and rehearse different emotional states. These musical experiences support emotional literacy — the ability to recognise and name feelings — a key component of wellbeing (Izard et al., 2008).

🧠 What the Brain Says About Music

Neuroscience also supports music’s role in emotional development. Engaging with music activates the limbic system (which processes emotion) and the prefrontal cortex (involved in regulation and decision-making). Repetition and rhythm help build neural pathways related to memory, prediction, and control (Thaut & Hoemberg, 2014).

For children with heightened sensitivity, such as those with autism or sensory processing challenges, musical play can be a lifeline. Music provides structure without rigid demands, and can be adapted to meet each child where they are.

👩‍🏫 Practical Strategies for Parents and Practitioners

Whether you’re a parent at home or an early years educator, incorporating music into daily routines can nurture emotional wellbeing. Here are some simple, powerful strategies:

1. Create a Musical Feelings Routine

Start the day with a “feelings song” where children can choose an emotion face and sing how they feel. This daily check-in helps normalise emotional expression and builds vocabulary.

2. Use Music to Transition

Use calming songs or predictable melodies to guide children between activities — tidy-up time, snack, rest. Musical cues reduce anxiety and provide security.

3. Sing Stories About Emotions

Songs like The Colour Monster Song (based on Anna Llenas’s book) or self-created tunes help children explore complex feelings in an accessible way.

4. Drum It Out

Use rhythm instruments to help children express strong emotions like anger or excitement safely and creatively. Label the emotion aloud as you play together.

5. Build a ‘Musical Feelings Toolkit’

Curate a playlist of calming, energising, or joyful songs children can access when they feel a certain way. Over time, this empowers choice and self-regulation.

🌱 The Role of the Adult: Musical Containment and Connection

Ultimately, it is the adult’s presence — attuned, responsive, and emotionally available — that makes music a therapeutic tool. A song on its own won’t soothe a dysregulated child. But a caregiver singing softly while holding a child close, or a practitioner strumming a guitar gently in a busy classroom, offers a nervous system a chance to settle.

When we sing with children, not at them, we create moments of deep connection. These shared musical experiences say, “I see you. I feel with you. Let’s get through this feeling together.”

🎧 Final Note

Music is not just an artform — it is a language of the heart, an emotional bridge, and a lifelong tool for wellbeing. In early childhood, when words often fall short, music steps in. For parents and practitioners navigating the highs and lows of emotional development with little ones, music offers a way to hold, to help, and to heal.

So next time a child melts down or bubbles over, remember: you don’t need the perfect words. You just need a song.

📚 References

Cirelli, L. K., Jurewicz, Z. B., & Trehub, S. E. (2018). Effects of maternal singing style on mother–infant arousal and behavior. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 30(6), 837–850.

Denham, S. A., Bassett, H. H., & Wyatt, T. (2012). The socialization of emotional competence. In Emotion Regulation (pp. 35–56). Springer.

Izard, C. E., King, K. A., Trentacosta, C. J., Morgan, J. K., Laurenceau, J. P., & Krauthamer-Ewing, E. S. (2008). Accelerating the development of emotion competence in Head Start children: Effects on adaptive and maladaptive behavior. Development and Psychopathology, 20(1), 369–397.

Thaut, M. H., & Hoemberg, V. (2014). Handbook of Neurologic Music Therapy. Oxford University Press.

Trainor, L. J., & Cirelli, L. (2015). Rhythm and interpersonal synchrony in early social development. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1337(1), 45–52.