Encouraging Social and Emotional Learning in Preschool Children Through Carrying Out Musical Activities in the Daily Routine

Oct 15, 2026

Preschool children’s development in kindergarten can be supported through structured daily routines enriched with musical activities. A study developed an implementation plan, monitored the routine’s effects on children’s social and emotional skills, and verified achievement of planned musical goals. Results showed improvements in self-awareness and self-management, including emotion recognition, regulation, rule respect, and help-seeking, as well as stronger relationship-building, social encouragement, sharing, and empathy toward peers’ emotions. Most children met musical objectives.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Social and emotional learning and music

Received: 6 October 2024, Accepted: 28 March 2025 DOI: [https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.2013](https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.2013) Encouraging Social and Emotional Learning in Preschool Children Through Carrying Out Musical Activities in the Daily Routine Olga Denac*1, Ines Mohorko Germ2 and Jerneja Žnidaršič3 • In the context of kindergarten, the daily routine includes various activities aimed at the holistic development of children. Carrying out musical activities in the daily routine plays an important role in encouraging social and emotional learning. For the present research, which included preschool children, we developed a plan for implementing elements of the children’s daily routine enriched with musical activities, monitored the effect of this routine on social and emotional skills, and verified the realisation of the planned musical goals. The results of the research confirmed the effect of implementing musical activities regarding (1) selfawareness and self-management – children more often recognised their own emotions, they became aware of their emotions and regulated them, they expressed a feeling of joy, respected the agreed rules, understood what is right or wrong and asked for help if they needed it; and (2) social skills for establishing relationships and social awareness – children more often encouraged other children in the group to participate in activities, they successfully participated in common activities, shared things with other children, and recognised and empathised with the emotions of other children. Most of the children were also successful in achieving the planned musical goals. Keywords: social and emotional learning, kindergarten, daily routine, musical activities, preschool children 1 *Corresponding Author. Faculty of Education, University of Maribor, Slovenia; [olga.denac@um.si](olga.denac@um.si). 2 Kindergarten of Duplek Primary School, Spodnji Duplek, Slovenia. 3 Faculty of Education, University of Maribor, Slovenia. 182 encouraging social and emotional learning in preschool children through Spodbujanje socialnega in čustvenega učenjapredšolskih otrok z izvajanjem glasbenih dejavnosti vdnevni rutini Olga Denac, Ines Mohorko Germ in Jerneja Žnidaršič • V vrtcu dnevna rutina vključuje različne dejavnosti, ki so namenjenecelostnemu razvoju otrok. Izvajanje glasbenih dejavnosti kot del dnevnerutine ima pomembno vlogo pri spodbujanju socialnega in čustvenegaučenja. V raziskavi, v katero smo vključili predšolske otroke, smo oblikovali načrt izvedbe elementov dnevne rutine, obogatene z glasbenimi dejavnostmi, spremljali učinek izvajanja dnevne rutine na razvoj socialnih in čustvenih veščin ter preverili uresničevanje načrtovanih glasbenihciljev. Izsledki raziskave so potrdili učinek izvajanja glasbenih dejavnostina področju 1) samozavedanja in samokontrole – otroci so pogosteje prepoznavali lastna čustva, jih ozaveščali in uravnavali, izražali veselje, spoštovali dogovorjena pravila, razumeli, kaj je prav in kaj narobe, ter prosili za pomoč, če so jo potrebovali, in na področju 2) socialnih veščin za vzpostavljanje odnosov in socialnega samozavedanja – otroci sopogosteje spodbujali k dejavnostim druge otroke v skupini, se uspešnovključevali v skupno delo, delili stvari z drugimi otroki ter prepoznavali čustva drugih otrok in se vanje vživljali. Večina otrok je bilo uspešnatudi pri doseganju načrtovanih glasbenih ciljev. Ključne besede: socialno in čustveno učenje, vrtec, dnevna rutina, glasbene dejavnosti, predšolski otroci Introduction Social and emotional learning (SEL) is a process through which children (and adults) acquire knowledge, develop skills, recognise and manage emotions, show empathy towards others, establish and maintain relationships within society, and make responsible decisions (Denham, 2006; Jones & Bouffard, 2012; Ritblatt et al., 2013) . With the establishment of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) (Clark, 201

FAQs

How does the daily routine enriched with musical activities support social and emotional learning?

The routine embeds musical activities into everyday kindergarten activities, encouraging children to recognize and manage emotions and to interact more constructively with peers.

What improvements were observed in self-awareness and self-management?

Children more often recognized their own emotions, became aware of them, regulated them, expressed joy, respected agreed rules, understood right versus wrong, and asked for help when needed.

What benefits were reported for social skills and social awareness?

Children more often encouraged other children to join group activities, participated successfully in shared tasks, shared materials with others, and recognized and empathized with peers’ emotions.

Oct 15, 2026

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