Using Music as a Tool for Promoting Self-Regulation and Conflict Resolution Skills in Preschool Children

This action research project aims to determine how children use music to aid in self-regulation and conflict resolution with peers, and to present a curriculum which focuses on delay of gratification, turn taking and expression of emotions through music that other teachers could use in their classrooms. The study took place in a Northern California preschool classroom and focused on the individual responses of three focal participants chosen for their demonstration of low self-regulation skills. The intervention classes consisted of warm-up activities, imagination games, rhythm exercises, group discussion, puppet shows and songs. Children were engaged in the musical intervention classes and by the end of the study were able to respond to conflicts in more socially appropriate ways though the children chosen for a case study did not use the scripts or chants the class created.