"It's a Hurricane! It's a Hurricane!": Can Music Facilitate Social Constructive and Sociodramatic Play in a Preschool Classroom?

Abstract

Sustaining attention and successfully engaging with others in collaborative play are important accomplishments focused on in preschool classrooms and childcarecenters. In addition, music is frequently used in early childhood classrooms, and even recommended as an environmental feature to motivate and regulate children's behavior. Although pretend play provides appealing opportunities for developing these social abilities, no studies to date have explored the use of music as a tool to motivate and sustain constructive and social pretend play. Results from the current study indicate that within 1 preschool classroom, more sustained play (with fewer interruptions) occurred when music played as compared to when no music played in the background. In addition, significantly more dyadic play occurred when slower music played in the background, than when no music played.