Supporting the Social-Emotional and Sensory-Motor Development of Three-Four-Year-Old Children Through Physical Activity and Music

The new behavioral model for children also requires a new approach to their education and health. Today’s children are more restless and with increased anxiety due to excessive information stimuli. They live in two realities – the material and the virtual, and thus lose touch with their bodies and emotions. In the first seven years, it is extremely important to build a healthy nervous system of the child. As educators, supporting children’s social-emotional and physical health motivates us to respond to the need for a new form of care in this earliest childhood. The innovative program developed by us for the NP ‘It’s good in kindergarten’ offers opportunities to support the social-emotional and sensory-motor development of 3 – 4-year old children through physical activity and music. Physical activity and music help to refi ne children’s sensory perceptions, as well as to cultivate attention, calmness, harmony and emotional stability from an early age. The main approaches we use are: person-oriented and facilitator. The person-oriented approach implies consideration of the child’s capabilities and interests, humane treatment and love, knowledge of his personality. The teacher and children work cooperatively to achieve common goals. In the facilitator approach, the role of the facilitator is that of the teacher who prompts the children to cooperate and help each other in order to achieve betteer results. In this way, one moves from a state of passivity to a state of activity. The main method we use is the integrative one, through which integration is carried out between two educational areas – ‘Physical Culture’ and ‘Music’.