Music-Based Activities and Neurodevelopment in Early Childhood: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Early childhood is a period of rapid brain growth and heightened experience-dependent plasticity, when everyday experiences help shape cognitive, language, motor, and socio-emotional development. Music-based activities such as singing, rhythmic movement, clapping, instrumental play, listening, and musical games combine auditory, motor, memory, attentional, and social demands within a single enjoyable experience. This narrative review examines evidence on the role of music-based activities in early childhood neurodevelopment, with emphasis on executive, language, motor, and socio-emotional domains, and outlines possible neurobiological mechanisms. Systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and key experimental and observational studies published between 2001 and 2025 were considered, covering formal music training, rhythm-based activities, singing, and natural caregiver–child musical interaction. Recent meta-analyses report small-to-moderate improvements in executive functions after music training, with the most consistent gains in inhibitory control, followed by working memory and cognitive flexibility. Smaller positive effects have been reported for auditory and linguistic processing and for phonological awareness, while evidence for motor, IQ, and general cognitive outcomes is less consistent and depends on the outcome measure used. Much of the evidence comes from heterogeneous, often non-randomized studies, and associations between music and development are open to confounding. Music-based activities therefore appear to be a promising, low-cost, and accessible enrichment strategy for early childhood, including simple everyday practices at home, in preschools, and in anganwadi settings, rather than a stand-alone intervention. Well-designed randomized trials in young children, including in low- and middle-income settings, are needed.