Soundscape and Creativity: Integrating Music and Movement into the Early Childhood Curriculum

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between the pedagogical use of the soundscape and the development of creativity through integrated music–movement experiences in Early Childhood classrooms of public schools in Guayaquil (Ecuador), in alignment with the national Early Childhood Curriculum (2014 and its recent prioritisation) (Ministerio de Educación del Ecuador, 2014, 2025). A quasi-experimental one-group mixed-methods pilot design was implemented with 34 children aged 4–5 years, distributed across two Early Childhood classrooms, using a didactic sequence organised into three blocks: exploration of the surrounding soundscape through soundwalks, creative transformation of sounds into music–movement games, and collective construction of a “school and neighbourhood” soundscape (Sastre Pisonero, 2014; Hearing and Creating Soundscapes, 2020). Quantitative data were collected using observational scales of expressive creativity (fluency, originality, flexibility) and active listening; qualitative data were obtained from field notes, classroom records and children’s sound productions. Results showed significant pre–post gains in the three creativity dimensions and in the overall creativity score, with large effect sizes, as well as a substantial improvement in active listening, consistent with previous research on music–movement programmes enhancing creative thinking and self-regulation in preschoolers (Alper et al., 2022; Theodorou & Drigas, 2012). Qualitative analyses revealed increasing sophistication in how children describe, organise and re-create the sounds of their urban environment, articulating early aesthetic and environmental categories (Qin et al., 2024; Zamora et al., 2025). The findings suggest that soundscape-based, context-sensitive music–movement experiences constitute an effective device to foster creativity and auditory sensitivity in Early Childhood education while supporting critical reflection on the quality of school and neighbourhood sound environments in urban settings such as Guayaquil. Implications for teacher education are discussed, and future research avenues are proposed, including controlled designs with larger and more diverse samples