The study focuses on a small but important segment of Hungarian culture, the musical education of children aged 3-7. Its central theme is to examine how the adaptation of folk games and related movements can be one of the most complex developmental forces in the personality development of this age group. This is because this period is fundamental in terms of cultural transmission and plays an integrative role in aesthetic education. As the pre-school child develops musically, his or her memory, imagination, associative abilities, creativity, attention and interest are constantly being developed through joyful activity, since his or her movements in connection with folk play are not yet guided and determined by the meaning and content of the text, but by the melody and its rhythm and the spontaneous feeling of joy associated with them. The role of musical education, and within it of folk games, is also evident in the process of emotional education, socialisation, intellectual development and language development. The links examined and presented demonstrate that folk games help children to develop skills that will enable them to become school-ready and to continue to develop in adult life.