A child by birth has all the prerequisites for the perception of sound and musical stimuli by which he creates new knowledge about people and the world around him and which enriches his life. The aim of this paper is to describe the musical development of a child from birth to the third year of life or starting kindergarten and the ways in which the musical development of a child can be encouraged. A review of the scientific and professional literature showed that the unborn child hears and reacts to sounds that reach the mother's womb. Therefore, musical development begins even before the birth of a child. A newborn child has the ability to process and detect tempo, rhythm, pitch, meter, and duration of tone and musical phrases, and these abilities improve as the child grows. The mother's singing is very important for the child because it creates the child's first communication, and it also plays a big role in the child's musical development. A child's musical development up to the age of three can be encouraged in a variety of ways. Organizing various activities such as singing songs, listening to vocal and vocal-instrumental music and organizing musical games, in accordance with the developmental possibilities and the interest of the child. The findings of this research are important for educators working in kindergartens, teachers, professors and parents, and all those who come into contact with children and who have an impact on the child's life and growing up.