The combination of verbal and nonverbal channels provided by the arts can offer valuable opportunities not only for students with language delays but also for English language learners. More generally, arts enrichment may help to bridge the gap that often separates home and school for children from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds. The arts hold a central position in most cultural traditions. Including the arts in education provides opportunities for bringing varied cultural traditions into the classroom and promoting a sense of belonging and pride for students from diverse backgrounds. Arts integration enables children to build on previous cultural knowledge, while also providing a comfortable environment for expressing their individuality. This article discusses the author's two-part study, in which she and colleagues examined growth in school readiness skills. Part 1 examined growth in children attending Settlement's Kaleidoscope Preschool. Using Kaleidoscope's curriculum-based checklists, they found no evidence of the achievement gap that is often found, even for children attending other Head Start programs, and they found a possible advantage for children with developmental delays. Part 2 compared children at Kaleidoscope and those at a matched comparison preschool that was not fully arts integrated. Children at Kaleidoscope showed a statistically significant advantage in overall school readiness as well as in self- and social awareness and understanding of texture and material. The author's work thus far leads to the conclusion that the arts are not only an important object of learning but also a useful mechanism for fostering emotion regulation.