The Effects of Providing Children’s Initiative Art Activities by Using Natural Materials on Young Children’s Emotional Control

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to compare the emotional control of preschool children who participated in children’s initiatives by using natural materials. The target group used in this study consisted of 25 boy and girls’ preschool children ranging in age between 4–5 years old. The instruments of this study included: 1) plans for children’s initiative art activities; 2) observation forms for emotion controlling in the emotional quotient for young children and assessment forms for emotion controlling in the emotional quotient; and 3) Emotional quotient behavior observation forms for young children. Frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were used for data analysis and content analysis. The results showed that preschool children who participated in children’s initiative art activities by using natural materials had a posttest score of 50.0, standard deviation was 0.20 higher than pretest scores, which were at 35.7 with a standard deviation of 0.58. All three aspects during the study were higher after each week. For young children, there expressions were affected as follows: 1) Awareness aspect: children could know their own emotions and feelings; 2) Smart aspect; children could take in and understand information they wanted to and be able to enjoy the activities with their friends; and 3) Happiness aspect: they could enjoy every activity.