Supporting The Development of Social and Emotional Skills in Children Aged 4 To 5: The Contribution of a Program Based on Play and Interactive Stories

Abstract

This study presents findings from a doctoral research project examining the effects of a play- and interactive story–based program on the development of social-emotional skills in preschool children. The program, Léon and his friends (Dubé, 2010), was translated and adapted to the Moroccan context and aims to foster ten key competencies. Using a quasi-experimental design, the study involved 194 children aged 4 to 5 years and eight educators from six preschools. Data were collected using the Social-Emotional Assessment Measure (Squires et al., 2014), administered before and after the intervention, as well as program evaluation forms designed to assess children’s progress, educator engagement, and parental involvement. The results indicate a significant improvement in children’s social-emotional skills, particularly in emotion regulation, sharing, and problem-solving abilities. However, parental involvement remained limited, highlighting constraints related to the program’s modes of parent engagement.