Emotion Regulation Through Play: A Serious Game for Preschool Children

Emotion regulation (ER) is a key competency in early childhood development, particularly between ages 3 and 5. While serious games (SGs) have proven effective in several educational contexts, few are designed for preschoolers' emotional needs. This study presents Ilhas das Emoções, a digital interactive SG developed in Unity to promote ER in preschool children. The game was co-designed with 5 psychologists. The SG presents psychoeducation on five core emotions (joy, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust). It offers playful, scenario-based learning across three stages: identifying emotions, understanding their emotional causes and consequences, and regulating emotions. This work details the theoretical rationale and technical development of the game, contributing a novel, developmentally appropriate tool to early childhood emotional education.