The Effects of Character Education Activities through Forest Play on Leadership and Emotional Regulation among Three-Year-Old Children

This study examines the effects of character education activities through forest play, which encourages children to engage with nature using all five senses, on the leadership and emotional regulation abilities of three-year-old children. The study involved 64 three-year-old children from a daycare center in Daegu, South Korea. Data were collected and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 30.0. Descriptive statistics were used to examine participants’ general characteristics; independent t-tests confirmed group homogeneity; and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) analyzed post-test differences between the experimental and control groups while controlling for pre-test scores. The results indicated that children in the experimental group, who participated in forest play–based activities aimed at character education, demonstrated significantly higher post-test scores in both leadership and emotional regulation than the control group. These findings suggest that structured forest play–based character education can effectively support the development of leadership and emotional regulation in early childhood. Because young children learn primarily through sensory experiences, this study emphasizes the need for practical and experience-based educational approaches, rather than traditional classroom instruction. Overall, this study underscores the educational value of integrating forest play into character education and provides practical implications for the development of experience-oriented programs that foster leadership and emotional regulation skills in early-childhood settings.