Teaching Traditional Games to Develop Socaal Skills in Preschool Students

Today, the use of technology in every field, starting from education, has become inevitable. Technology has greatly affected people of all ages in a social sense. Children should be introduced to technology, but they should not be seperated from social life. Play provides children with the opportunity to investigate their environment, recognize objects and solve problems. In addition, children can learn many emotional reactions, such as happiness, sadness, pity, fear, anxiety, hostility during play. The aim of this research is to reduce interest in technology and strengthen family ties as a result of teaching traditional children’s games to children. The study was conducted with children aged 48-60 months who were attending an independent kindergarten, and a quasi-experimental design, without a control group was used. Before the study, in order to determine the children’s interest in technology, the “Problematic Technology Use Scale for Children”, and the “Scale for Determining the Levels of Responsible Behavior of Preschool Children” were applied to the parents. After the application of the pre-test, a traditional games education program was applied for 8 weeks. After the application of the education program, the “Problematic Internet Use Scale for Children” and the “Scale for Determining the Levels of Responsible Behavior of Preschool Children” were applied to the parents as a post-test. As a result of the study, it was determined that the traditional education program applied to the children reduced the children’s problematic technology behaviors and increased their social skills. Keywords: Family, Preschool period, Socialization, Technology, Traditional game