The purpose of this study is to explore how children aged four, in institutional care, perceive and express basic emotions, such as happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, through a role play program using dolls. This study selected two children who were both aged four years old and are currently in child institutional care. The children were observed during six role play trials using dolls and were questioned after the trials. The results were : 1) The children aged four in institutional care best perceived and expressed the emotion of happiness. 2) The children aged four in institutional care were able to positively change their feelings of sadness and expressive behavior through the intimate relationships they formed with the researcher. 3) The children aged four in institutional care expressed the emotion of anger throughout the entire role play using dolls and were positively changed the instructions and coaching given by the researcher. 4) The children aged four in institutional care had the most difficulty in expressing the emotion of surprise. The results of this study could be used as basic data for creating a program intended to help children aged four in institutional care develop their emotions.