The purpose of this study was to examine what effects art activities by Mandala had on
improving the emotional intelligence of young children. The subjects in this study were 28
young children at the age of 5 in Western age. An experimental group and a control group were
constituted with 14 preschoolers each. An art program to which Mandala was applied was
conducted 16 times for eight weeks, twice a week, from October 10 through December 2, 2005.
The instrument used in pretest and posttest was Kim Seon-hee(2001)'s Emotional Intelligence
Inventory, which reconstructed Lee Yeoung-ja, Lee Jong-suk & Sin Eun-su(2000)'s Preschooler Emotional Intelligence Test. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS WIN(Ver. 12.0) program, and t-test and ANCOVA were utilized. The major findings of the study were as follows. When the art program to which Mandara was applied was conducted, there was a statistically significant gap between the experimental and control groups in overall emotional intelligence and every subarea of it, including emotional identification and expression, emotional facilitation of thinking, utilization of emotional knowledge and regulation of emotion. It showed that the Mandala-based art program was effective in enhancing the emotional intelligence of the preschoolers.
Key Worlds : Mandala, Young children, Emotional intelligence