Communication skills, skills to control the child's own emotions, problem-solving skills, etc. are called non-cognitive skills (social emotional skills), and garden events such as presentations at nursery schools are such abilities of children. It is an important opportunity to develop.Due to the spread of infectious diseases, many nursery schools were closed and events were canceled all over the world.Studies have shown that the mental health of children and parents deteriorates due to the closure of the nursery school, but the impact of the cancellation of the nursery event was unknown.

　The subjects of the survey are 3 children aged 32 to 4 who go to three nursery schools in Tokyo.The child's social and emotional skill survey was conducted by chance in November 5 and January 19 before the expansion of COVID-2019. The third COVID-11 was held in March 2020 during the first wave, and all were evaluated by the nursery teacher.All nursery schools voluntarily closed the garden from March 1, 19, two gardens canceled the presentation of the garden event, and only one garden held the presentation on March 1.

　As a result, the socio-emotional skills of nursery school children who canceled the garden events during the first wave tended to be lower than before the expansion of COVID-19.On the other hand, it became clear that the socio-emotional skills of nursery school children who did not cancel the garden event tended to be higher than before the expansion of COVID-19.

　As a result, the research group believes that it is important for the growth of children to hold garden events while paying close attention to infection control even in the case of coronavirus.In the future, it is expected that this result will be useful in deciding whether to carry out or cancel the garden event when COVID-19 is expanded.

Paper information:[Frontiers in Psychiatry] Impact of school closure due to COVID-19 on the social-emotional skills of Japanese preschool children