A Systematic Review of Serious Games for Training Emotion Regulation Skills in Preschool Children

This systematic review examines serious games designed to train emotion regulation skills in preschool children aged 3 to 5, with the aim of mapping the current landscape, methodological approaches, technological strategies, and research gaps. Following PRISMA guidelines, the authors searched IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect, and Scopus, screening 343 initial records and ultimately including 37 studies that met predefined eligibility criteria.

The central finding is a substantial gap in the field: most existing serious games target clinical populations, particularly children with autism spectrum disorder, which accounted for over 70% of included studies, while only about 25% addressed typically developing children and very few explicitly targeted preschoolers. Most games were built for computers, tablets, or web platforms, and only a minority involved co-design with educators, parents, or psychologists, despite its importance for developmentally appropriate and engaging design. Reported outcomes were generally positive, including improved emotional recognition and greater use of adaptive regulation strategies, but evidence was often preliminary or qualitative, with limited long-term data.

The review also identifies design recommendations for future work, including intuitive non-verbal interaction, narrative frameworks built around relatable characters, multimodal interaction, and participatory design with early childhood experts and end-users. Rigorous methodologies such as randomized controlled trials and longitudinal designs are highlighted as necessary for generalizability and for integrating these tools into formal curricula. The authors position the review as groundwork for a new serious game, currently in development, aimed at typically developing preschoolers.