Keywords
emotion regulation
emotional competence
primary school children
play-based learning
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Abstract
Emotion regulation is a fundamental developmental competency that enables children to recognise, manage, and appropriately express emotions while adapting successfully to social and academic environments. During the first years of primary education, children encounter new interpersonal relationships, classroom expectations, and learning demands that require effective emotional control. Free play provides a naturally occurring context in which children can practise emotional, cognitive, and social skills, yet opportunities for child-directed play remain constrained in many academically oriented school settings. This study investigated the influence of free play on the emotion regulation of children, aged 6–7 years in level one primary school classrooms in Douala IV Sub-Division of the Littoral Region of Cameroon. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was employed. Quantitative data were generated through a structured observation of 64 children’s free-play behaviours and emotion regulation, while qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with four level one teachers. Quantitative data were analysed using frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations, a multiple-response summary and logistic regression analysis to test the predictive pwer of free play over emotion regulation. Qualitative data were analysed thematically and integrated. Descriptively, emotion-regulation behaviours were often observed in 298 responses (77.6%; M = 2.84, SD = 0.467), while free-play behaviours were often observed in 240 responses (62.5%; M = 2.63, SD = 0.552). The logistic regression model showed a likelihood-ratio statistic of χ² = 32.217, df = 54, p = .000 and Nagelkerke R² = .408. Qualitative findings indicated that teachers perceived free play as supporting emotional expression, autonomous conflict resolution, empathy, and emotional independence, while also identifying risks of exclusion, impulsivity, rough play, and injury. The findings extend school-based evidence on free play and emotion regulation in Cameroon by documenting children's observed regulatory behaviours alongside teachers' accounts of autonomy, empathy and exclusion. In practice, they support regular child-directed play with proportionate supervision to protect participation and safety. The study recommends protected opportunities for free play within level one primary education, accompanied by light-touch teacher facilitation that preserves children’s autonomy while promoting safety and inclusion.
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