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The relevance of the topic of the article. The level of emotional competence in early and preschool age has a significant impact on the formation of personal characteristics (self-esteem, empathy, level of destructive aggression), success of social interaction (ability to cooperate, conflict, tendency to deceit, envy, etc.), as well as the child’s involvement in the educational process and academic achievements in kindergarten and school.

The aim of the study. Based on the research review, we describe the factors of the family and educational environment that determine the development of the ability to regulate and recognize emotions in preschool age.

Description of the research progress. The article presents a review of 57 studies concerning the problem of emotional development of preschool and primary school children. Special attention is paid to such aspects as: the influence of family characteristics and the characteristics of the home environment, the relationship with speech and physical development, the influence of educational environment factors and the relationship with future school success.

The results of the study. The following positions are formulated: the age of children in the preschool period of life is a significant factor in increasing the level of emotional competence. In primary school, the role of age decreases and then has a significant impact already in adolescence; the determining role in the formation of emotional competence is played by the family and the characteristics of the home environment, where the child’s early and preschool childhood takes place; the level of emotional competence of preschool and primary school children is significantly related to the level of speech development, both in terms of the ability to regulate and recognize emotions.

Conclusion. The level of emotional regulation, expressiveness and the ability to recognize emotions, in preschool and primary school age, respond well to targeted pedagogical influence. An important factor in emotional development is the strategy of the teacher’s co-regulation of emotions, especially in kindergarten; the ability to recognize and regulate emotions in kindergarten is a significant predictor of school success, involvement in the educational process, adaptation to school life, and academic performance.

Many studies have identified the positive link between imaginary play and emotion regulation in laboratory settings. However, little is known about how play and emotion regulation are related in everyday practice. This article examines how families use play as a tool to support young children’s emotion regulation in everyday family life. Two middle-class Australian families with children aged three years were studied over a six-month period (n = 30.75 hours of video observations and interviews). Findings show how manipulative play was used by parents during every day routines to mediate children’s emotions. Parents and children interact together to create an emotional zone of proximal development (ZPD) through play, suggesting that the development of emotion regulation is not an individual practice as identified in the literature, but collectively constructed. This study opens a new angle for understanding for a dialectical relation between manipulative play and children’s emotional development.