Abstract:

The study aimed to examine the effects of preschool education activities applied in the garden on children’s problem behaviors and social skills. The group under study consisted of 19 girls and 21 boys, 40 children in total, attending 2 kindergartens and 2 preschools affiliated to the Ministry of Family and Social Policies in Ankara city center. 20 children, 10 girls, and 10 boys, from one kindergarten and one preschool, were assigned to the experimental group whilst 9 girls and 11 boys, 20 children in total, attending the other kindergarten and preschool were assigned to the control group. The experimental design with a pre-test/post-test control group was used in this study. While the experimental group carried out all-day activities in the garden for three months, the control group continued their education inside the school. Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scale developed by Merrell (1994) was used as a pre-test and post-test. Mann Whitney U test, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test, Spearman-Brown Correlation Coefficient was used in the evaluation of the data. As a result; A decrease in the problem behaviors of the children assigned to the experimental group, and a meaningful increase in their social skills were observed after the experiment, compared to before. In general, it was determined that there was a significant relationship between children’s social skills and problem behaviors, and as social skills increased problem behaviors decreased.

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