Codiseño de un juguete lúdico para fomentar la autorregulación emocional en niños entre 3 a 4 años de edad de educación inicial

Abstract

This research addresses the design and development of “Emocub”, a multisensory educational toy aimed at strengthening emotional self-regulation in children aged 3 to 4 years in Early Childhood Education. The study is grounded in a qualitative approach, descriptive level, and feasible project modality complemented by field research, applying a user-centered codesign methodology that integrated the active participation of teachers, parents, and the users themselves throughout all phases of the process. The diagnosis was carried out through direct observation guides and semi-structured interviews conducted at the "Pedro Fermín Cevallos" Educational Unit in the canton of Cevallos, province of Tungurahua. The results revealed the absence of specific play-based tools for addressing emotions at the initial education level, as well as difficulties in emotional recognition and management among children at this developmental stage. Based on this contextual evidence, design criteria were defined by integrating principles of child ergonomics, color psychology, sensory stimulation, and active pedagogy, theoretically supported by the postulates of Norman, Montessori, Vygotsky, and Goleman. The resulting prototype consists of a modular cubic structure manufactured in PLA filament, with five interchangeable panels representing the basic emotions of sadness, anger, happiness, surprise, and fear, each associated with a differentiated emotional regulation activity. Prototype validation was conducted with six Early Childhood Education users, in the consolidated regulation category, confirming the pedagogical, functional, and aesthetic relevance of the design for the target population.