Antecedent Collective Play and Perezhivanie in Preschoolers’ Emotion Regulation During Drop-Off Transitions

Preschool commencement for newcomers may cause intense emotionally charged situations during drop-off transitions, leading to stress for involved parties. Supporting preschoolers’ emotion regulation is hence essential in the specific context. However, the emotional scenario was regarded as normative and received insufficient attention. Grounded in Vygotsky’s cultural-historical framework, this case study examines how adult-child play interactions create the conditions for preschoolers’ development of emotion regulation during drop-off transitions. Drawing on the cultural-historical concepts, including perezhivanie, data were collected from three preschool classrooms through digital video observations, interviews, and field notes. Findings revealed that antecedent collective play contributed to new preschoolers’ development of emotion regulation during drop-off transitions. However, most teachers in this study did not use antecedent collective play. The study argues that antecedent collective play should be more intentionally and frequently used by teachers and parents to support emotion regulation during drop-off transitions. Practical implications for teachers are discussed.