Exploring young children’s self and others: integrating visual diaries and the digital emotional expression application in art education

This study explores the integration of technology-based and hands-on art practices in an early childhood art education program tailored to preschoolers in South Korea. The participants of this study included 20 young children aged five or six years old, who engaged in the program for a two-year period. By employing qualitative research methods, the results reveal the young learners' enhanced expression of their emotion, including feelings, desires, and moods with the aid of visual diaries in conjunction with a digital emotional expression application supported by teacher intervention. Further, the young learners were stimulated to engage in self-discovery, self-awareness, and understanding of others. Ultimately, young children's visual diaries enhanced educators' and parents' comprehension of their emotions. Moreover, showcasing these visual diaries and collaborative artwork promoted numerous opportunities for engagement and resonance with the local community. The fusion of visual diaries and the digital emotional expression application is viewed as a practice of emotional meaning making, wherein art and technology agency is distributed.