Samsung is looking to emotional development in early childhood as the fundamental way to prevent mental health problems among children and teenagers. The Samsung Welfare Foundation said on June 19 it will distribute the “Samsung Preschool Mind Growth Programme,” developed with a research team led by Yonsei University professor Kim Joo-hwan (김주환), to 113 nurseries and kindergartens nationwide from this June in cooperation with the Korea Childcare and Education Promotion Institute.

The programme is based on the view that non-cognitive skills such as self-regulation, perseverance and concentration are more decisive in early childhood than knowledge-focused cognitive abilities. Non-cognitive skills are a concept presented in 2000 by U.S. scholar James Heckman, who won the Nobel prize in economics, to distinguish them from cognitive abilities.

Research shows non-cognitive skills formed in early childhood affect emotions and academic achievement in adolescence and life satisfaction in adulthood. Early childhood is a period of active brain development responsible for emotional regulation and social behaviour, and the foundation explained that it is important to build skills in managing emotions and communication at this time.

Kim, who led the programme’s development, named trainable non-cognitive skills “mind strength” and presented self-regulation, interpersonal skills and self-motivation as the three core competencies. When the amygdala stabilises through movement meditation and awareness, habits that trigger negative emotions decrease, activating prefrontal cortex neural networks and improving the three competencies. Based on these principles, he developed 45 activities for children aged 3 to 5 with Park Yoo-jung (박유정), a professor at Seoul National University, and Kim Ji-min (김지민), chief executive of Osmob.

The Samsung Welfare Foundation developed the programme from 2023 to 2024 and ran a pilot in 2025 for about 4,000 preschoolers at 66 Samsung daycare centres. Measurements showed participating children had self-regulation, interpersonal skills and self-motivation about 5 times higher than non-participants. Anxiety and conflict fell significantly, and the foundation said participating teachers’ sense of happiness also improved.

Ryu Moon-hyung (류문형), executive vice president overseeing the Samsung Foundation, said, “We will expand support so that more early childhood education institutions can participate together and contribute to building a healthy society.”