Cultivating Good Character Traits in Early Childhood through the Storybook Series "Nhoo Bualai and Nhoo Saipin with Good Habits"

Abstract

              This research aimed to: 1) study the positive character traits of early childhood using the storybook series "Nhoo Bualai and Nhoo Saipin with Good Habits" through a pre-experimental research design using
a one-group pretest-posttest design, and 2) compare the positive character traits of early childhood children before and after the experiment using the same storybook series. The sample group consisted of 6 early childhood children aged 5–6 years old, currently studying in Kindergarten 3, Semester 2, Academic Year 2023 at Nong Saeng School, under the Sakon Nakhon Primary Educational Service Area Office 2. The sample was selected through purposive sampling. The experimental period lasted for 8 weeks, with sessions conducted
3 times per week and 30 minutes per day. The research instruments included the "Nhoo Bualai and Nhoo Saipin with Good Habits" storybook set and an observation form for assessing positive character traits in early childhood. Statistics used for data analysis were mean, standard deviation, percentage, and dependent sample t-test.

              The research results found that 1) Positive character traits in early childhood, fostered through the storybook series, were most prominently observed during the storytelling activities across all 8 stories, 2 areas were discipline and honesty. 2) A comparison between pre- experiment and post-experiment scores showed that the children’s positive behavior scores significantly increased after the storytelling activities (pre-test mean = 7.82, post-test mean = 13.16, score difference =11.83. The pre-test scores were different from the post-test scores. Therefore, it can be concluded that the positive character traits of early childhood after the experiment increased significantly at the .05 level.