Introduction. Emotional processes occupy one of the important places in the formation of the child's personality, and emotional development is an integral part of the emotional intelligence of the individual. The development of emotional intelligence in the senior preschool age is most favorable, since it is during this period that the emotional sphere is the leading sphere of mental development. It is on the level of its formation that a child's ability not only to express and control his or her own emotions, but also to recognize the emotions of others depends, which in the future will contribute to his or her effective interaction with others. The aim of the study: to study the emotional intelligence of senior preschool children and verification of the effectiveness of the developed correctional and developmental program for the development of emotional intelligence through art therapy. The methodological basis of the study consisted of the provisions on the development of the child's psyche in the activity, the provisions of the role and importance of emotions in human life, modern concepts of development of emotional intelligence, the development of art therapy as a technology of development of the emotional sphere, in particular, the emotional intelligence. The following research methods were selected: the analysis of scientific research on the problem of the study; interviewing senior preschool children and observation of children by a teacher-psychologist to identify their level of formation of components of emotional intelligence, the forming experiment; Wilcoxon's T-criterion for comparing the results of the study. The study involved 60 older preschool children attending the kindergarten of a combined type № 45 in Belgorod. The results of the research within the framework of the ascertaining stage of the experiment demonstrate that the majority of older preschool children are characterized by an average and low level of emotional intelligence. Based on the age features of the respondents, a corrective and developmental program was developed and implemented. Specially organized activities with the use of cartoon therapy as a means of art therapy allowed to increase the level of emotional intelligence in the younger preschool children.