Developing cooperative skills in preschool-age children covers many areas, such as relationships with adults and peers, solving conflicts and problems, self-regulation and self-control, the ability to learn, and also teamwork skills. Being able to cooperate, the individual will easily get employed in the future, will be able to build long-term relationships with those around him/her, will understand the importance of sharing and using the experience of others, will trust himself/herself and those around him/her, and will not be afraid to take responsibility. In order to make children’s education successful, children need to cooperate with peers and adults from an early age, therefore, the ability to cooperate is developed in various activities including games. Children learn by playing and engaging in various games, for example, plot-based role-playing and narrative games. Narrative games are based on two things, play and storytelling, that are very important for a preschool-age child. By playing narrative games, children transform themselves into various characters from fairy tales and stories, cooperate, forget all conflicts, even the youngest ones are able to maintain and concentrate attention for a long time. The narrative play method is based on the innovative practices used in preschool education and serves as an excellent tool for teachers for playful education of children, as well as for improving cooperative skills.

The aim of the research is to reveal the peculiarities of the application of narrative play in the development of cooperative skills of preschool-age children.
In terms of research methodology, the field of research is preschool education institutions. The research was conducted in March-May 2024. 23 preschool teachers from various Lithuanian preschool education institutions participated in the study. The participants had to share their professional experience about the peculiarities of the application of narrative play in the educational process in order to develop cooperative skills. The following research methods were used: analysis of scientific, methodological, informational literature, content analysis method, method of focus group. Using the latter method, semantic units were singled out, allowing to understand how the analysed phenomenon and its content are understood by the subjects (P) themselves. Statements with the same meaning were grouped together into categories and subcategories and interpreted.

The key results that were obtained in the research are as follows:
- Teachers use the following methods to develop cooperative skills of preschool-age children through narrative play: conversations, discussions, activities in teams, stories, reading, plays, improvisations, reflections, simulations, creation of situations, creative activities.
- According to the teachers, narrative play develops preschool-age children’s creativity, motivation to act, self-regulation, cooperation, imagination, social competence, courage, determination, improvisational abilities and encourages problem solving.
- Developing children’s cooperative skills through narrative play revealed the dominant roles of the teacher in the educational process, such as observer, encourager, helper, friend, companion, initiator, and engager.

Keywords: Narrative game, preschool education, cooperative skills.