Background: Oral habits play significant role in altering the position of the teeth, the inter–arch relationship, interfering with the normal growth of the jaws and the function of the orofacial musculature Aim: to investigate the prevalence of malocclusion and parafunctional habits in young children and to study the effect of such habits on malocclusion. Materials & Methods: A cross–sectional study was conducted among 800 school children aged ranges between 3 and 5 years. Occlusal assessments and clinical examination for assessing the oral habits was carried out. After obtaining the data, it was statistically analysed. Results: The results showed the prevalence of malocclusion was 8.9% and of various oral habits was 47.2%. In the presence of  oral habits 13% of children were observed with the malocclusions. The prevalence of normal deciduous dentition was observed in 87% of children even in the presence of habits. Conclusion: Although the correlation between prevalence of oral habits and malocclusions in deciduous dentition does not seem to be strong, but the higher prevalence of tongue thrusting and mouth–breathing habit is contributing to the malocclusion.