A Research Study Concerning Young Children’s Play in Unstructured Free Play Environments in Kindergarten Classroom

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-97
Author(s):  
Hee-kyung Lee
Keyword(s):  
Research Study ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Children’S Play ◽  
Kindergarten Classroom

The matter of the stick: Storying/(re)storying children’s literacies in the forest

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 336-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra Harwood ◽  
Diane R Collier
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Data Generation ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Literacy Teaching ◽  
Children’S Play ◽  
Human World ◽  
Forest Schools ◽  
Matter Energy

Children's intra-actions with the natural world offer an important lens to revisit notions of literacies. They allow for a decentring of humans – here children – as actors. Also, forest schools and nature-based learning programmes are increasingly erupting across North America, although more commonplace in Europe for a longer period. In this presentation of our research, we feature a storying/(re)storying of data from a yearlong research study of children's entanglements with the forest as a more-than-human world. We ask what we might learn if educators, children and researchers think with sticks, not separate from, but in relation to sticks? Eight preschool children, two educators and two researchers ventured into the forest twice a week over the course of a year, documenting their interactions with a mosaic of data generation tools, such as notebooks, iPads, Go-Pro cameras. The forest offered diverse materials that provoked “thing-matter-energy- child-assemblages” that were significant for the children's play and literacy framing. Through post-humanist theorizing, we have paid particular attention to the stick within the children's forest play and illustrate the ways in which the stick was entangled with children’s bodies, relations, identities and discourses. The stick was a catalyst, a friend, a momentary and changing text, an agentic force acting relationally with children's play and stories. The post humanism storying/(re)storying of the children's encounters in the forest with sticks invites infinite possibilities for literacy teaching and learning. How might educators foster such relations, enquiring with and alongside children with an openness toward what the sticks (forests) might teach us?

scholarly journals Role Substitution in Preschoolers’ Play with Toy Characters

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-50
Author(s):  
I.A. Ryabkova ◽  
E.G. Sheina
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Specific Function ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
Children’S Play ◽  
Family Home

This paper is a part of the research devoted to observing free play with different role-playing materials in preschool children.Here we describe the results of our observations of preschoolers’ play with toy characters (dolls, figures, soft toys, etc.).It was found that there are significant gender differences in this type of play: boys either do not play at all or play in the director’s position; at the same time, if they take on a role, they tend to ignore toy characters.As it is shown, the number of role-playing names is quite high in the children’s play with toy characters.This may reflect the specific function of this type of material in play.Among the prevailing play topics are family, home, pets, everyday life and motives of care and attention in general.Age analysis showed that the number of children with roles increases at 6 years, while at 5 years — when play is at its peak – role substitution in playing with toy characters is rather ignored by children.

scholarly journals EFFECT ON CHILDREN PLAY ROOM TYPOLOGY PATTERN PLAY ACTIVITY BEHAVIOR OF CHILDREN CASE STUDY: RUSUNAWA JATINEGARA WEST, EAST JAKARTA AND RUSUNAWA CIGUGUR, CIMAHI, WEST JAVA

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (03) ◽  
pp. 342-361
Author(s):  
Deti Febriyana, Y. Basuki Dwisusanto
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Personal Space ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Behavioral Pattern ◽  
Residential Areas ◽  
West Java ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Children’S Play ◽  
Suitable Area

Abstract - Fulfilling the ever-increasing need for residential areas in a brief period of time has triggered the remarkable immaturity that can be observed in the development of urban planning. Multi-storied apartments may form a solution for the problem of meeting this demand. However, their design fails to pay sufficient attention to the necessary means of social interaction, especially in providing a suitable area for children’s playgrounds. This study aims to explore the various typologies for children’s playgrounds, and the influence they exert on the pattern of play activities. This research study may stimulate the effort to improve the quality of residential areas and the space reserved for children’s playgrounds, focusing on the low-rent apartments known as rusunawa found in West Jatinegara, East Jakarta and those situated in Cigugur, Cimahi, West Java. In the latter there was no playground available for children, so that the local residents’ children finally created a new spot not originally intended for that purpose, whereas the former had already provided one. The samples selected consist of both boys and girls whose age range is between 2-12 years old. The theoretical background literature deals with home-range, behavioral setting, personal space and children’s play activities. This research study yields the conclusion that the spatial typology does not affect the pattern of the children’s play activities, and furthermore no difference was found in the behavioral pattern of the children’s play activities between the two neighborhoods examined. The behavioral pattern of the children’s play activities turned out to be just the same. Moreover, in both study locations, it was found that the older the children, the more capacious the personal space they require tends to be. Keywords: Spatial Typology, Children’s Play Activities, Home-range, Behavioral Setting

scholarly journals Do Children Need Adult Support During Sociodramatic Play to Develop Executive Functions? Experimental Evidence

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolai Veresov ◽  
Aleksander Veraksa ◽  
Margarita Gavrilova ◽  
Vera Sukhikh
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functions ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Sociodramatic Play ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Children’S Play

The cultural-historical approach provides the deep theoretical grounds for the analysis of children’s play. Vygotsky suggested three critical features of play: switching to an imaginary situation, taking on a play role, and acting according to a set of rules defined by the role. Collaboration, finding ideas and materials for creating an imaginary situation, defining play roles, and planning the plot are complex tasks for children. However, the question is, do children need educator’s support during the play to develop their executive functions, and to what extent? This experimental study was aimed at answering this inquiry. The four modes of sociodramatic play were created which differed in the adult intervention, from non-involvement in the play to its entire organization. The play could be child-led (with adult help), adult-led, or free (without any adult intervention); and there was also a control group where the children heard the same stimulus stories as the other groups but then followed them up with a drawing activity instead of a play activity. The study revealed that, firstly, the ways of educator’s involvement in the play differed in their potential in respect to the development of executive functions, and, secondly, this influence was not equal for different components of executive functions. Free play in the experiment was not a beneficial condition for the development of any of the studied components of executive functions, compared to the conditions involving the participation of an adult in the play. Furthermore, the type of adult intervention stimulated the development of various executive functions. The entire organization of the play by the adult had a positive impact of their general development. In contrast, the adult’s assistance in the organization of the children’s play had a positive effect on the development of inhibitory control. The study results can be helpful when considering educational practices within a cultural-historical approach to engaging the potential of play in children’s learning and development around the world.

Parental Play Beliefs in the Developing Areas of China: A Multiple Case Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 625
Author(s):  
Yiqi Zhang ◽  
Suzannie K. Y. Leung ◽  
Hui Li
Keyword(s):  
Parent Education ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Coastal Cities ◽  
Children’S Play ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Parent Education Programs ◽  
At Home

Existing studies have explored parental play beliefs in the developed coastal cities in mainland China, leaving parents in developing areas unstudied. This study aimed to understand how these understudied parents view and engage in their children’s play at home, using Bronfenbrenner’s process–person–context–time (PPCT) model. Eight families were interviewed and observed to explore parental beliefs and practices regarding young children’s play at home. Thematic analysis showed that most parents appreciated the importance of play in children’s early development but did not know how to scaffold their children’s play activities. In addition, the high SES families supported child-led play (i.e., free play), whereas the lower SES families adopted traditional rule-based and adult-driven modes. Therefore, more parent education programs and support should be provided to lower SES families in these developing areas.

scholarly journals An Overview of Developed Forms of Pretend Play Situation in Ecec Institutions in Lithuania

Pedagogika ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 115 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-205
Author(s):  
Agnė Brandišauskienė ◽  
Danguolė Maslienė
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Pretend Play ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Children’S Play ◽  
Mixed Groups ◽  
Fantasy Themes

This article aims to give an overview of the situation of children’s play in ECEC classrooms. According to the teacher’s opinions and observations, it could be said that ECEC institutions allow free play of children: the kids like to play in small-sized and often gender-mixed groups. It is observed that while playing alone girls and boys prefer different games, and each play theme is usually developed from a few days to a week. Deeper analysis reveals that the topics of children’s games are steaming from their personal experience. The older children more freely construct imaginary situations and are less dependent on objects and environment. In teacher’s opinions, fantasy themes (that are the indicators of higher level of play) of play are not frequent but elder children play more fantasy themes than the younger ones. Understanding the significance of play for the development of children we speculate that the educator’s role in supporting or suppressing possibilities for play in the classroom is of greatest importance. Therefore, a more detailed analysis of the teacher’s understanding of the concept and the phenomenon of play would be very meaningful.

scholarly journals The Role of Physical Activity and Touch in Children’s Social Bonding

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Jefferies ◽  
Bahar Tunçgenç ◽  
Emma Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Helping Behavior ◽  
Social Bonding ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Observation Study ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Touch Condition ◽  
Children’S Play

Physical activity (PA) and touch, long known to facilitate interpersonal affiliation in adults and non-human primates, are common elements of children’s free play. However, no research has examined how children’s play involving PA and touch is linked with social bonding (i.e., positive emotional states and behaviors that help create, maintain and characterize affiliation and attachment among individuals). This paper reports on two novel studies designed to explore these links in children’s play. In two studies, we investigated associations between PA, touch and prosociality in 5-to-8-year-old children. In a naturalistic observation study (N = 50), we assessed the amount of PA, smiling/laughing, touch, and prosociality in children’s play behavior during school breaks. PA levels were also measured indirectly via heart rate monitors (HRM). The findings revealed that observed-PA was associated with the amount of smiling/laughing. PA (observed and HRM) was also associated with the amount of touch. In a second study (N = 84), we experimentally tested the effect of touch on helping behavior in the context of physically-active play. In pairs, children ran to collect felt shapes which they placed either onto each other (touch condition) or onto a board (no-touch condition). Subsequent helping behavior was assessed in a separate task. There was a non-significant trend towards more helping in the touch condition. We discuss the findings in terms of the significance of PA and touch for social bonding in childhood and offer suggestions for future research in this underexplored area.

scholarly journals Children’s Play and Social Relations in Nature and Kindergarten Playgrounds: Examples from Norway

2021 ◽  
pp. 79-93
Author(s):  
Hanne Værum Sørensen
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Kindergarten Teachers ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Cultural Formation ◽  
Video Observations ◽  
Children’S Play ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Outdoor Playtime

AbstractIn kindergarten, outdoor playtime is usually a break from more structured activities. It is leisure time and an opportunity for children to engage in free play with friends. Previous research indicates that time spent outdoors facilitates playful physical activity and that playing in nature inspires children’s creativity, imaginations and play across age and gender. In short, play and social relations are crucial for young children’s development and cultural formation. This study investigated children’s play activities during outdoor playtime in nature and on kindergarten playgrounds. Its empirical materials consisted of video observations of 12 four-year-old’s activities in nature and on a kindergarten playground and interviews with two kindergarten teachers. One child, Benjamin was the primary focus, and five more were also included. Two examples of one child’s social play in nature and on the playground were analysed to illuminate the different conditions and challenges he encountered. The findings indicate that children’s play in nature tends to be more creative and inclusive than that on kindergarten playgrounds, that kindergarten teachers participate more in children’s play in nature than on playgrounds and that children are sensitive to and try to engage in what they view as a correct form of discourse with their teachers. The author argues for further research on the subject to learn more about children’s social relations, creativity and cultural formation during outdoor playtime in nature.

scholarly journals The Predictive Power of Preschool Children’s Social Behaviors on Their Play Skills

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
pp. 140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Büşra Ergin ◽  
Esra Ergin
Keyword(s):  
Relational Aggression ◽  
Physical Aggression ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
Social Behaviors ◽  
Play Skills ◽  
Children's Play ◽  
Depressive Feelings ◽  
Children’S Play ◽  
Social Behaviours

The aim of this research study is to investigate children’s play skills in terms of social behaviours (physical aggression, relational aggression, positive social behaviors, and depressive feelings). The participants in this study consisted of 300 children between 60 and 72 months studying at preschool education institutions. The research data were collected via the “Preschool Social Behaviour Scale-Instructer Form” and the “Play Skills Assessment Scale”. Pearson’s correlsation analysis and simple linear regression analysis were performed to evaluate the data. The results of the research study indicate that there is a significant positive correlation between children’s positive social behaviours and play skills while there is a significant negative relationship between children’s play skills and the subscales of physical aggression, relational aggression, and depressive feelings. Besides, the results indicate that children’s social behaviours (physical aggression, relational aggression, positive social behaviors and depressive feelings) are predictive of play skills. It can be concluded that 16.8% of total variance is explained by the subscales “positive social behaviors”, 9.6% is explained by “relational aggression”, 2.4% is explained “physical aggression” and 1.2% is explained by “depressive feelings”.

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