Play Behaviors in Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review of the Literature

Play is a key factor for children’s healthy psychological, emotional, social, and cognitive development. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been postulated that children’s play was affected, not only regarding the time children spent playing but also in terms of the qualitative characteristics of play. The aim of this review was to investigate how children’s play has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. A review was conducted in the PubMed, Google Scholar, EMBASE, SCOPUS, ERIC, PsycInfo, and JSTOR databases up to 6 December 2020. Furthermore, references of eligible studies as well as of relevant articles were searched using a snowballing technique. The search retrieved 17 eligible studies, conducted in Europe and North America. In general, outdoor play was reduced during the pandemic; on the other hand, there was an increase in indoor play and in videogames-screen time. COVID-19 was present in children’s pretend play. Children’s play was a key contributor to children’s mood and wellbeing. Furthermore, teachers were especially concerned about how children’s play was affected during the lockdown measures. There is evidence that children’s play habits were affected during the COVID-19 pandemic; further research is required, especially cross-culturally oriented.

Can ecological relationships be grown indoors? A re-storying of plant-child relations

This multispecies ethnography case study uses poststructural and posthuman frameworks to question developmenta standards, classification, and anthropocentric thinking in early childhood education. This research re-stories the relationships between plants and eleven preschool children as they share an indoor play area. Situated in what is now known as settler colonial Toronto, this research suggests small scale ways to re-narrate nature-child relationships in an era of climate change. Using writing style and findings, the research uses feminist methods to question what is included as valuable knowledge within the field of early childhood education.

Can ecological relationships be grown indoors? A re-storying of plant-child relations

This multispecies ethnography case study uses poststructural and posthuman frameworks to question developmenta standards, classification, and anthropocentric thinking in early childhood education. This research re-stories the relationships between plants and eleven preschool children as they share an indoor play area. Situated in what is now known as settler colonial Toronto, this research suggests small scale ways to re-narrate nature-child relationships in an era of climate change. Using writing style and findings, the research uses feminist methods to question what is included as valuable knowledge within the field of early childhood education.

Children’s Play and Independent Mobility in 2020: Results from the British Children’s Play Survey

The British Children’s Play Survey was conducted in April 2020 with a nationally representative sample of 1919 parents/caregivers with a child aged 5–11 years. Respondents completed a range of measures focused on children’s play, independent mobility and adult tolerance of and attitudes towards risk in play. The results show that, averaged across the year, children play for around 3 h per day, with around half of children’s play happening outdoors. Away from home, the most common places for children to play are playgrounds and green spaces. The most adventurous places for play were green spaces and indoor play centres. A significant difference was found between the age that children were reported to be allowed out alone (10.74 years; SD = 2.20 years) and the age that their parents/caregivers reported they had been allowed out alone (8.91 years; SD = 2.31 years). A range of socio-demographic factors were associated with children’s play. There was little evidence that geographical location predicted children’s play, but it was more important for independent mobility. Further, when parents/caregivers had more positive attitudes around children’s risk-taking in play, children spent more time playing and were allowed to be out of the house independently at a younger age.

Analisis Penataan Lingkungan Main Indoor yang Mendukung Kemampuan Problem Solving pada Anak

The low ability of problem solving in children requires stimulation efforts in early childhood education, one of which is through the management of the maximum play environment that educators can do in optimizing problem solving abilities in children. The problem in this study is about the implementation of learning with a play environment that raises problem solving abilities in children aged 5-6 years. This research was conducted at the Center of Excellence Paud Taman Belia Candi, Semarang City. This type of research is qualitative research in descriptive form. Researchers use a naturalist approach, namely the presence of researchers directly in the field. This study discusses the analysis of indoor play environment that supports problem solving abilities in children aged 5-6 years. The results showed that the problem-solving ability of children aged 5-6 years could be improved through structuring the play environment in such a way as that at the Center of Excellence PAUD Taman Belia Candi Semarang. In order for children to achieve maximum development in the aspects of cognitive development in the scope of problem solving development, it is necessary to organize an environment that stimulates or invites children (inviting classroom), facilitates multi-sensory children and provides opportunities for activities for children. Based on the results of this study, the suggestion that can be conveyed is that in each learning process, the teacher can add knowledge and skills in arranging the indoor learning environment through various sources so that the center room is arranged in an optimal state for the learning process.

Behavioral mapping of children’s physical activities and social behaviors in an indoor preschool facility: methodological challenges in revealing the influence of space in play

Background GIS (Geographic Information Systems) based behavior maps are useful for visualizing and analyzing how children utilize their play spaces. However, a GIS needs accurate locational information to ensure that observations are correctly represented on the layout maps of play spaces. The most commonly used tools for observing and coding free play among children in indoor play spaces require that locational data be collected alongside other play variables. There is a need for a practical, cost-effective approach for extending most tools for analyzing free play by adding geospatial locational information to children’s behavior data collected in indoor play environments. Results We provide a non-intrusive approach to adding locational information to behavior data acquired from video recordings of preschool children in their indoor play spaces. The gridding technique showed to be a cost-effective method of gathering locational information about children from video recordings of their indoor physical activities and social behaviors. Visualizing the proportions of categories and observed intervals was done using bubble pie charts which allowed for the merging of multiple categorical information on one map. The addition of locational information to other play activity and social behavior data presented the opportunity to assess what types of equipment or play areas may encourage different physical activities and social behaviors among preschool children. Conclusions Gridding is an effective method for providing locational data when analyzing physical activities and social behaviors of preschool children in indoor spaces. It is also reproducible for most GIS behavior mapping focusing on indoor environments. This bypasses the need to have positioning devices attached to children during observations, which can raise ethical considerations regarding children’s privacy and methodological implications with children playing less naturally. It also supports visualizations on behavior maps making them easier to interpret.