A Study on 5 to 6 Years old Children's views on Play

Perspectives on play refer to people’s views andinterpretation of play. As the main role during the play, how children look atand explain their own play is a pathway for adults to approach into the heartsof children. Adults... [ view full abstract ]

Perspectives on play refer to people’s views andinterpretation of play. As the main role during the play, how children look atand explain their own play is a pathway for adults to approach into the heartsof children. Adults can deepen their understanding of children's play throughchildren's perception of the play. This study randomly drew 50 children of 5-6years old, and investigated the content and format of daily activities in kindergartenby individual interview. The findings reveal that children have their uniqueinterpretation of name, characteristics, classification and other aspects ofplay. Children consider “fun or not”, "freedom and rules", "trueand pretend", "physical participation and mental participation","with materials or not" as the standard to determine thecharacteristics of the play. They also consider "learning skills" asa reference to determine whether it is the play activity. Furthermore, they use"big and small", "simple and difficult", "ordinary andadvanced" to classify the play. The 5-6 years old children’sinterpretation of play emphasis more on the elements such as personalexperience, interesting process, unique space, the choice of materials, and independentcreation. Based on the analysis of children's view of the play, the researchermake suggestions for the kindergarten play activities with the consideration ofthe realities in kindergarten.