Original scientific paper
Children's experience of play in pre-school and primary school
Višnja Rajić
orcid.org/0000-0002-5331-835X
; Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Biserka Petrović-Sočo
; Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The research of play so far has mostly explored children’s play from the adult perspective, without active participation of children. The new paradigm of childhood has changed the research and directed it towards a child as a subject. The authors give an insight into child’s perception of play and its characteristics. The research was conducted on a sample of preschool children (N = 107) and primary school children (N = 101). The analysis of their responses to the questions: What is play? What is your favourite game? What do you need for playing? was made. The results show that primary school children interpret more often play as fun and functional activity, while pre-school children significantly more often perceive play as playing with a toy. The authors conclude that teachers and preschool teachers need to ensure the time for and the environment that supports children’s play not to lose the entrance in to their world.
Keywords
childhood; pre-school children; primary school students; play characteristics
Hrčak ID:
153131
URI
Publication date:
29.12.2015.
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