The purpose of this study is to investigate how early children's imaginative plays appear differently according to the complexity of the sand-play area. Thus, in an aim to provide guidelines to help early children's imaginative play, this study examin...
The purpose of this study is to investigate how early children's imaginative plays appear differently according to the complexity of the sand-play area. Thus, in an aim to provide guidelines to help early children's imaginative play, this study examined if there is a difference in the type and element of early children's cognitive play behavior (functional play, constructive play, imaginative play), non-play behavior and imaginative play according to the level of complexity, and examined if the difference is related to their age.
According to these study objectives, research questions are set as follows.
1. How are cognitive play (functional play, constructive play, imaginative play) and non-play behavior according to the complexity of the sand-play area?
1) Is there any difference in cognitive play behavior (functional play, constructive play, imaginative play) according to the level of complexity? Is this difference related to age?
2) Is there any difference in non-play behavior according to the level of complexity? Is this difference related to age?
2. How is imaginative play according to the complexity of the sand-play area?
1) Is there any difference in the type of imaginative play according to the level of complexity? Is this difference related to age?
2) Is there any difference in the element of imaginative play according to the level of complexity? Is this difference related to age?
This study was conducted on 24 three-year-old and five-year-old children in "A" Children's Daycare Center located in Gyeonggi Province. As research tools, "The Complexity Evaluation Criteria and "A method to Raise the Complexity of the Sand-Play Environment" suggested by Kritchevsky, Prescott and Walling(1977) and revised by Kim Kyung-youn(1999) were used to propose a situation. In addition, Smilansky(1968)'s cognitive play development category and Frost(1992)'s non-play behavior observation classification were used to examine cognitive play and non-play behavior. Plus, McLoyd(1983)'s imaginative play type category was used to examine imaginative play types, and the definition of the components of sociodramatic play developed by Smilansky(1968) and re-proposed by Johnson, Christie and Yawkey(2001) was used to examine Smilansky(1968)'s imaginative play elements. As an observation method, early children of different ages were divided into three groups, and their play scenes were filmed for 20 minutes each according to the complexity of the sand-play area. As an analytical method, the filmed data was analyzed on a ten-second basis for each child regarding the types and elements of cognitive play behavior, non-play behavior and imaginative play, and then results were recorded in a play analysis card. The total frequency of the analyzed data was calculated in terms of score by subordinate element. In addition, the data was analyzed using a repeated design and a split-plot factorial design through the SPSS win 10.0 program.
The results of this study are summarized as follows.
First, it was found that there was a difference in cognitive play behavior according to the complexity of the sand-play area. Regarding cognitive play behavior, a significant difference was found in functional play, constructive play and imaginative play according to the level of complexity. As a result of investigating if a difference in cognitive play behavior according to the complexity of the sand-play area is related to age, no difference was found. However, there was a significant difference in functional play among cognitive play behaviors according to the level of complexity, but no significant difference was found in constructive play and imaginative play by the level of complexity according to age.
It was found that there was a difference in non-play behavior according to the complexity of the sand-play area. Among non-play behaviors, unoccupied behavior, exploration and conversation showed a significant difference according to the level of complexity, but there was no significant difference in onlooker and transition according to the level of complexity. As a result of investigating if there is a difference in non-play behavior by the complexity of the sand-play area according to age, there was no significant difference in non-play behavior. In addition, among non-play behaviors, exploration according to the level of complexity showed a significant difference depending on age, but there was no significant difference in unoccupied behavior, onlookers, conservation and transition by the level of complexity according to age.
Second, it was found that there was a difference in the type of imaginative play according to the complexity of the sand-play area. Among imaginative play types, non-interactive imaginative play, associative imaginative play and cooperative imaginative play showed a significant difference according to the level of complexity. As a result of investigating if there is a difference in the type of imaginative play by the complexity of the sand-play area according to age, there was a significant difference in non-interactive imaginative play and cooperative imaginative play by the level of complexity according to age, but there was no significant difference in associative imaginative play by the level of complexity according to age.
It was found that there was a difference in the elements of imaginative play according to the complexity of the sand-play area. Among imaginative play elements, imitative role play, make-believe in regard to objects, make-believe in regard to actions and situations, interaction, verbal communication and persistence showed a significant difference according to the level of complexity. As a result of investigating if there is a difference in the elements of imaginative play by the complexity of the sand-play area according to age, it was found that imitative role play, make-believe in regard to objects, make-believe in regard to actions and situations, interaction, verbal communication and persistence according to the level of complexity did not show any significant difference depending on age.