Games and Sports Preferences of Children.

Abstract

The Turkish educational system entered into the process of a compulsory 12 years of school education starting from the 2012-2013 academic year. In this process, the name of the physical education lesson has been changed to “games and physical activities” in the primary schools that offer education for 4 years. The aim of the present study is to determine the game and sports preferences of the children who received education in the 2011-2012 academic year between the 4th and the 8thgrades. The questionnaire of Celli, “Games and Sports” was translated into Turkish and was used as data collecting tool in the study. The population of the study consisted of 716 students. The subjects of the study included the preferred sports and games in open areas in winter and in summer, the preferred sports in closed areas, favorite games at home and favorite sports and games overall. The differences between playing games or sports in summer and in winter; playing games or sports in open and closed areas; playing individual games or sports or in a team; liking or not liking rough-and-tumble play were determined. The research results were supported with discussion. Key words: Sports preference, game preference, education, Turkey, sport branches.