Greek kindergarten teachers' and parents' views about changes in play since their own childhood

Abstract

Play is both a right of children and a learning method for preschoolers and school aged children. It is influenced by all forms of social change on a local and global level. The rapid pace of life and the competitive modern lifestyle, particularly in western societies, are leading to a decrease in spontaneous play and to its replacement by more structured activities at home and in school. Furthermore, apart from the lack of leisure, there is also a lack of space where children can play, especially in big cities. Children's and parents' free time has been reduced to a minimum by multiple everyday tasks. Also, the major influence exerted by the media over the last decade has affected and reduced children's free play. In order to find out whether those changes in children's play have also occurred in Greece, we have conducted similar research; we examined kindergarten teachers' and parents' views on how play has changed since their own childhood. The results of this study are presented in this paper.