In defense of play: children’s play preferences and thoughts about play prohibition

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this qualitative study, a story-based interview method was applied to examine children's play-related preferences and their thoughts about the reasons for and feelings about play prohibition and ways of defending play as a phenomenon. The study group comprised 197 children, who were enrolled in preschools in a city in the southwestern part of Turkey. A story game was designed to use during the interviews. The thematic content analyzing method was used. The results showed that most of the children chose physical play and socio-dramatic play types. Their playmate choices were friends, family members, and toys. They preferred to play outside and at home. Their views about reasons for play prohibition mostly arose from themselves like ‘making a noise' and ‘making a mess’. Sadness and badness were the most common feelings about the prohibition of play. The majority of children chose persuasion as a way of defending play.