Free Play Group Research Articles

Effects of free-play or introducing artificial rules on tactical behavior based on soccer-team lines: A pilot study

Team-lines structures are particular subsystems determined strategically by the formation chosen by the team coach, and despite its relevance, no study has analyzed training effects on tactical behavior based on team lines. This study aimed to assess the effects of modified games playing freely and introducing artificial rules on tactical behavior based on team lines during the team-possession game phase in two youth-soccer categories. Two Spanish under-14s (U-14s: n = 16) and under-16s (U-16s: n = 16) teams took part in the study. Each team was divided into two groups, free-play and conditioned, that faced each other during three 7-min eight-on-eight games in four training sessions. The free-play group played freely without restrictions, while the conditioned group played constrained by artificial rules (i.e. a minimum number of touches, no return pass allowed, forward pass after a back pass) that modified the cooperative motor interactions between teammates. Tactical behavior was assessed by the three geometrical primitives’ representations (i.e. node: change in the centroid position (CCP), line: interpersonal distance between teammates (dyads), and area: surface area (SA)) and their time series approximate entropy (ApEn) normalized measures in subgroups based on team lines (goalkeeper – defenders, defenders – midfielders, and midfielders – forward) before and after the training intervention in an eight-on-eight game using a local positioning system (LPS). The results suggest that the short-term training intervention affected considerably (i.e. Cohen’s d≥ moderate) U-14s team lines’ behavior, especially those who played freely. On the other hand, U-16s’ tactical behavior based on team lines barely changed (i.e. Cohen’s d≤ small). It seems that playing freely for several training sessions could strengthen the tactical behavior of each line, enhancing team lines’ regularity in youth-soccer categories.

Does Physical Activity Improve Inhibition in Kindergarteners? A Pilot Study.

Substantial empirical evidence supports the positive effects of physical activity (PA) on executive functions, but not all forms of physical activity benefit equally. Among kindergarteners, cognitively-engaging exercise seems to more strongly effect EF than simple exercise. We aimed to investigate several qualitatively different exercise formats on kindergarteners' inhibition. Participants were 75 children (M age = 68.1months), recruited from 14 classrooms of three kindergarten schools. They were randomly assigned to three groups: control group, free play group (non-cognitively-engaging PA), and an intervention group (cognitively-engaging PA). The intervention group performed 18 sessions of a cognitively engaging PA (tasks requiring movements and inhibitory behavior skills). We assessed "hot" and "cool" aspects of inhibition using the Day-Night Stroop test, Head-Shoulders-Knees-Toes, Gift Wrap, and Snack Delay. We found that the intervention group obtained a more consistent performance improvement on post-test measures of hot and cool inhibition than did the free play group.

Fostering children's block building self-concepts and stability knowledge through construction play

The study investigated preschool children's block building self-concepts in relation to their stability knowledge acquisition as implied by the reciprocal effects model and possible effects of different forms of play. We investigated three types of construction play: (a) guided play with verbal and material scaffolds, (b) guided play with material scaffolds, and (c) free play. We examined the effects of the different play forms on block building self-concept and stability knowledge acquisition as well as the reciprocal effects model's fit to preschool children. We implemented a pre-post-follow-up design, N = 183 German 5- to 6-year-olds (88 female). Block building self-concept declined in the free play group, but not in the guided play groups. Both guided play groups outperformed the free play group in stability knowledge acquisition. The reciprocal effects model was not supported. Guided play may be effective in fostering children's block building self-concepts and stability knowledge.

Are Gross Motor Skill Interventions an Equitable Replacement for Outdoor Free Play Regarding Children's Physical Activity?

The purpose of this study was to determine if children engaged in equal amounts of physical activity during an established gross motor skill intervention (the Children's Health Activity Motor Program (CHAMP)) and outdoor free play. Cross-sectional study; sample: Ninety-nine children (Mage = 4.21, 51% boys) were randomly divided into two movement environments: CHAMP (n = 55) or control/outdoor free play (n = 44). Physical activity was assessed using GT3X+ Actigraph accelerometers worn on the waist across four mornings. Average physical activity across the four days during either CHAMP or outdoor free play was extracted and categorized as light, moderate, vigorous, or MVPA. Physical activity data were reduced in the Actilife software using the cutpoints from Evenson et al. A 2 (treatment) x 2 (sex) mixed measures ANOVA was used to compare the amount of time children spent in light, moderate, vigorous, and MVPA. There was a significant main effect for treatment for light PA (F(3,95) =13.60, P<.001, partial η2=.125), and post hoc t-tests support that children in the control/outdoor free play group engaged in more light PA compared with children in CHAMP (t95 = -3.75, P<.001). Results show that children in CHAMP engaged in less light PA but equal amounts of all other physical activity behaviors than their peers in outdoor free play.

Impact of Casino Free Play on the Wagering Behavior of Light- and Medium-User Groups: The Importance of Winning at the Bottom of the Database

This study examined the extent to which free-play credits affected spend-per-trip levels in slots, with a focus on contributions from the loyalty program’s (LP) light- and medium-user tiers. These user groups represent the bulk of LP members, and also comprise the area of the database for which spending gains are most important and equivocal. Daily, tier-level performance data were collected from four different casinos, which were owned and operated by a common parent company. Analysis of player performance data failed to indicate group-level differences in the spend-per-trip results produced by free-play redeemers and non-redeemers, within each of two tiers. These findings were produced by both parametric and nonparametric measures. The free-play group (FP) recorded a mean daily T-win that was significantly greater than that generated by the no-free play group (NFP) on a maximum of 2 days (out of 365), across all four properties and both tiers. Given that the players in FP were staked with free credits, it would appear that these awards served as bankroll substitutes, rather than sources of incremental play. With respect to own-money wagering, the lack of significant increases in win on free-play trips may be most aligned with the prospect-theory-with-memory effect. While our work expanded the literature by examining decision-making under risk, beyond two stages, our results did not generally support the house-money effect. For management, our findings signaled the need for a program review, as these expensive annual campaigns comprised a substantial percentage of the casino marketing budget.

Children's concepts of gears and their promotion through play

AbstractThe mechanical transmission of motion, which is observable in gears’ turning direction (TD) and turning speed (TS) can be understood as part of the core concept “force and motion”. Previous studies have suggested that most children before the age of nine have naïve concepts of gears’ TD and TS. However, these studies relied on children's explanation data and might have therefore underestimated young children's potential. Moreover, these studies did not examine whether preschoolers can overcome their naïve concepts through teaching. Recently, educators have proposed guided play as an educational approach that combines children's play with teacher guidance in a purposefully designed environment. We conducted two subsequent studies. In Study 1, we investigated the children's (naïve) concepts of gears’ TD and TS with a cross‐sectional approach using a nonverbal test procedure. This study comprised 248 children aged 5–10 years and 73 adults. The results showed that the proportion of children with adequate concepts increased with age. More specifically, 7‐ to 8‐year‐olds differed significantly from 5‐ to 6‐year‐olds, indicating a developmental shift around this age. However, naïve concepts of TS were more persistent with age than naïve concepts of TD. Altogether, the results indicated the potential to foster 5‐ to 6‐year‐olds’ concepts of both TD and TS in an intervention. Thus, in Study 2, we developed and tested a guided play intervention to foster 5‐ to 6‐year‐old children's concepts of TD and TS. We conducted a prepost‐intervention design with a guided play group (n = 19) and a free play group (n = 21). The results suggested stronger learning gains in the guided play group (dTD = 0.337, dTS = 0.758) than in the free play group (dTD = 0.224, dTS = 0.158).

Comparing Free Play and Partly Structured Play in 4-5-Years-Old Children in an Outdoor Playground.

The aim of this study was to compare how the organization of a movement session as partly structured play or free play influenced the physical activity engagement in 4–5 years old pre-schoolers. The partly structured playgroup consisted of 46 children and the free playgroup consisted of 33 children. The playground activities consisted of 10 sessions each lasting 1 h, executed once per week in the period Mars to May 2017 at a specific playground setting. The partly structured playgroup conducted a movement activity session that included a combination of both structured- and free play activities. The free playgroup engaged in unstructured play, only. To detect the intensity of the physical activity each child carried an accelerometer 1 h the first week and last week of the intervention. Results indicate a significant difference in physical activity level between the two groups for the 5-year-old in the favor of the partly structured playgroup. There was a significant difference between the four-and 5-year-old in relation to physical activity level. No significant difference between the activity in March and May for the whole group was found.

The effect of the CHAMP intervention on fundamental motor skills and outdoor physical activity in preschoolers

PurposePhysical activity (PA) and fundamental motor skills are important components of current and future trajectories of health in young children. This study examined the effects of a 5-week motor skill intervention on preschoolers’ motor skill competence and their PA behaviors while participating in the motor skill intervention or outdoor free play (recess). MethodsA total of 102 preschoolers served as participants and were part of a motor skill intervention group (n = 64) or a control/outdoor free play group (n = 38). Children's motor skills were assessed before and after the intervention using the Test of Gross Motor Development-3rd edition. PA during the motor skill intervention and outdoor free play was assessed using accelerometers both immediately before the start (baseline, Week 0 or Week 1) and end (late, Week 5 or Week 6) of the intervention. ResultsAll children significantly improved their motor skills from baseline to late assessment (p < 0.05). Children in the motor skill intervention demonstrated greater rates of change (p < 0.001) and scored higher on all motor skills at the late assessment compared with the control group (p < 0.001). There was no effect of group (control vs. intervention), but there was a significant effect of sex on children's PA during outdoor free play at baseline (p < 0.05). Similarly, there was no effect of group on PA during days with the movement program (intervention vs. outdoor free play) at either time point, but boys were more active than girls at the late assessment (p < 0.05). Last, children in the intervention engaged in more PA while participating in the intervention toward the end of the intervention than at the beginning. ConclusionThe 5-week motor skill intervention was effective at improving preschoolers’ motor skills and rates of change in motor skills were higher for children who completed the intervention compared with children in the control group. Preschoolers in the intervention did demonstrate PA changes while participating in the intervention, but these changes did not translate outside of the intervention setting.

Only domain-specific imitation practice makes imitation perfect

Does imitation involve specialized mechanisms or general—unspecialized—learning processes? To address this question, preschoolers (3- and 4-year-olds) were assigned to one of four “practice” groups. Before and after the practice phases, each group was tested on a novel Spatial Imitation sequence. During the practice phase, children in the Spatial Imitation group practiced jointly attending, vicariously encoding, and copying the novel spatial sequences. In the Item Imitation group, children practiced jointly attending, vicariously encoding, and copying novel item sequences. In the Trial-and-Error group, children practiced encoding and recalling a series of novel spatial sequences entirely through individual (operant) learning. In the Free Play (no practice) control group, children played a touchscreen drawing game that controlled for practice time on the touchscreen and mirrored some of the same actions and responses used in the experimental conditions. Results of the difference between pre- and post-practice effects on novel spatial imitation sequences showed that only the Spatial Imitation practice group significantly improved relative to the Free Play group. Individual Spatial Trial-and-Error practice did not significantly improve spatial imitation. The effect of Item Imitation practice was intermediate. These results are inconsistent with the hypothesis that general processes alone--or primarily--support imitation learning and is more consistent with a mosaic model that posits an additive—interaction—effect on imitation performance where a more general social cognitive mechanism (i.e., natural pedagogy) gathers the relevant information from the demonstration and another more specialized mechanism (i.e., imitation specific) transforms that information into a matching response.

Differences in Step Counts, Motor Competence, and Enjoyment Between an Exergaming Group and a Non-Exergaming Group.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of an exergaming program on physical activity, motor competence, and enjoyment in preschool children. A sample of 65 preschool children was recruited from an urban preschool located in the Western United States. Children were randomly assigned to either an exergaming (n = 36) or a free-play group (n = 29). The intervention was 30 min/day, 5 days/week for 12 weeks for both groups, and all outcome variables were measured once during the final week of the intervention. The exergaming program included three active videogames: GoNoodles, Adventure to Fitness, and Cosmic Kids Yoga. Children in the free-play group were offered a variety of sport activities. School-day step counts were recorded using pedometers, motor competence was assessed by the Test for Gross Motor Development-Edition 3 (TGMD-3), and enjoyment was accessed using one subscale of the Intrinsic Motivational Inventory. A 2 × 2 multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) test was employed to examine the differences between sexes and groups on the outcome variables. The omnibus MANOVA yielded a statistically significant multivariate group main effect (F = 3.71, P = 0.016). Follow-up tests revealed statistically significant differences between groups on average school step counts (mean difference = 785 steps, P = 0.003, d = 0.68) and total TGMD-3 scores (mean difference = 8.7, P = 0.019, d = 0.51), with the exergaming group displaying higher mean scores compared with the free-play group. Young children who were randomly assigned to the exergaming group demonstrated higher school-day step counts and higher motor competence levels compared with the free-play group. These results support the use of this modality in childcare settings.

The Effect Of Play-Way Teaching Strategy On Primary School Pupils’ Acquisition Of Basic Science Concepts

This study investigated the effect of play-way teaching strategy on primary school pupils’ acquisition of science concepts in the basic science and technology curriculum. The sample for the study consisted of sixty boys and girls in equal proportion that was randomized into three treatment groups. Stratified sampling technique was used in selecting equal number of boys and girls into the three groups. The treatment groups were free play group, teacher mediated play group and direct instruction groups with vicarious play activities. The treatment lasted three weeks for the groups who were pupils that successfully completed primary three at the end of the session. The content centered on basic ideas on water, floating and sinking, measures, simple machines and motion. A twenty item multiple choice objective test with reliability of 0.79 was used to determine learning outcomes. T-test analysis of group mean scores was used to evaluate the two hypotheses. Teacher structured play-way group obtained a mean score of 12.9 while direct instruction group obtained a mean score of 10.0. The obtained t-value of 4.061 is significant at p < .05. There was no gender effect among play-way pupils as boy and girls achieved mean scores of 12.1 and 12.2 respectively. The obtained t-value of 0.137 was not significant at five percent probability.

Using board games to improve mathematical creativity

Our study examined whether playing board games improved elementary students' mathematical creativity and, if it did, how board games should be used effectively in the elementary classroom. To accomplish this aim, we invited three fifth-grade classes to participate in our study, two classes serving as experimental groups and one class as a control group. One experimental group was a teacher-led group and the other a free-play group. After the four weeks, the creativity of the board game participants improved significantly as demonstrated through t-test, comparing the pretest and the post test. The free-play group students' flexibility, one of the components of creativity, improved significantly (p = 0.022). We also found that for students who received lower scores in mathematical creativity in the pretest, teachers need to intervene in the activities; however, for the higher-ranked students, opportunities should be given to play without interventions to enhance creativity.

Using board games to improve mathematical creativity

Our study examined whether playing board games improved elementary students' mathematical creativity and, if it did, how board games should be used effectively in the elementary classroom. To accomplish this aim, we invited three fifth-grade classes to participate in our study, two classes serving as experimental groups and one class as a control group. One experimental group was a teacher-led group and the other a free-play group. After the four weeks, the creativity of the board game participants improved significantly as demonstrated through t-test, comparing the pretest and the post test. The free-play group students' flexibility, one of the components of creativity, improved significantly (p = 0.022). We also found that for students who received lower scores in mathematical creativity in the pretest, teachers need to intervene in the activities; however, for the higher-ranked students, opportunities should be given to play without interventions to enhance creativity.

Using a developmental movement programme to enhance academic skills in grade 1 learners

The effects of movement on academic performance and cognitive development is often underrated. Many theorists argue for the importance of movement to be recognized because there appears to be an elaborate interplay of brain and body. Brain research has shown that the brain is “plastic” in that it can adapt continuously, and its structure can be changed by certain kinds of stimulation, including movement. The body is a sensory-motor response system that causes the brain to organize itself. Movement is essential to learning and can be regarded as the door to learning. This article reports on a developmental movement programme which was established to determine whether movement would enhance the academic skills of Grade 1 learners. Four groups of learners were used in this research project. Learners were randomly selected for one of the following groups: the experimental, control, free-play or educational toys group. The results of the pre-testing and post-testing indicate that the learners of the experimental group showed a significant improvement in spatial development as well as in reading and mathematical skills, compared to the learners in the control group, free-play group and educational toys group. South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation Vol. 28(1) 2006: 29-42

Implementing intervention movement programs for kindergarten children

The reported study aimed to identify the effects of two 10-week intervention programs on fundamental locomotor skill performance in kindergarten children. Seventy-five children with mean age 5.4 ± 0.5 years participated. Experimental Group A followed a movement program, experimental Group B followed a music and movement program, and free-play Group C was engaged in free-play activities. The TGMD (Ulrich, 1985) was used for the assessment of locomotor skills (running, galloping, hopping, leaping, horizontal jump, skipping, and sliding) before and after the implementation of the intervention programs. Results indicated that both experimental groups significantly improved their performance compared to the free-play group in running, hopping, leaping, horizontal jump, and skipping. Differences were also found between Group A and Group C on sliding. It seems that the performance of fundamental locomotor skills can be improved through different types of organized practice in kindergarten children.

Young children's free play and problem‐solving ability

Abstract This study was initiated to experimentally demonstrate a relationship between young children's play behavior and problem‐solving ability. Preschool children were initially given the opportunity to either view a puppet show demonstration or engage in undirected play with a variety of materials which were later presented in a task. The children in the free play group were shown to perform as well on both aspects of the task as those who viewed the demonstrations. The four demonstration groups were shown either the solution to the first or both phases of the problem‐solving task and were either allowed to physically manipulate and repeat the demonstration instructions or to passively view them. It was concluded that the exploratory and manipulatory characteristics of play contributed to a general problem‐solving ability which can be specifically applied to successful solution of a task.