Home-based Play Research Articles

환경그림책을 이용한 가정연계 놀이가 5세 유아의 환경 감수성 및 환경 친화적 태도에 미치는 영향

Objectives The purpose of this study is to explore ways to cultivate children's environmental sensitivity and environment-friendly attitudes in early childhood education by examining the effects of home-linked play using environmental picture books on children's environmental sensitivity and environment-friendly attitudes. Methods This study aims to find out the effects of home-based play using environmental picture books on the environmental sensitivity and environmentally friendly attitude of 5-year-old children, and to find ways to foster environmental sensitivity and environmentally friendly attitude of 5-year-old children in early childhood education settings. Results It was found that home-linked play using environmental picture books had a significant difference in the environmental sensitivity and environmentally friendly attitude of 5-year-old children.This shows that home-linked environmental play using environmental picture books is effective in improving the environmental sensitivity and environmentally friendly attitude of 5-year-old children, and it suggests that continuous guidance linked to the home is necessary for the practice of environmental education for young children. Conclusions It is meaningful to verify the effectiveness of home-linked play using environmental picture books and suggests that it can be used for education to form environmental sensitivity and environmentally friendly attitudes as an effective play for young children in the actual early childhood education field.

An Observational Study of Children’s Problem Solving during Play with Friends

ABSTRACT Problem solving is an important cognitive skill that children use to plan and navigate various developmental and social tasks. Although previous research was theory-grounded and systematic, to our knowledge, no research has observed and documented children’s problem solving as a primary objective in naturalistic developmental contexts, such as home-based play with friends. The current study used a new observational measure to evaluate associations between children’s frequency of verbal and behavioral problem solving during play with friends and the extent to which they completed a toy construction task. Sixty-eight 7-year-old friends from the Northeast United States were observed in 34 play dyads. Results revealed a significant positive association between problem solving and task completion with no significant gender or play set differences. Results provide initial evidence that observing friends’ shared problem solving behavior may have pedagogical implications for cognitive development in typical early childhood settings.

Using robotic toys in early childhood education to support children’s social and emotional competencies

This Australian study examines whether and how technologies such as Artificially Intelligent (AI) toys in a home-based setting might socially and emotionally support children with diverse needs through play. Building on the concept of ‘emotional capital', and employing a design-based research approach, parents during the COVID-19 lockdown periods in 2020 intentionally used robotic toys to engage their children with additional diverse needs in home-based play experiences. The data from both parents’ and children’s ( n = 5) Zoom interviews, digital observations and children’s drawings demonstrated how children creatively conversed with their AI robots in innovative and empathy-based dialogues that generated happy feelings and a sense of ‘imaginary’ togetherness with their robot during the coding experiences. This study contributes to research by exploring the use of AI robotic toys together with physical and artificial environments and offers a case to build children’s emotional capital in enabling children’s social-emotional literacies.

Family-based play during the COVID-19 epidemic

ABSTRACT Play is a proven source of resilience in the midst of difficult circumstances. This special issue of the International Journal of Play highlights how play behaviors were widely reported in varied countries during the recent COVID-19 pandemic, as well as in other crises. In the United States during the pandemic, home-based play within families intensified, affording opportunities to enhance family relatedness.

Effects of Home-Based Play Activities for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Effects of Home-Based Play Activities for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Imitation and Social Communication in Infants

The authors of this study examined the relationship between motor imitation behaviors and social communication behaviors in 15–18-month-old infants, using a quantitative correlational research design. Imitation behaviors have been shown to be an index of later social cognition and language development, and a critical mechanism in language learning for typically developing infants. Social communication behaviors have also been demonstrated to predict later language skills. The authors looked for quantifiable correlations between motor imitation and social communication in typically developing 15–18-month-olds and the authors found a significant positive correlation between motor imitation and the social communication variable of language understanding. The authors demonstrated that motor imitation can be measured reliably in infants between 15 and 18 months, and that a demonstrable increase in imitation behaviors occurs in this age group. The naturalistic home-based play context of this study provided robust reliable scores and ecological validity to the results. The results suggest that motor imitation in 15–18-month-olds has a unique relationship to social communication that is specific to language understanding, and separate from verbal expression or gesture.

Maternal responsiveness to young children at three ages: Longitudinal analysis of a multidimensional, modular, and specific parenting construct.

Responsiveness defines the prompt, contingent, and appropriate reactions parents display to their children in the context of everyday exchanges. Maternal responsiveness occupies a theoretically central position in developmental science and possesses meaningful predictive validity over diverse domains of children's development, yet basic psychometric features of maternal responsiveness are still poorly understood. In this prospective longitudinal study, the authors examined structure, individual variation, and continuity of multiple dimensions of responsiveness in 40 mothers to their infants' activities at 10, 14, and 21 months during natural home-based play interactions. Both age-general and age-specific patterns emerged in maternal responding. The study's developmental results support the multidimensionality, modularity, and specificity of this central parenting construct.

Differential Expression of Toy Play by Preschoolers With and Without Mental Retardation

Analyses of the peak and predominant toy play of 17 preschool children with mental retardation and 17 preschool children without mental retardation are presented. Groups were matched on developmental age and sex and observed during both a home-based independent play situation and classroom-based free play. Results are presented for 1) a comparison of predominant play between setting for each group, 2) a comparison of peak play between setting for each group, 3) between-group analyses of predominant and peak play, and 4) a comparison of predominant and peak play. The results provide additional support for, and extend efforts to understand, contextual variation of children's toy play by demonstrating an advantage of home-based play over classroom-based play for both groups as well as an advantage of children with mental retardation over children without mental retardation during the home-based play situation. These data can be used to promote positive perceptions of, and attitudes toward, children with mental retardation among both parents and teachers, and to promote the use of a comprehensive, multi-contextual understanding of children's play ability and potential that is necessary for developing effective interventions.

Sex Similarities And Differences In Types Of Play In Games And Sports

In two studies, 374 participants gave retrospective reports of their favorite games, toys, and hobbies (games) and of their favorite exercise and sports (sports) in elementary school, high school, and college. We tested Gilligan's (1982) expectation that more of males' play would be group activities played in public places, whereas more of females' games and sports would be home-based play in “intimate” dyads. Results showed that sex similarities and differences varied as a function of kind of play. For both sexes, games tended to be home-based and individual or dyadic play, however sports tended to be group, public-based play. Whereas team sports play was most frequent in childhood for both sexes and decreased in frequency from childhood into adulthood, the decrease in team, as compared to individual and dyadic, sports was significantly more dramatic for girls than for boys. The data indicated that whereas girls participate in a variety of types of play, boys' sports play is dominated by team activity across development. Thus, sex differences in the types of sports play provided the strongest support for Gilligan's hypothesis that socialization in team play may foster a reliance upon rights-based moral reasoning in boys.

Play observations of three-year old children and their relationship to parental reports of behavior problems and temperament characteristics.

Observations of the coping behaviors of three-year-old children during a one hour, home-based play session were examined and compared to parental reports of behavior problems and temperament characteristics. Poor coping responses in the play situation were positively associated with behavior difficulties, but not with temperament characteristics. It is concluded that brief play sessions are useful for diagnostic purposes, but it is more important to focus observations on the child's ability to adapt and cope with the interpersonal and structural demands of the play situation rather than on the types of constructions produced or interpretations on the symbolic manipulations of toys.

Concurrent Validation of a Behavior Problems Scale to Use with 3-Year-Olds

A 12-item behavior questionnaire adapted for a parent interview is shown to represent a valid index of current behavioral adjustment in preschool children. The validity of the questionnaire is checked against the clinical judgment of six psychiatrists and psychologists using data derived from a total population sample of 3-year-old children. The data are comprised of information gathered in parent interviews and home-based play sessions with the children. Using an epidemiologic approach, the sensitivity and specificity of the questionnaire are determined. Recommendations are made regarding the use of the questionnaire for different public health and clinical purposes.