engleski

Play from the children’s perspective

This paper presents results from a research about the children’s view of play. The aim of the research was to ascertain about children’s experiences of play in relation to participants, places and time of play, and to gain insight into the characteristics of children’s understanding of play. Furthermore, the aim was also to determine similarities and differences in the perception of play in six-year-olds (current children) and university students (former children). 30 five- and six-year-old children were interviewed and 30 twenty-one-year-old students were retrospectively interviewed to gather information about what is play, what is their favourite kind of play, who were participants in their play, where did they play, and what are their experiences of play at home and in preschool. Current and “former” children have identified play primarily as a voluntary, free and fun activity “reserved” for friends and peers outside of adult pressure and constraints. Constraints mean that children’s space, time, content, participants and way of playing are predetermined. Research results confirm the importance of children’s experiences for understanding play from the children’s perspective, understanding the world of childhood and for “aligning” developmental, educational perspectives with children’s perspectives.

play; children’s play experiences; perception of play; children’s perspective

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