Bull. Fac. Educ., Nagasaki Univ., Educ. Sci. No.33, 15‑‑37 (1986)
A Study of Play in Preschool children
‑Preliminary Note‑
Tomoko SHINNO*
(Recieved October, 31. 1985)
Purpose
The importance of ecological research in studying developmental psychology has already been emphasized by Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979) and Azuma, H. (1982) .
K. Connolly and P. K. Smith. (1972) cited the four problems in studying play in young children up to that time ; 1) the numberof observational groups, 2) the difference between the experimental situation and daily life, 3) the problem of categorizing attack behaviour, 4) the validity of 2 main variables, social density and the densitiy of space, classified by McGrew (1972).
With regard to these problems, the ecological research method is one of the msot adequate. In this method we try to understand the relationship between the style of behaviour and the ecological situation in daily iife by describing the interaction of each person under as natural as possible a daily life condition.
Connolly and Smith studied the behaviour of preschool children, especially their attack behaviour and social behaviour by considering the amount of space and the amount of play equipment.
The present study will investigate how the play of 4 year old children is influenced by the amount of space and the amount of play equipment.
Method
1 ) Subjects
Subjects studied were 48 children of the middle age group of the kindergarten attached to the Faculty of Education at Nagasaki University (average age 5 years and 2
* This ecological reserch was performed in the kindergarden attached to the Faculty of Education of Nagasaki University. I would like to express my thanks to the teachers and children of this school. Also I would like to express many thanks to Miss Sachiko Aoyama, Hiroko Hara and Mami Yoshida who were the seminar students who assisted the author in this research and to Miss Helena Gomm, a foreign lecturer at Nagasaki Foreign Language College, for her help in translating this paper into English.
t Dep. Educ. PsychoL,Fac. Educ., . '
16 Tomoko SHINNO
months, SD 3. 03) . The children were separated into 2 groups (A group and B group) with the average age in each group the same. Each group consisted of 24 children (12 boys and 12 girls)‑ The average percentage of attendance of A group was 92%, and that of B group 90%.
71he term of observation : It was from 9th of November to 17th of December 1984.
The Place of observation : The play room of the kindergarten.
2 ) P)rocedures :
The amount of space and the amount of play equipment available were used as envi‑
romental variables.
‑SPace‑
The Kindergarten Accreditation Standards provides 60 m? as the minimum standard size of a class room for the establishment of a kindergarten. In addition, according to ttEducational Statistics" , the number of children in a class in both public and private kindergartens in Japan is usually 36‑40 children. So, we decided that each child had 1.5 nf of space. Using a 144 ml room, we created 3 sizes of playing area. The smallest of those was 36 nf (space 1),the next 72 nf (space 2),and the largest (space 3),the whole room, 144 MF.
White‑boards and green fabric of 90bcm width were used to divide the room into three different sizes.
‑7"72e Amount of Pldy Equipment‑
23 kinds of toys were selected from those which children always played with in the kindergarten. The contents of the basic set are outlined below. We decided to regard the whole of this set as one toy, twice the set as two‑toys, and three times this set as three toys.
basic set: 2 tables (90 cm × 45cm, height 50cm) toys for table play; 6 sheets of white drawing paper and a board. 12 sheets of coloured paper tor paper folding. 3 magic pens. a jigsaw puzzle. 2 200g lumps of clay and 2 sheets of board to use with the clay. a climbing‑frame.
a toy box with a lid a Wendy house
a set of toy household utensils.
pram
tricycle 5 picture books a doll
a doll's house a bed a teddy bear a toy telephone
musical instruments (2 bells, 2 pairs of castanets and a pair of cymbals) fabric
A Study of PIay in Preschool Children 17
a set of connected plastic rings.
‑Environmental conditions‑
The different co‑mbinations of space and toys gave nine environmental conditions.In order to avoid systematic bias we started our observation with the 2 toy ‑‑ 2 space condition.
The other eight conditions were presented randomly.Finally, the 2 toy‑2 space condition was used again.
3 ) Method of Observation :
We randomly selected 6 boys and 6 girls from among the 24 children in each group as subjects for the focus of our observation. Three observers shared these 12 boys and girls over an observational term and recorded the children's behaviour moving around the room in order to be able to get detailed information about the children. In addition to these three
observers, the behaviour of the children was recorded by 4 video cameras. . A time sampling method was employed to record the children's behaviour. One obser‑
vation session continued for twenty minutes. The session consisted of the observation of an individual child and of the whole group. Individual observation was performed on each of the selected children twice in each observational session, for 40 seconds at a time.The observation of the group was performed 3 minutes after the beginning of the session.
The observational order was A group‑>B group‑>B group‑>A group, starting from A group.
A scanning method was employed in order to clarify the position of the children within the space and records were made 4 times every five minutes. We did not add the position of the child again where he or she stayed in the same place.
Results
The results consist of the following 3 items.
1. Concerning the two main variables; the amount of space and the amount of play equip‑
ment.
a) The amount of space; This was approached from the point of view of the relationship between the choice of activity and the amount of space.
b) The amount of play equipment:This was approached from the point of view of the relationship between the choice of playmates and the amount of play equipment as well as the amount of space.
Describing the amount of space and the amount of play equipment, we divided the behaviour of the children into 77 behavioural units or 24 behavioural units (those among the above the 77 units that occurred most frequently).
2. 71he Position within the space : The positions of the children within the space were plotted according to 9 conditions. The plotting of positions was ‑done by using the scanning method every 5 minutes. The diagrams obtained are shown in Fig. 1‑ Fig. 18. The positions of the children were plotted on diagrams in which the fixed positions of the Wendy House, slide,
18 Tomoko SHINNO
table and book rack were matched using the legend t'W" , t{S" , "T" and "B". These fixtures remained in the same position throughout this observation period. The figures were reduced to one two hundredths of the sizes of the playing area and were illustrated.
In A group, the children gathered around the toys mentioned above, but they did not avoid the empty areas of the space. In B group, the children were more inclined to gather around the toys than occupy the empty spaces.
The narrower the space became, the smaller the distance between the children was likely to be, in both groups.
Looking at the dispersion of the dots in these figures, the dots were dispersed over the whole area under the conditon of three‑space‑one‑toy. This suggests that the children used the whole area of the space effectively, regardless of the amount of play equipment.
3. Sex Dikrence
At first sex differences in each category were noted. Then the interaction of sex and space, sex and the amount of play equipment, and sex and space and the amount of play equipment were noted.
Table 1 Number
at 5 per of space×equipment
cent level lnteractlons significant
A group B group
+
Space×play
equlpment.mteractlon
Expected bychance
(approx.)
Spacexplay.equlpment
interaction
Expected bychance
(approx.) Choice of companion
(11 categories) Choice of activities (19 categories) Behaviour units (24 categories) Behaviour units (77 categories)
3(3,O) 8(5,3) 4(2,2) 21(11,10)
1
2 2 8
2(1,1) 6(4,2) 4(3,1) 10(4,6)
1
2 2 8
1. Results concerning the amount of space and the amount of play equipment Table 1 shows the results in both groups of analysis of varinance in choice of companions, choice of activities, behaviour units (24 categories) and behaviour units (77 categories) . Table 2 shows the sum of the number of categories from analysis of variance compared with the number of results expected by chance. As the numbers of significant interaction are over the chance level, there is a relationship between the amount of space and the amount of play equipment in all four categories; the choice of companion. choice of activities, behaviour units (24 categories) and behaviour units (77 categories) , are shown in Table 2.
A Study of Play in Preschool Children 19
Table 2 Number of main significant effects at 5 per cent level
Sex Amount of Amount of Expected by space play eqtupment chance(approx.)
Choice of companion (11 categories) Choice of activities (19 categories) Behaviour unites) (24 categories) Behaviour units (77 categories)
5 (3,2) 19 (11,18) 19
(9,11) 47 (20,27)
1
(1,O)
7
(5,2)
6
(1,5) 17 (6,11)
5 (2,3) 7
(4,3) 9
(6,3) 33 (18,15)
1
2
2
8
Resuts showing the effects of the amount of space and the amount of play equipment are presented separately in the tables in the present study. The sum of categories under three different conditions are calculated. The categories in choice of companion are shown in Table 3, choice of activities in Table 4, behaviour units (24 categories) in Table 5, behaviour units (77 categories) in Table 6.In these tables, significance at a 5 per cent level or lower was revealed by analysis of variance. It is suggested that the categories which show significant variance at a 5 per cent level or lower in both A and B groups give reliable results. If there is significant variance at a 5 per cent level in one group and at a 10 per cent level in the other group, it gives us interesting results. If significant variance occurs at a 10 per cent level in both groups, the categories give results of tendency only.
2. Results concerning Space
(1) The amount of space and the choice of companion.
The choice of companion under different conditions of amount of space and play equipment are shown in Table 3. Table 3 shows the number of categories which reveal main effects significant at a 5 per cent level. Only the ttalone" category revealed significant difference, but the number was not over the chance level. So, reliable results in the combination of choice of companion and the amount of space could not be obtained.
However,the same tendencies in both groups were revealed in the combination of the sub‑
categories of mean subgroup size and same sex choice. This shows a tendency for the average size of a subgroup to decrease in proportion to the decreasing size of the space, and the choice of companions of the same sex also decreased the narrower the amount of space.
(2> The amount of space and the choice of play.
Table 4 shows the results of the study of choice of play under varying conditions of amount of space and play equipment.
20 Tomoko SHINNO
Table 3 Companions : the amount of under different
results, and space and conditions
significant
the amount
Space
levels, comparing with of play equipment
condition
1 2 3
A group B group A group B group A group B group 1. Alone
2. Small para11el 3. Large parallel 4. Same sex pair 5. 0pposite sex pair 6. Subgroup of three 7. Subgroup of four or more 8. Parallel play 9. Group play 10. Mean‑subgroup size 11. Same sex choice
32 2 74 10 2 11 46 76 71 2.73 70
44
5
36 22 l6 30 47 41 124 2.
57.
94 37
51 6 71 13 2 14 20 77 50 2.
70.
86 14
42 22 34 38 12 30 48 56 132
2.95
60.19
29*X*
12 80E***
10 2
11EX*
53E*
82E***
76 3.5
71.25
29X*EXt*}
13c*}
31EC*}
38X(*'
o 42EX***
66
44EC*) 136 3 45 64.9 Equipment condition
A group B group A group B group A group B group 1. Alone
2. Small parallel 3. Large parallel 4. Same sex pair 5. 0pposlte sex palr 6. Subgroup of three 7. Subgroup of four or rnore s. paraljel play 9. Group play 10. Mean‑subgroup size 11. Same sex choice E : Interaction with X : Interaction with sex
(*)P<O.1 *P<O,05
amount play ** P<O.Ol
20 1 75 11 4 15 55 76 86 3.03 67.65 of
21
4
56 24
8 18 92 60 141 3.78 54.98 equlpment *** P<o
38 3 82 12 2
10 40 95 65 3.
68.
s .O05
13 75 Interaction
35 11 29 42 8 27 45 40 136 2.9 70.06 with
8.
arnount
Parallel
57***X**
6 68S***
10 o 11*SX*
20S' 74S***
46 2.93 75 of
play
55***SX*
25*
16"X**S*
32
12 57*SX***
24***
55S*
125 2.66 57.43 space
Table 2 shows some significant effects in the amount of space ; in A group, there are 5 categories which show significant effects, i.e.ttdoll","toy chest", t!telephone",'tmusical instruments" , "ttalking" ; in B group, there are two categories which show significant effects, i. e. t{pram" , t'rough and tumble play" . As these 7 categories from A and B groups were over chance level,the results were analysed further. But there were no significant differences shown in the same categories in both groups. Tendencies were shown in both groups. but only in 2 categories tttoy chest"andtttelephone" . This means that the narrower the amount of space becomes. the more the toy chest and telephone are apt to be used.
Regarding the Wendy house, the amount of space available did not significantly affect the frequency of its use, but there was significant interaction with the amount of play equipment ; the wider the space and the greater the amount of toy equipment available, the more frequent‑
ly the Wendy house was used.
(3) The amount of space and the 24 behaviour units.
Table 5 shows the occurr ences of different types of behaviour under different conditions of amount of space and play equipment. Table 5 also shows the numbers of categories which
A Study of Play in Preschool Children 21
reveal significant effects.
Table 4 Activities:total occurrences, and significant levels, comparing with the amount of space and the amount of play equipment under different conditions
S pace condition Play equipment condluon
1 2 3 1 2 3
(group) A groupB groupA group B A B A B A B A B
1
2.
3 4.
5
6 7.
8 9.
10.
11 12 13.
14.
15 16 17 18 19.
Table play Wendy house Doll Plastic tea set Slide Toy chest Tncycle Books Wooden blocks Telephone Musical lnstruments
Pram Rough‑and‑
tumble play Miscellaneous play
Fantasty play Unusual use of appalatus Room fitments Talkrng No actimty
52 25 10 15 15 10 13 1
22 7 o i2 3 3 o 3 o 12 8
27 36 20 23 23 9 15 2 12 9 13 14 4 8 4 o o 2 8
49 26 18 11 18 9 13 2 20 11 l3 7 o 8 2 o 4 9
11 29 39 17 11 20 3 l4 1 19 4 6 8 9 10
9 o o 9 7
49
26E*EX,i*
19"'X"
Tl...EX"' 17E'EX,
14
O*X,EXi*1
16 1
12 o*#w**
3*EX**
8 3 7 1 1
13 7*E*
8
33
39Xi**E,, 8E',,EX*
2gt*) 16X*
o 15 2 7 2 o
19*'X*#
6'E'..XEX.i.
4Et*,
14
o
o 6 7
45 13 16 13 18 13 12 o 22 7 3 16 2 8 2 o 9 14 12
29 30 15 19 23 6 12 1 19 6 IO 12 8 5 24 o 3 6 7
55 23 17 9 15 6 12 o 14 3 3 5 4 4 1 o 4
10
7
31 46 15 22 20 6 13 3 7 9 6
11 10
9
10
o o
10
9 50
41***
s* sx'**
l )'' sx", 21S.SXi
14 o"･' Sx.
18 4 18
8X'S**
10SX.*
6'xc*}
o 6 o 4 4
4*X*S*
8 29
38'X' s..
2U'X"S"' sx.
27
o
19
1
12(*)
o o
18*
]...x..' s...sx...
8S*
3 o o 1 6
Significant effects in both groups were in 6 behaviour units ; <Ctalking between children"
in A group and ttcontact apparatus" , ttwalk" , ttclimb / slide" , ttrun" , <tface contact" in B group, This number was over chance level, so statistical analysis was continued. But there was no significant difference between the same behaviour units in different groups. Only one behaviour unit, ttrun" showed a tendency. This unit showed a tendency at a 10 per cent level in the A group, and showed a tendency at a5 per cent level in the B group. The narrower the amount of space, the lower the incidence of ttobject exchange" .
The t'look around" and t!look in the distance" behaviour units did not show a significant difference with changing amounts of space in either group, but there was significant inter‑
action with the amount of play equipment.When the amount of space became narrower and the amount of play equipment smaller, the 2 behaviour units, t"look around" and ttlook distance"
showed a tendency to decrease.
(4) The amount of space and the 77 behaviour units.
Table 6 shows the occurrence of behaviour units under different conditions of space and amount of play equipment. Table 6 also show the number of the categories which reveal significant effects. There were 6 behaviour units in A group and 11 behaviour units in B group
22
Table 5 Behaviour units comparing with under different
Tomoko SHINNO
: total occurrences, and significant levels, the amount of space and play equipment conditions
Space condition Play equipment condition
1 2 3 1 2 3
(group) A B A B A B A B A B A B
L
2,
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
Upper smile Open smile Play noise Talking between children
Look around/
distance Watch Visual contact
child Contact apparatus
Physical contact between chilbren
Walk Run Climb/slide Chase/free/
group run ObJect exchange Push/pull Kicklthrowlhit Pedal/propel Fine manipulation Gross manipulation Physical aggresslon Antagomstic behaviour Suck Face contact Auto‑manipulation
75 20 44
376
78 53
252
101 198
59 11 31
1
28
3
10 17
6
18
7
48 9 29 124
75 13 39
327
78 33
393
124 145 44
8
53 o 17
2
12 10
3 5 2
6 26 14 28
97 25 25 417
80 57 261
109 156 75 27 34
3
33 1 20 10 1 18 5
39 14 12 85
94 35 42 334
87 57
366 128
l71 47 37 92
1
19 1 20 13 5
9 4
20 12 30 37
59 66 98
29EX* 23C*}EC*) 28
36 48 38
324*EX(*' 266 432
99E*** 80E* 78
43 30(*} 77
245EXC*) 325 342 108E{*) 88** 93 177 154E* 273 52E* 46* 78
26* 28***X'*} 26 61C*)Xi*)EX* 34* 39
O OEX* 3 33 19 35
D02
9{*) 13X* 17
11 13 9
11 8EX* 3 10 10 17
13 1 9
22 8XC*] 48
12 2** 15
19 EX" 24 19
87 31 95
74 12 41
337
79
57
371 106
194
59 24 59
o
16
o
18
8 3
1 1
13 13 25 33
68 11 38
336
89
43
207
111 137
55 22 37
1
22
1
13 12 13 16 11
30 12 27 98
56 66 105**SX(*}
33 25*SX* 26{*)
39 29 49
282 349*SX{*) 308
78 90X*S*** 88S*
37 33** 26*
344 209***SX* 369 109 114XC*St*]125X***
134 121***X***146*X*S*
30 53S* 48{*)
19 17 30
49 50X*SX* 71 o o**x** Isx!e
24 37 15
112
12 9 15 9 17 193 2(*] 9C*)X**SX*
12 13 11t.)
6 5 O(*) 10 31 11
16 8 12
14 14SX** 29X{*)
24 103 39
AStudy of Play in Preschool Children 23
which revealed significant differences with the changing amount of space. These 17 behav‑
iour units were over chance level, but there were no significant differences in the same behaviour unit in both groups. Tendencies in the same behaviour unit in both groups were shown in 2 behaviour units; {tglance at child" and trlook at observer". The narrower the amount of space, the more these behaviour units increased.
The behaviour unit <̀jump / hop" did not seem to be significantly affected by the amount of space, but this category showed significant interaction with the changing amount of play equipment. The behaviour unit ttjump / hop" occurred frequently when the space was wide and the amount of play equipment small.
Table 6 Behaviour units : total occurrences, and significant levels, comparing with the amount of space and play equipment under different conditions
Space condition Play equipment condition
1 2 3 1 2 3
(group) A B A B A B A B A B A B
1.
2.
3.
4.
5 6.
7 s.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13 14.
15.
16.
17.
I8.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
Simple smile Upper smile Open smile Pucker Crylscream Chuckle Squeal Play noise Talking alone
Talking pararllel Talkmg to child Talking from child Look around Look distance Watch child Glance at child GIance at observer Look at child Look at observer Stare at child Stare at observer Contact apparatus
Hold hands with child Physicdl contact from child Physical contact from child Stand Slt Kneel Crouch Lie
Walk
38 75 20 19 43
8 o
44 42 13 229 148 68 10 53 147 39 83 13 130
8
101
4
110 84 110 84 16 35 10 59
4 75 13
5
22
2 1
39 25 14 196 131 71
7
33 156 45 120 16 ll7
8
124
4
94
47 85 101 39 19
7
44 53 97 25 11 36
5 5
25 31 15 244 173 71
9
57 138 37 98
9
126 12 109
4
99 53 ll4 95 28 35
6
75 41 94 35
8
52
o o
42 20
8
200 133 77 10 57 145 26 99
8
122
4
128
9
108
54 113 99 35 16 18 47
24 31 41
59 66C*)EC*) 98 29EX* 23*X* 28
10 9 19
64 62*E**EX* 46
328 035
36 48 38
33E*** 25 28 10 9E* 18
193{*)EX(*} 153 254 131(*) 113X{*}EC*) 178
92*E#' 75E{*) 68
7 5E* 10
43 30C*) 77 138 142 152 34 31C*} 34 87 75* 125
6 7 15124EXC*) 108EXi 183
sX(*)E*" 4 8
108E{*) 88** 93 10 2EC*} 11
97 s8E(*)EX' 153
70 70E* 108 107 99X'"* 132
78E*E)Ce* 78"E)C'* 83
14* 16 14 27X(*, 29 41 3E* 19{*} 9 52E* 46* 78
43 74 12 10 51
1 3
41 16 15 190 147 68 11 57 141 27 111 14 131
4
106
4
133
65 98 88 31 22 15 59
39 68 11
8
51
1 o
38 44
9
211 125 79 10 43 158 35 76
8
96 12 111
6
77 54 102 81 29 30
3
55 37 56 33
7
40
o 1
39 26 16 177 105 72
6
37 130 23 103
8
109
8
109
8
79 47 103 77 28 22 15 30
35 35
66 105i*S(*) 25*SX' 26(*}
13XC*) 4 50 42S**SX*
7' 3X'**
o or**x***
29 49
42XS**. 28 11* 6XC*)S*
204* 183
148* 125'S(*) 84Xt*,Si'* 83S(*)
6 5S*
33" 26'
113(*} 170
41 52'*
67#*XC*) 72*
5(*XC*) 9
101***SX(*,107SX' 5***X*'*S**' 4 114X'S* 125X*,i
1 3S"
75*# X* ** 78***XC*)s C*)s x*
45"'X' 59S'
97 96
93S'X*'119***ytSX'**
15* 31**
26X̀*) 20***
1*S* 14***
53t*IS* 48(*)
24
Table 6 (cont)L
Tomoko SHINNO
Space condition
1 2 3
(group) A B A B A B A
32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58
59 60
61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77
Shuffle Run Jump lhop Skip Climb Slide Crawl
VLeestleltumble Chaselfree group run Play best Point Show ob]ect Hold out object Give object Receive object Pick up ob]ect Put doun object Hold object . Carry obJect Push obJect Pull object Kick obJect Throw object Hit object Pedal Propel Fine manipulation Gross manipulation Physical aggresslon Dominate Dispute object Fail take object
Submlt Suck Tonguellips Rub eyes Nose contact Ear contact Hand to face Brush hair Scratch Genital contact Hand fumble
. Mouth fumble Clothes fumble
Hitch
o
11 11
8
21 10
4 3 1 2
17
5 4
14
5 9 7
117 12
2 1 1 1 8 9 8 6
18
7
24
8 6 3 9
36
2
19
3 5
1 18 1
1 6
32
2 1 8
13
1
25 28 17
7 o 2
26
1 3 3
10
9 1
l21
o 1
1 1
3 8 5
5 3
5
2 2 2 1 5 26 20 1 16 o o 1 10 o 3 6 21 o
o
27 21
4
22 12
9 7 3 1
13
3 7
10 13 18
7
111
9 o
1
o
13 12
6 4
1 18
5 14 12 5 3 14 31 2 6 2 3 o 3 1 5 5 26 o
o
37 22
4
51 41
8 7 1 1
17
2 o 8 9 9 7
124
7 1 o 3
11
6 6
7 5
9
4 12 2 o 2 12 20 3 21 2 4 o 7 o 1 2 24 4
ooo
26{*' 28"'X*l 26 18{*}E' EX 12E"*EX*'* 21
11. 4X"* 7 38EX(*} 19** 27 23XiE*EX, 15 12
4 14 6
8 10EX{*) 16
O03
1 28E*
4 9E.
9 10 12 12 92X*
9 QE***
crX*
o
4(*}
6 7 4 11 10 13 6"X*
4 o i 12 29 1 12EX*
2 4 o
10*
1 o 7
19
2
CEC*}EX[*)
o 11 8X{*) 1 5 6 12 9E*
92EX, 2(*}
o o o 7 6
gEX!*}
4*
sEX*
10 1 5X*
1 IE*
2*
32C*)E*
2 18E*
o o 2 7 o 6EX' 3 28E'*
2 o
21
1
12 11 11 16
6
100 10 1 1 o 7 15 5 4 3
17
9 18 14 1 4 15 20 o 16 o 2 1 9 1 6 10 29 1
Play edniprnent conchtlon
1 2 3
B A B A B
o
24 26
4
35 24 29 11
o 1
20
2 1 7 6
12
7
118
5 o o
1 10
7 4 4 3
1 1
9 o
o 3 13 14 6 15 1 2 2 7 o 3 3 24 2
o
22 17
6
25 12
5 1 1 2
24
1 4
10
7
12
9
107
8 1 o o 9 5 7 5
13
16
11 11 5 o 1 12 35 5 13 4 6 o 9 1 o 4 21 1
o
19
6 4
22 27
5 8 o 1
12
7 2 4
11
8 2
103
2 1 o
1
5 6 6 3 3
12 6 5 2 1 1 16 23 o 13 o 3 1 7 o 5 4 29 2
Ol
17 30
12C*K*S*SX l5S",SXii
9 IX***
29SXC*) 38 glX,k. 33 6 5"*X*' 1"X', sSXC*}
Ol 21
13S* 22 10* IX*
4S* 1
12"'Xi 5
108
11 le 11 8X*
113X* 115SXt*) 12X'*' 2X***
O*S*" 1 1*X# 1
12 26
6 7*X*
10 loSXC*)
79
2(*) 9*X**SX'
13 11' 5 O{*)
155
5 2S(*)SXC*}
ox** o
2 4Si
812
31(*}X* 35#'S#
O* oc*}
8SX* 27X*S'
31 41 oo
13 ･ 10
10
O 2SXt*}
44
27 20S*
2'2
A Study of Play in Preschool Children 25
4. The amount of play equipment
Table 3 shows the choice of companion under different conditions of amount of space and play equipment. Table 3 show the numbers of categories which reveal significant differences.
There are 5 categories showing significant differences ; ttalone" and ttsubgroup of three" in A group,and ttalone" ,small parallel subgroup" and ttsubgroup of four or more in B group. As this number, 5, was over the chance level, the analysis was continued, The category ttalone" showed significant differences in both groups. The smaller the amount of play equipment, the more the children shared it. Comparing this ttalone" category with the amount of play equipment, there were significant differences among the one‑toy, two‑toy and three‑toy conditions in both groups.
These facts mean that the tralone" category increased under the influence of the amount of play equiment.
There were tendencies in both groups ; t'small parallel subgroup" , "tsubgroup of four or more" , ttmean subgroup size" . The "tsmall parallel subgroup" category decreased with the decreasing amount of play equipment. The ̀fsubgroup of four or more" categroy increased with the decrease in the amount of play equipment. From these facts we observe that the children were apt to play with over four children when the amount of play equipment decreased. The children who played alone or with another child under the three‑toy condition changed to playing with more than four children under the one‑toy condition.
(2) The amount of play equipment and the choice of play
Table 4 shows the choice of play by the children under different conditions of amount of space and play equipment. Table 4 shows the numbers of categories which showed significant effects‑ "wendy house" , tttoy‑chest" , ttpram" and tttalking" in A group ; Ctdoll" , "pram" and
ttrough‑ s and‑tumble play" in B group. The differences in these 7 categories of play are over the chance level, so the analysis was continued. The category <tpram" showed significant differences in both groups. The smaller the amount of play equipment, the more the children in A group tended to play with the pram. This suggests that this was not a reliable result.
t{Wendy house" was the suggestive category in both groups. because of the decrease of its use with the reduction of the amount of play equipment (O.5% level in A group. O.1% level in B group) . "tTricycle" was the category showing tendency in both groups. The use of Cttricycle"
and ttwendy house" decreased when equipment was reduced. These facts suggest that both are popular items among the play equipment.
(3) The amount of play equipment and the 24 behaviour units.
Table 5 shows the occurrence of types of behaviour under different conditions of space and play equipment. Table 5 show the number of categories which showed significant effects.
There were 6 units among the 24 behaviour units in the changing amount of play equipment which showed significant effects in A group i. e. ttopen‑smile" , Cttalking between children" ,
ttwatch" , "tvisual‑contact child" , ttphysical contact between children" , and ttchase / fiee /
26 Tomoko SHINNO
group run".There were 3 units in B group, i.e. ttupper smile",ttwatch",<tphysical contact between children" . Summing up these behaviour units which showed significant effects. there were 9 units over chance level. We continued the analysis. The "twatch" and t!physical contact between children" showed significant effects in both groups. These two types of behaviour occurred less frequently with the decrease in the amount of play equipment. There were significant differences in the behaviour unit ttwatch" between the one‑toy and two‑toy, one‑toy and three toy conditions in A group and between the one‑toy and two‑toy. one‑toy and three‑
toy. and two‑toy and three‑toy in B group. Regarding Ctphysical contact between children"
there were significant differences between the one‑toy and two toy. and one‑toy and three‑toy conditions in A group. This suggests that <rphysical contact between children" was influenced by the amount of play equipment. In other words. children shared the play equipment when there was a shortage of it, so this resulted in an increase in the occurrence of this behaviour.
As children did not need to share the play equipment when there was plenty of it (two toy, three toy) , this category of behaviour occurred less frequently.
The behaviour categories (ttalking between children" , ttphysical aggression" , t"contact apparatus" , ttpedal / propel" showed tendencies in both A and B groups. The smaller the amount of play equipment. the more tttalking between children" and ttphysical aggression increased, but"contact apparatus"and ttpedal / propel" showed tendencies to decrease.
(4) The amount of play equipment and 77 behaviour units.
Table 5 shows the occurrence of different types of behaviour under different conditions.
Table 1 shows the number of categories which show significant effects. There were significant effects when the amount of play equipment changed in 18 behaviour units in A group, and 13 behaviour units in B group among 77 behaviour units ; {{open smile" , C{chuckle" , tttalking parallel",tttalking to child",tttalking from child",ttwatch child","tlook at child","tstare at child","stare at observer","physical contact to child","tphysical contact from child",
(tkneel" , t'lie" , t'wrestle tumble" , ̀tshow object" , ttgive object" , "tpush object" and rub eyes in
A group;<tupper smile","squeal","talking from child",t"watch child","glance at
observer",ttlook at child",̀'physical contact to child","sit","'lie",ttcrawl",Cthit object" and
tttongue / lips" in B group. Summing up, there were 31 categories which showed significant differences in both groups ; this number was over chance level. So the statistical analysis was continued. The categories of tttalking from child" ,ttlook at child" and {(physical contact to child {tshowed significant differences in both A and B groups, These three behoviour units increased in frequency with the reduction of the amount of play equipment. The statistical analyses were continued concerning the amount of play equipment. There were significant differences between the one‑toy and three‑toy conditions in both A and B groups. The occurrence of the behaviour unit Cttalking from children" decreased when one toy was in‑
creased to two toy. but it increased when two‑toy was increased to three‑toy. There was no constant tendency shown in this behaviour unit. The behaviour unit ttlook at child" showed significant differences between the one‑toy and two‑toy, one‑toy and three toy condition in A
