A Case Study on the Children's Play Behaviors and Outdoor's Environment of Child Care Center in Seoul

실외놀이터 환경과 아동의 놀이행동에 관한 사례연구;서울지역 어린이집을 중심으로

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between outdoor play environments and child's play behaviors. The data were collected by this study include field measurement survey, and non-participatory observation from 8 child care centers in Seoul. The field measurement survey were conducted from February 20 to March 20, 2005, whereas non-participatory behavior observation were conducted from June 15 to July 10, 2005. The major results showed the following. 1)Most of child care centers were too small, did not use the adequate surfacing to play various activities, and were made of play equipment setting. 2)Child's play behavior focused on functional play activity and construction play activity. 3)The relationship between outdoor play environments and child's play behaviors showed that small outside play environment with monotonous construction of play setting produced functional play behaviors on children. However, in some cases, despite the small and monotonous play area, diverse play behaviors were observed. These playgrounds at least differed from others in that they provided the place where multi purpose play was possible. This finding shows that multi purpose play areas can be an alternative in small playground environment.