Abstract
PURPOSE This study was intended to analyze the play-form of normal preschool children as related to age, sex, educational experience and social maturity. METHOD 1. Subjects The subjects of this study were eighty seven 3-, 4- and 5-year-old preschool children attending educational institutions in Seoul. 2. Instruments The instruments used in this study consisted of twenty one-minute observations in 5 preschool settings and a questionnaire designed to measure the children's social maturity filled in by their parents. The observations provided information on the children's free play, that is 1) play-form: solitary, parallel and group play 2) use/non-use of toys 3) behavior: play, activity, doing nothing, onlooking 4) stationary/moving dimensions 5) play group size The questionnaire measured such factors as communication, socialization, locomotion, self-help and self-direction. 3. Data Analysis Data analysis consisted of percentage and Chi square. RESULTS 1. Play-Form The relationship between age and play-form proved to be significant at the .05 level. That is, in both boys and girls, solitary play decreased with age and group play increased with age while parallel play maintained a similar position. The relationship between sex and play-form proved to be significant at the .05 level in 3-& 4-year-old children, but not significant in 5-year-old children. That is, in their $3^{rd}$ year boys engage in the solitary play more than girls and in their $4^{th}$ year boys engage in more group play than girls. 2. Toys Without differentiation of sex and age, cases of using toys in play exceed those cases where toys were not used. 3. Behavior The relationship between age and behavior proved to be significant at the .05 level in both boys and girls. That is, with increase of age, play decreased and activity increased in boys while play increased and doing nothing decreased in girls. 4. Moving Status Totally, moving occurred more frequently in play than stationary status. Moving proved not to have a significant relationship with age, but it did Navel a significant relationship with sex at the .05 level. That is, moving tended to increase with the increase in age in both boys and girls, but not at a significant level. Boys moved significantly more than girls in all three age levels. 5. The Relationship between Educational Experience and Play-Form There was a tendency for children with longer preschool experience to engage in less solitary play and more group play than children who had less than one semester of preschool experience, but this difference was not statistically significant. 6. The Relationship between Social Maturity and Play-Form The high social maturity group engaged in less solitary play and more group play than the low social maturity group, but this was not a statistically significant difference. 7. Play Group Size Play group size was 2~10 children, but the majority of play groups consisted of 2~3 children. There was a tendency for play groups composed of 2 children to decrease with age and play groups composed of 3 children to increase with age. No significant difference was found between the sexes in play group size.