A Study on Preschool Child's Imaginative Play and Play Materials

유아의 상상놀이 (Imaginative Play)와 놀이감에 관한 연구

The purpose of this study was to examine preschool children's participation tendency and use of play materials in imaginative play. The subjects for the study included 22 boys and girls in nursery school. These children were observed for 110-3-minutes of play behavior during free play at nursery school, especially in block area and housekeeping area. The results obtained from the study were as follows. 1. There was a significant association between paricipation tendency in imaginative play and age or sex, Boys engaged in more social imaginative play than girls, and four-year-olds engaged in more social imaginative play than three-year-olds. 2. There was sex difference in the content of imaginative play and use of play materials. That is, boys usually chose masculine kinds of toys such as block, cars, trucks, and manipulative materials. And the boys' common fantasies were about car, robert and fighting. Girls usually chose play dough, kitchen sets, and blocks and there were maines stories of family life and cooking. 3. Children preferred to use more realistic toys in imaginative plays and there were few cases of imaginative plays with no materials.