PLAYFULNESS OF PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN IN TURKEY

Abstract

In this research, the playfulness of 4- and 5-years-old 181 children, 100 boys and 81 girls, attending a kindergarten in Turkey, was examined. The research was designed according to relational-correlational survey/research model, one of the quantitative research methods; the data were collected using Personal Information Form and Children’s Playfulness Scale (CPS) developed by Barnett (1990) and adapted to Turkish by Keleş and Yurt (2017). The playfulness levels of the children were analyzed according to gender, age, number of children in the family, duration of pre-school education, mother’s/father’s age and education level, mother's working status, and father's profession. To identify the playfulness levels of pre-school children, descriptive statistics and difference statistics were calculated for both overall and each sub-dimension according to the demographic characteristics of the children. As a result of the study, the playfulness levels of the children were found to be high and physical spontaneity was observed to be the playfulness characteristic with the highest score. Significant differences were observed in playfulness of children according to age and duration of pre-school education; whereas no significant difference was observed according to gender, mother’s/father’s age and education level, mother's working status, and father's profession.

Keywords: Playfulness, play, early childhood education, child, Turkey.

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