Journal article 90 views
Understanding children’s free play athome, in school and at the After SchoolClub: A preliminary investigation intoplay types, social grouping and perceivedcontrol
Peter King 
,
Justine Howard
,
Justine Howard
The Psychology of Education Review, Volume: 34, Issue: 1, Pages: 32 - 41
Swansea University Authors:
Peter King , Justine Howard
Abstract
There is a growing adult perception that children have less time and control over their free play. Constraintssuch as increasing traffic, fear of safety and litigation and more children in childcare environments mayreduce the amount of control children have on how, where and who they can play with i...
| Published in: | The Psychology of Education Review |
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| Published: |
The British Psychological Society
2010
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70657 |
| Abstract: |
There is a growing adult perception that children have less time and control over their free play. Constraintssuch as increasing traffic, fear of safety and litigation and more children in childcare environments mayreduce the amount of control children have on how, where and who they can play with in their free time.This paper describes small-scale exploratory investigating children’s perceived levels of control over their playand the nature of their play activity across three different contexts; the home, the school playground and theAfter School Club. Using a self-administered questionnaire, 12 children (six male and six female agedbetween 6 and 11 years) recorded their play activities, who they played with and how much control they hadover their free play at home, in the school playground and in their After School Club. Preliminary resultsindicate that children’s control over their free play varies in relation to gender and the number of childrenor if an adult is also involved in the play activity. Overall, children had less control when playing in theschool playground compared to playing at home and in the After School Club. In addition, there aredifferences in the frequency of play types most commonly noted. |
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| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Issue: |
1 |
| Start Page: |
32 |
| End Page: |
41 |