Investigation of Children’s Playfulness in Outdoor

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the playfulness of 60-72-month-old preschool children and to examine their playfulness in terms of the variables of the frequency of playing outside and the way they play (alone, with adults, or with peers). Furthermore, the change in the frequency of children's playing during the pandemic and the interventions of parents in their children's plays were examined. The descriptive survey method was used in the research. The sample of the study consists of 60-72 months old preschool children and their parents. A total of 132 children and their parents were reached. The General Information Form and the Children's Playfulness Scale adapted to Turkish by Keleş and Yurt (2017) were used as data collection tools. Since the data is not normally distributed, non-parametric Kruskal Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were applied. As a result of the analysis, no significant difference was found in the playfulness of the children in terms of the variables examined. On the other hand, it has been determined that the frequency of children playing outside has decreased during the pandemic, and parents are actively involved in their children's plays.