Free-Play Behaviors in Preschool and Kindergarten Children Author(s): Kenneth H. Rubin, Kathryn S. Watson, Thomas W.

Jambor Source: Child Development, Vol. 49, No. 2 (Jun., 1978), pp. 534-536 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the Society for Research in Child Development Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1128725 Accessed: 01/12/2008 10:30
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Free-Play Behaviors in Preschool and Kindergarten Children

Kenneth H. Rubin and Kathryn S. Watson
University of Waterloo

Thomas W. Jambor
Universityof Alabamaat Birmingham
RUBIN, KENNETH

in the socialand cognitiveplay of children.It was revealed study concerned age differences that kindergarten childrendisplayed less unoccupied, and functional onlooker, solitary, activity and more group and4ramatic Examination of the combinedPartenplay than preschoolers. to engage in significantly more solitary-functional Smilansky Play Scale revealedpreschoolers and parallel-functional and group play and in less parallel-constructive, parallel-dramatic, dramatic play than theirkindergarten counterparts. was to examine comparatively the free-play Recently Rubin (e.g., Rubin, Maioni, & behaviorsof both preschool-and kindergartenHornung 1976) has examined the free-play behaviorsof preschoolersby utilizing an obseraged children. vational format which nests the cognitive play The preschoolersparticipatingin the prescategories of Smilansky (1968) within the social play categories of Parten (1932). Smilan- ent investigationincluded all 15 males (mean age = 51.93 months) and 12 females (mean sky's four sequential play categorieshave been = 53 months) who attended a half-day age labeled functional (simple, repetitive muscle on the campus of a small teacher's program movements with or without objects), construccollege in New York State (age range = 45tive (creating something), and dramatic (sub59 months). The kindergarten sample constitution of imaginarysituationsto satisfy one's sisted of all 14 males (mean age = 62.30 wishes or needs) play and games with rules, months) and 14 females (mean age = 64.70 respectively. Parten'ssix sequential social play months) attending a half-day public school categories included unoccupied behavior central Ontario (age range = 58in program of (watching anything passing interest; walk69 The pupil-teacher ratio in both months). ing around room; playing with body), solitary schools was 10:1. The curriculum of each classplay (playing alone with materials different room would be considered"traditional" (Sears from childrenwithin speakingdistance;no conversation with others), onlooker behavior & Dowley 1963) in nature. All play behavior was observed in the one large classroomavail(watching others; perhaps talking to others able to each group of children. The children but with no entry into the play situation), were predominantly from lower-middle-class parallel play (playing independentlywith toys homes. similar to those being used by others in close The procedure was essentially identical proximity; no attempt to play with others), associative play (playing with other children; with that followed by Rubin et al. (1976). no role assignmentor organizationof Each child was observed during free play for activity), and cooperativeplay (playing in an 1 min on 30 consecutiveschool days. The order organized of observation was randomized daily. During group). each minute, the observer recorded the numInvestigations which have adopted the ber of seconds (to the nearest 5 sec) in which strategy of nesting cognitive play within social the child engaged in particularforms of play. play categories have been limited to children The durationof each child'scognitiveplay withof preschoolage. Thus, the intent of this in each social play category (e.g., solitary-funcstudy Requestsfor reprintsshouldbe sent to KennethH. Rubin,Department of Psychology, of Waterloo, University Ontario N2L 3G1. Waterloo,
[ChildDevelopment, 1978,49, 534-536. @ 1978 by the Society for Researchin Child Development, Inc. 751 0009-3920/78/4902-00391;00.

H.; WATSON, KATHRYN S.; and JAMBOR, THOMAS W. Free-Play Behaviors in Preschool and KindergartenChildren. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1978, 49, 534-536. The present

Rubin, Watson, and Jambor

tional) was noted. Following each time sample, the observerrecorded exactly what it was the child was doing and with whom (e.g., subject at table independently building block towersitting beside Amy and Leslie who are using play dough). The only deviation from Rubin et al. (1976) concerned the associative and cooperative play categories. Upon reviewing the behavioral data, we found that particular activities were being consistently coded as in preschoolersbut "cooperative" "associative" in kindergartners. As a result, these two categories were collapsed to form a single "group play" category. In addition, unoccupied and onlookerbehaviorswere scored. Interjudge reliability was calculated in two ways. First, priorto formaldata collection, two observers simultaneously gathered 20 1-min time samples of play for each of the preschool and kindergarten groups. Percentages of agreement (where an agreement was defined as identical codings of behavior with durationsnot exceeding a 5-sec difference between observers) of 92.5 and 87.5 were found for the preschool and kindergartensample, respectively. Second, 20 1-minsamplesfromeach

535

of the preschool and kindergartenwritten recordings of behavior were randomly selected. The senior author then assigned these written descriptions (made by the two junior authors) to social-cognitiveplay categories. Percentages of agreementwere 95 for the preschool sample and 90 for the kindergartensample. The mean numbers of seconds children engaged in all play forms are presented in table 1. A grade (2) x sex (2) x social play (3) x cognitive play (3) ANOVA was calculated. Onlooker, unoccupied, and game behaviors were not included in this analysis. These three categories either occurred alone (unoccupied and onlookerbehaviors) or across a limited range of social-cognitive play combinations (games). The importantdata to consider are the grade (G) x social play (S), G x cognitive play (C), and G x S x C interactions.A significant G x C interaction was found, F (2,204) = 12.01, p < .02. Newman-Keuls analyses (p < .05) revealed preschoolers to display significantly more functional play and less dramatic play than did kindergartners.The latter finding may be a function of the elder group's more advanced conceptionsof social decentrationand recipro-

TABLE 1
MEANS AND PERCENTAGES FOR COMBINEDSOCIAL AND COGNITIVEPLAY CATEGORIES PRESCHOOL MEASURE KINDERGARTEN

RMHa

Mean

%b

Mean

% o

Solitary:

Functional....... Constructive ..... Dramatic........ Total.........

139.89 247.11 34.19 421.19

7.77 13.73 1.90 23.40 6.60 16.69

1.38
24.67 2.33 18.13 10.61 32.91 6.57 12.43

44.27 241.85 31.61 318.03 24.65 392.14

125.00
541.79 43.04 301.19 382.14

2.46 13.44 1.76 17.66 1.37 21.79

6.94
30.10 2.39 16.73 21.23 42.43 .09 8.93

4.88 7.67 2.41 14.96 12.96 15.07

1.04
29.07 10.47 17.81 10.81 38.77
17.200

Parallel: Functional........ 118.87 Constructive..... 300.48

Dramatic...... ..
Total.......... Group: Functional........ Constructive..... Dramatic........

24.81

444.16 41.99 326.37 190.89

Games...........
Total.........

33.19
592.44 118.19 223.72

1.84

37.50

2.08

.30

763.57 16.43 160.72

Unoccupied ........ Onlooker ..........

Percentagesof play for middle-classchildrentaken from Rubin et al. (1976). b Percentagescalculated by dividing mean numberof seconds per category by total seconds (1,800 sec). * Combinedunoccupiedand onlookerpercentage.

536

Child Development
ties while males engaged in dramatic play in close proximitybut not with their peers. At this point, it would be worthwhile to compare the present preschool findings with those of Rubin et al. (1976). Given the data for Rubin et al.'s middle-class sample, there was more constructive and solitary play and less functionalplay in our sample. The former two differences may be accounted for almost entirely by the greater incidence of solitaryconstructive play found herein. The present group also emitted less group play than did the previous sample. However, this difference is entirely accountedfor by the greateramount of group-functionalplay. In short, the Rubin et al. (1976) sample displayed less mature modes of play-a finding which may have resulted from the children being 6.1 months younger on the average than those observed herein.

cal relations-two propertiesthought to be prerequisite to sociodramaticinterchanges (Smilansky 1968). The lesser frequency of functional play in kindergartnersmay be illustrative of their attainmentof more complex cognitive skills. This hypothetical link between play and cognitive developmentdraws support from the Rubin and Maioni (1975) study in which the frequency of functional play was related negatively to performance on classification and role-takingtasks, while the frequency of dramatic play was related positively to performanceon these measures.

A significantG x S interactionwas also found, F (2,204) = 4.49, p < .02. NewmanKeuls analyses indicated preschoolers engage in significantly more solitary and less group In addition, a series play than kindergartners. of t tests between grades revealed preschoolers to display significantlymore unoccupied,t(53) = 4.10, p < .001, and onlooker behaviors, In conclusion, this report extended the t(53) = 2.64, p < .02, than kindergartners. It literatureconcerningthe play of young growing is noteworthythat the amount of parallel play children. The report also revealed a number was not different for the two age groups. of weaknessesin the often cited Parten (1932) Moreover, the finding of solitary-play differ- scale of child's play. For one, observers had ences may have been of some surprise given difficulty distinguishing between associative the previous Rubin et al. (1976) belief that and cooperativeplay. For another,the singular this category was not as reflective of immause of the Partenscale would not have allowed as turity once thought (Parten 1932). the discovery that the social-cognitiveplay of The G X S X C significant interaction, preschoolerswas qualitativelyless mature than that of kindergartners. These findings support F (4,204) = 3.95, p < .01, clarifies the above the use the of nested Simultaneous play scale in future consideration of both findings. studies of children'splay. scales revealed (Newman-Keulsanalyses) that preschoolers engaged in significantly more parallel-functionaland less parallel-construc- References tive and parallel-dramatic play than the older Parten,M. B. Socialparticipation amongpreschool children. Moreover, the kindergartenchildren children. Journal of Abnormaland Social Psydisplayed less solitary-functional and more chology, 1932, 27, 243-269. group-dramaticplay than preschoolers.These Rubin, K. H., & Maioni,T. L. Play preference data indicate that within each Partenplay cateand its relationship to egocentrism, popularity, gory, the preschoolers tended to emit less and classification skillsin preschoolers. Merrillmature cognitive-play behaviors while kinderPalmer Quarterly, 1975, 25, 171-179. gartners displayed more mature cognitive-play Rubin,K. H.; Maioni,T. L.; & Hornung, M. Free behaviors.' in middle-and lower-class play behaviors preschoolers:Partenand Piaget revisited.Child As for sex differences,a significantsex X Development, 1976, 47, 414-419. S x C interaction,F(4,204) = 3.49, p < .01, on teachingin followed by Newman-Keulsmultiple compari- Sears,P., & Dowley, E. Research the school. nursery In N. (Ed.), HandGage sons, revealed that females displayed more book of research on teaching. Skokie, Ill.: and less parallel-dramatic parallel-constructive RandMcNally,1963. play than males. These data supportthe earlier Smilansky, S. The effects of sociodramaticplay on findings of Rubin et al. (1976), who reported disadvantaged children: preschool children. that females displayed more sedentary activiNew York:Wiley,1968. of 1 A complete ANOVA and Newman-Keuls description resultsconcerning differences in socialand cognitive fromK. H. Rubinuponrequest. playwithineachgradeis available