Children's thoughts about play. A study of how children conceptualize play in preeschool

Sammanfattning: The present study deals with free play in preeschool. The purpose is to investigate the way children conceptualize play, and the significance of play in preeschool activities. The latter has been illuminated through an analysis of normative documents, and vatious methods have been worked out that show how the possibilities of play can be made use in preschool. Group interviews with children between the ages of 5 and 7, in combination with observations, have then conducted at two divisions of a preschool. The material was then interpreted using the theory of cultural history as developed by Vygotskij, Leontjev and Elkonin. Taking into account the choice of method, the theoretical point of departure and the way the material was processed, the investigation may be regarded as qualitative. The present study demonstrates that play has been, and remains, an important ideological concept for identifying and demarcating preschool activities. Nevertheless, play does not enjoy a prominent role in preschool; instead, guided activities controlled by adults are given priority. At the same time, the study shows that play constitutes an important and self-evident part of a cild's life and is a source of joie de vivre. At play, the child expresses what is important in its life and creates models of what it would like to be as a personality. Play exhibits a competent child, one who acts consciously and functionally on the basis of its desires and needs and who reflects on its own and other children's actions while at play. Play has an immediate value for the child, but also contributes to its future developement.