Examination of the relationship between prosocial and play behaviors of 60-72 months-old children continuing preschool education

This research was carried out to examine the prosocial behaviors and play behaviors of 60-70 months-old children attending pre-school education and the relationship between these behaviors. For this purpose, the research was designed by adopting the relational screening model. The sample of the study consists of 300 children aged 60-72 months, who attend official kindergartens affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in the city center of Kütahya in the 2021-2022 academic year. In the study, "Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale-Teacher Form" and "Preschool Prosocial Behavior Scale" were applied. According to the results of the research; It has been determined that peer play behaviors differ according to the variables of gender, age, education level of parents, profession of parents, number of siblings, family income status and previous pre-school education status. When the prosocial skills of the children participating in the study were examined, it was determined that while prosocial skills showed a statistically significant difference according to the variable of gender and previous pre-school education; it did not show a significant difference according to the variable of age, parental education level, parental profession, number of siblings, and family income status. Another result of the study is that there is a positive relationship between children's prosocial behaviors and play interaction behaviors, a negative relationship between play disruption behaviors, and a negative relationship between prosocial behaviors and game withdrawal behaviors. Keywords: Preschool education, prosocial behavior, play behavior