The interest corners that children attending to preschool education prefer and the reasons of their preferences

The period of 0-6 years which covers the preschool stage is a crucial period in which children develop so fast. Since the experiences gained at this period are effective for a child?s following life, starting his education as earlier as possible becomes necessary. In that context, the preschool education that the institutions provide is also very significant as well as the preschool education in the family. The preschool education programs designed to have children gain the desired behaviors are applied in the preschool education institutions. In these programs, various activities encouraging children?s all development areas are included. One of these activities that take place in free-time activities is the playing activity in the interest corners that children choose according to their desires and interests. The interest corners, which establish the physical environment with rich stimuli for the preschool education contexts, have important functions for the developments of children, creating new and genuine products and being creative. These functions of interest corners depend on their quality to satisfy children?s interest and desires. This study aims to determine the teacher opinions about the interest corners that preschool children prefer and the reasons of their preferences. The study was carried out with a survey method. The population of the study consists of 215 preschool education teachers worked in 113 elementary state schools and in 8 independent kindergartens. As a data collection instrument, a questionnaire which consists of 3 sections and 15 questions was applied in order to determine the teachers? opinions about the interest corners that preschool children prefer and the reasons of their preferences. In this questionnaire, there were 10 close-ended and 5 open-ended questions. The quantative data obtained from 20 close-ended were analyzed with number and percentages; on the other hand the qualitative data of 5 openended questions were analyzed with descriptive analysis method. The findings of this study indicate that teachers usually use the interest corners in their classrooms; also for children, the availability of equipments, their attractiveness, and the frequent changes in these areas are effective on their preferences about the interest corners. Besides, it is documented that all children like playing in the interest corners however, significant differences between girls and boys? preferences are defined. Teachers views reflect that some of the main reasons of the students? preferences about the interest corners are their own choices, teachers? guidance, and the adequacy of the number of the equipments. Additionally, it is revealed that the teachers could encounter some problems while arranging the interest corners and designing plays due to inadequate physical conditions, large number of children, and few equipments.