Understanding play from children's perspectives: A phenomenological study

This study examined children's understanding of their play experiences. The participants were eight children aged five to six, all from a laboratory preschool of a university in Istanbul. Designed as a phenomenological study, the goal was to understand how children defined play. To enable children's participation and decrease the gap between the children and researcher, this study employed several creative tools inspired by the Mosaic Approach, namely, conversations stimulated by a) the researcher's observations of children, b) informal chit-chats with children, c) children's drawings, and d) child-led school tours. The study contributes to the gap in children's play studies that is dominated by adults' understandings and meanings. An iterative data analysis showed that children's conceptualizations of play can be examined across four dimensions: motivations for play, feelings in play, imagination while playing, and resources for play. The findings show that play is a pleasant experience that is nevertheless subject to unpleasant emotions, and that children are aware of their motivations for play. While adults are used as a resource for play, children rarely mentioned them as playmates. Whether they call it play or non-play, children need space, time, security, materials, and friends to exert their agencies and powers, and to fulfill their motivations for play individually and collectively. Use of the given methodology and tools of the study can help adults not only understand children's play but also inform them about their roles and place in child's play.