The Games 3-6 Aged Children's Wish to Play in the School Garden

AbstractSchool gardens are places where children meet their needs such as breathe fresh air, relaxation, learning, movement and play. A well-planned garden should be able to meet children's needs. Whenever, school gardens are designed, children's views and recommendations should be given. Hence, the aim of the study was to determine what 3-6 aged children want to play in school garden. In the scope of research, games wanted by children to play in the school gardens were analyzed under three headings as activity types, structure and number of players. 139 girls, 145 boys, totally 284 children were taken place in research's sample. 3 aged children was 63, 4 aged was 77, 5 aged was 82 and 6 aged was 62. In the scope of research, it was asked from 3-6 aged children to imagine a game they wanted to play in school garden and to draw and describe this game. Data were analyzed by using percent (%), frequency (f) and chi-square analysis. Games were analyzed according to their structure; it was observed that gender wasn’t cause significant difference. Children aged 3-5 drew imaginary games, while aged 6 drew co-operative games. When games were analyzed according to the type of activity, it was detected that girls drew games played with fixed game equipments such as swing, slide, while boys drew movement games without tools such as running, chase. With increasing age, it was seen that children wanted to movement games with tools like cycling, roller skating, games played with play materials like balls, ropes, games played with songs and tongue twisters and games played with fixed environment equipments such as climbing, swimming. With decreasing age children wanted to play with natural materials like sand, water, stable game like swing, slide and mimic and role-playing games. When games were analyzed according to number of the player, it was determined that gender wasn’t lead to any differences. With decreasing age it was seen that children wanted to play individual games, while with increasing age children wanted to games played as a group