| With the increasing emphasis on outdoor activities and independent play,outdoor free play has emerged as an activity that can meet children’s outdoor activity needs while practicing the characteristics of playing independently.In the practice of outdoor free play,do children really feel autonomy? What do children see as the ideal outdoor free play? How do teachers and parents perceive outdoor free play? What are the similarities and differences in the perceptions of three different actors about outdoor free play? What are the reasons behind the differences in perceptions? In order to enhance mutual communication and understanding,to promote adult educators’ reflection,to make outdoor free play truly meet children’s real interests and developmental needs,and to promote children’s better development in play,it is necessary to study children’s,parents’ and teachers’ views of outdoor free play from multiple perspectives.This study used a qualitative research method to survey 25 six-year-old children,15 teachers,and 15 parents in X kindergarten.The mosaic method was used to collect the children’s perceptions of outdoor free play,and the interview method was used to obtain the parents’ and teachers’ conceptions of outdoor free play.So as to compare and analyze them.Through the analysis and comparison of the data,we found that the differences between the parents’ and teachers’ perceptions were in three areas: the learning perspective of their children,the teacher’s role in the game,and the valuable experiences of their children in the game.We could also find some points of similarity between the parents’ and teachers’ perceptions,they were the support for play,the expectations of a natural and open play environment,and the concerns about the safety of play.Whereas,the differences between children’s and adults’ perceptions were the following five aspects: their perceptions of the relationship between play and learning,their concerns about the safety of the game,their emphasis on “fun” in the value of play,their feelings about the time length of the game and the frequency of rotations in the playground and their demands for “cleanliness”.At the same time,the children and adults agreed on the understanding of autonomy in the game and the ideal environment for the game.In addition,the study also analyzed the reasons for the differences in the perceptions of different subjects,and found that the reasons for the differences in the perceptions of parents and teachers mainly lie in the different perceptions of parents and teachers on children’s views and young children’s learning;while the reasons for the differences in the perceptions of children and adults include the differences between the adult world and young children’s world,the influence of the adult world on young children’s world,and the fact that adult educators do not understand young children well enough.In this regard,the researcher made the following recommendations: first,we called for the fusion of different horizons,mutual integration of school and family,and active listening and responding to children’s needs;second,building a bridge of cooperation between school and family to achieve educational optimization;third,finding a balance between safety and development,and building the safe outdoor free play. |
