Relation between play preferences at home and self-regulation in preschool children

Abstract

Background. Nowadays, the research of playing activity in the home environment is insufficient. Meanwhile, theoretical and empirical analysis has shown the importance of the play in the development of executive functions, and the results obtained in the study can be used as practical recommendations for preschool specialists and parents of senior preschool age children. The Objective is to study the relationship between the components of executive functions and children preferences in the play and its duration at home. Design. Children aged 5-6 years (N=163, 52% of males) and their mothers participated in the study. In the first stage, the development of the following components of executive functions in preschool children was assessed: inhibition, verbal and visual working memory and cognitive flexibility. Information on children’s play preferences at home were obtained as a result of parents filling in a specialized questionnaire, which contained questions about the duration of play and its content. Results. Analysis of play preferences revealed that the majority of preschool children in our sample have favorite toys (85%): males prefer games in constructing materials and transport, while females prefer puzzles and sets for creativity, as well as play with soft toys and dolls, and also pretending ‘family’ members games. It was found that girls successfully coped with tasks on cognitive flexibility, inhibition and verbal working memory than boys. The most preferable type of games for senior preschoolers are board games and active games, and also construction sets. Children who prefer constructing materials and transport were less successful at cognitive flexibility task than children who don’t play construction games. Children who prefer soft toys and sets of figures perform a lower level of spatial working memory than children who prefer other kinds of games. Children who prefer to play board games have a higher level of inhibition. Children whose favorite character often changes were more successful in inhibition task than children who have one steady favourite character. Conclusion. The study showed that board games, puzzles, and playing with different subjects and pretending various characters have the most developing potential for older preschoolers. No differences in game duration depending on the level of development of executive functions were found.

Keywords

• preschool age
• play
• executive functions
• inhibition
• working memory
• cognitive flexibility