Investigation of early childhood teachers’ metaphor recognition of children’s physical play

Objectives This study examines early childhood teachers' perceptions of children's physical play, including movement play, physical play, traditional play, and gestural play, and seeks to identify trends. Methods For this purpose, a total of 304 metaphors out of 320 questionnaires for 160 early childhood teachers in Gyeongsangnam-do were analyzed according to Krippendorf's content analysis method through a six-step procedure of naming, classifying, unit determination, categorization, reliability, and analysis. Results First, as a result of examining the tendency of early childhood teachers to use metaphors for children’s physical play, the word ‘fun’ was used the most, followed by ‘freedom/freedom’, ‘instinct’, and ‘thought expression’. Second, as a result of examining early childhood teachers’ metaphorical perceptions of children’s physical play, children’s physical play was defined as ‘happy, joyful and happy body play’, ‘instinctive body play that helps holistic development’, and ‘body play that freely expresses thoughts and emotions.’, ‘new, original and diverse body play’, ‘body play that communicates and imitates together’, and ‘body play that is dangerous because you don't know where it will go’. Conclusions Early childhood teachers also recognized that children's physical play is the play that children enjoy the most and that it is positive for their holistic development. However, rather than restricting physical play for safety reasons, institutional arrangements are required to improve play environments that allow for a variety of physical play and to secure support from society and parents.