The effect of the classroom-literacy environment on young children’s Imagination mediating role of young children’s reading motivation and imaginative play

This study investigated the impact of the classroom literacy environment on young children’s imagination, with a specific focus on the sequential mediating roles of children’s reading interest and imaginative play. A total of 256 children aged 5 and 18 teachers working at a kindergarten in Seoul province participated in questionnaire survey. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation, regression, and bootstrapping methods via SPSS 27.0 and AMOS 27 software. The results were as follows. First, the classroom literacy environment positively affected young children’s imagination. Second, the classroom literacy environment increased young children’s reading interest and imaginative play, which in turn increased their imagination. Third, the mediating effect of young children’s reading interest and imaginative play had a significant indirect effect with a 95% confidence interval. These results underscore the pivotal role of the classroom literacy environment in fostering young children’s imagination, facilitated by increased reading interest and imaginative play. This highlights the importance of creating literacy-rich classroom settings to nurture imagination in early childhood education.