The following is excerpted from an online article posted by StudyFinds
For decades, researchers and educators have been evaluating children’s play using tools built largely by adults. Checklists, observation guides, developmental scales, just to name a few example. All of those are rooted in adult theories about what play should look like and what it should produce. A new study from Denmark asked a different question. What if we just asked the kids?
When researchers surveyed more than 500 primary school children about their own memories of good and bad play, the results did not line up with the frameworks adults had been using. Kids described play in terms of how it felt, who was included, and whether there was room to be a little silly or rule-bending. Developmental milestones barely came up.
Adult-designed observation tools are built around what play is supposed to accomplish: cognitive development, social competence, age-appropriate behavior. What children actually care about, based on this data, is whether they felt good, whether they were genuinely part of things, and whether there was enough freedom to make participation feel real.
Good play, as kids see it, is not always structured or what anyone would call “nice.” It just needs to feel right to the people playing, and for the first time, there is a way to ask them directly.
Source: StudyFinds
https://studyfinds.com/what-kids-want-from-play/