Research On Playmate Selection For Pre-School Children

This paper describes a research on playmate selection in a private-owned kindergarten. The research focuses on middle and higher classroom kids (4-6 years old) separately. The total number of kids participated in this research is 62 with 31 boys and 31 girls. Games are divided into 2 groups, one for same-age, one for mix-age. Three different types of games have been implemented and played according to two pre-set designs. One designs for process-oriented game with no trophy, and the other for goal-oriented games with trophy.At the start of each game, a survey will be conducted first and then followed by playmate experiment. The survey will focus on kids' playmate selection, and try to find-out the reasons behind for making selection from those kids. The experiment results will be analyzed after all data have been collected and properly filed.On the same-aged group, the research has found that, by comparing with original playmate structure, the selection of playmate in all games has been varied dramatically. The rate of same sex playmate selection has been decreased; playmate age gap has been increased; the relationship between popular and unpopular kids has taken a good turn; some fixed "buddy" relationships which exists before the experiment have been changed. However, the research also noticed that same age for playmate selection is still the mainstream selection for all participating kids; same age is still one of the major factors; "emotion" reason is the most important factor.On the mix-aged group, the playmate selection has shown similarity with the same-aged group, such as, the selection of playmate in all gameshas been varied dramatically.; the same sex playmate selection is still the main stream ; "emotion" reason is still the most important factor. However, the research has also found that same-aged playmate tends to play together, rather than different age; game designs and goals can influence the outcome of playmate selection, i.e., role-play can create bigger mix-aged playmates, rule-play create less and structure-play create none.Base on the findings of the research, this paper suggests the followings: increase class-activities; help unpopular kids on peer relationship improvement; watch on the development of popular kids; emphasis on breaking "buddy relationship" which exists in a few small percentage of kids and help them to increase the social relationship with other kids.