What Will it Be? An Investigation of Play with Open-ended Materials in a Preschool Classroom

Purpose of the Study: The purpose of the study was to investigate what types of play children engaged in with open-ended materials in a public preschool classroom during the portion of the day that is scheduled for free play. The guiding questions were 1) What types of play are children engaging in with open-ended materials during free play? 2) What strategies do teachers use to support children's play with open-ended materials? Procedure: The study was an action research completed in the researcher's full-day preschool classroom. The classroom was part of the General Childcare Program of a medium-sized school district in Northern California. Students were from predominantly Latino and African American ethnic backgrounds. At the time of the study 21 of 23 enrolled students were eligible for free or reduced lunch. The methods of data collection were, staff member interviews, in-class observations of children's play and staff strategies to support play, and review of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised. Findings: Children were observed engaging in solitary/constructive, solitary/dramatic, associative/constructive, and associative/dramatic play. The most frequently observed teacher strategy to support play was visually monitoring play from a standing or sitting position. Male students were observed playing with open-ended materials in the open space of the block area and at activity tables. Female students were observed playing with open-ended materials at activity tables.Conclusions: Staff members did not use verbal communication as a strategy to support children's play. Professional development focused on teacher-child interaction can improve staff use of verbal communication strategies to facilitate play.