Abstract

It is frequently claimed that play is crucia1 to young children's development (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997; Ginsburg, 2007; Ranco, 1996; Tsao, 2002) and that how children spend their out of school time has a significant impact on their social and academic achievement at school (Hofferth & Jankuniene, 2001; Miller, O'Connor & Sirignano, 1995). However very little research has been conducted on the out of school play activities of five- to eight-year-olds, and on whether these activities are related to developmental outcomes. This mixed methods study examined children's play outside of school; their academic, social, emotional, and creativity outcomes in school; and parent and child beliefs about play at this age level. Sixty-nine children attending public schools in the suburban regions outside of Montreal, and their parents and teachers, participated in the study. Findings indicated that children spent between one and two hours playing after school each day, and that the most common form of play was active physical play. The most common social arrangement during play was play with siblings. Free time in the morning and total choice in the afternoon, watching others play, and play with commercial toys were predictive of report card grades, behaviour scores, and creativity scores. Parents reported valuing play at this age level, but restricting certain activities, while encouraging others. Children reported enjoying many types of play, and play partners, including play with their pets.