2009 Volume 60 Issue 2 Pages 101-110
The second report on the study to clarify the relation between "the flow of play and "daily work schedule" compares the results of study respectively made in 1987 and 2007. Both researches were based on the observation of children's actual behaviors in kindergarten and nursery school. Children do not go into play as dictated by their internal time immediately after coming to school in the morning. In other words, they would need time to shift to the play mode. Once they get into the play mode by their internal time, on the other hand, they seem to maintain the uplifting feeling for some time whether or not the scheduled activities are changed as the external time progresses. This indicates that it is important to allow children to have a morning-type lifestyle, i.e., going to bed early and getting up early. It should be noted that even 3-year-old children at preschool are able to pay attention to and accept the external time, and seem not to stick to the continuation of their play. It is found that the influence of the external time on children has become stronger in these two decades.
