Research in the field of school students' peer group activities during recess will undoubtedly clarify many unsettled questions in the field of child development and socialization. This is especially true since children's play groups are seldom seen after school.
Group play activities during recess in elementary schools, however, have not been focused on and no framework for analysis of these groups has been formulated. Therefore, I used this study to search for a framework for detecting play activity of school students' peer group during recess at school.
A small-scale elementary school, comprised of three combined classes, was selected as a research field for the participant observation.
First, there was a question as to whether the total set of the members that was taking part in the observed play activities was regarded as one play group. Given the existence of a fixed leader, the role differentiation in the play group and the cohesiveness of the members, the observed members were regarded as one play group.
Next, the observed play group was examined from the way the peer group organized members, namely, spontaneous selectivity, equality and mobility.
The results of the analysis suggest that the play group during recess at this school can be regarded as a peer group. In some cases, however, equality between members is destroyed by the participation of teachers, analysis should be carefully executed.
