Abstract
This study aimed to clarify how one-year-olds who experience emotional instability conducted “asobi-komi” (immersive play) through second-person engagement in childcare centers. In this study, “asobi-komi” was defined as “play” to deepen relationships with things, people, and events around children. The result showed that one-year-olds first experience a stage of deepening understanding of an object that they are interested in, and in the next stage they develop their “asobi-komi” utilizing familiarized objects. Furthermore, children often have unstable feelings in conflict scenes during “asobi-komi,” suggesting that teachers should help them overcome their emotional instability. Therefore, teachers need to be deeply involved in such a process so as to value children’s emotions and support their healthy development.
