Children's Recreational and Social Interests

The play activities of children give valuable clues to the child's nature and needs. In infancy his interests are centered upon manipulating the simple toys and other objects in his hands -- squeezing, pushing, pulling, or striking them upon the table, crib, or high-chair, or attempting to put them in his mouth. The diffuse and random nature of such activities has been reported frequently. By the age of three or four years we find more varied play activities. Playing with toys in the sand pile, building houses with blocks, riding kiddie cars, playing with toy automobiles and wagons, playing house, playing train, playing with dolls, riding tricycle, etc., may be observed. At the age of five years play interests still center about games and activities which are largely individual and solitary, and do not require the participation or cooperation of other children. Jumping, climbing, running, sliding, digging, throwing, lifting, and rolling are whole-body activities performed without any motive of doing one's best or of doing better than someone else. The presence of another child may be resented, and if he has some plaything, a struggle for its possession may ensue.

Children at this age may play in small groups, but often they really are not playing in groups, they are merely near each other while playing. The directed play activities of the kindergarten often involve ring games, rhythmic movement, and singing games. The five-year-old is likely to enjoy construction work. If he is given some direction and if tools are available, he will try to make crude objects, using saw and hammer. Play interests at this age are characterized by the child's engaging in the activity from sheer enjoyment of it, and not to acquire any skill. With further increases of age, the nature of his play interests again changes. By the age of ten or eleven marked differences are seen. The free individual play activities without rules and competition have been displaced by games with rules and with some object or goal. Such games are likely to be largely competitive, with much rivalry in the case of boys. Interest centers on skill and excellence. The games run a definite course, that is, they have a beginning and come to an end. Little cooperation is found. In fact the adult who gets together a group of ten-year-old boys for a baseball or football team is likely to have a surplus of would-be pitchers, firstbasemen, quarterbacks, and centers, but a dearth of fielders and players who do not carry the ball. Emphasis upon speed, strength, and accuracy is characteristic of the play activities of the boy at ten. He is much interested in excelling the others in running, throwing, and the like. Using tools to make things, engaging in bicycle-riding, climbing trees, skating, swimming, camping out, and playing with various kinds of mechanical devices are also much enjoyed. Among girls of ten years, doll play has begun to decline and in the next three years will almost disappear. Playing with paper dolls, making clothes for dolls, participating in various kinds of table games, bicycle-riding, playing on the horizontal bar, house-keeping activities, puzzles, dancing, and dramatic games are common among girls of ten or eleven years.

A conspicuous change in recreational activities is suggested by the percentages of children, at each age up to fifteen, attending the movies, climbing trees, porches, and fences, riding bicycles, and playing marbles. At twelve years of age, two-thirds of the town boys and three-fifths of the town girls attend motion pictures. Nearly half of the eight- and nine-year-old town children also attend. These proportions are in distinct contrast with the smaller percentages who engage in climbing, play marbles, skip rope, etc.

The environment facilitates participation in some play activities and limits it in others, as we would expect. In all of these play problems is found the customary wide range of individual differences. Many play activities indicate the development of social interests. Girls' interests include social dancing, picnics, parties, and "dates," while boys' interests are in football, baseball, and basketball, all of which involve cooperation or teamwork.