Abstract:

The Covid-19 period was a period in which physical activities for children decreased, exposure to digital environments increased, and sleep problems could occur, and it was thought that children's play activities may have changed along with home restrictions in this process. This research was carried out in a descriptive type in order to determine whether there was a change in the play activities of children in the pre-school period experiencing the Covid 19 pandemic period through the eyes of preschool teachers. The population of the research consisted of teachers (n=368) working in pre-school schools in Konya. “Teacher Information Form”, “Playing Tendency Scale for Children” and “Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale” were used to collect data. The data were collected by face-to-face interviews with the teachers outside of class hours in the school environment. The analysis of the data was made with descriptive statistics and regression analysis in SPSS 22 packaged software. Teachers stated that after returning to school, children were directed to digital games with a rate of 65.8% and games that developed gross motor skills with a rate of 32.3%. In the study, a statistically significant difference was determined between the sub-dimensions of the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale and the scores of the Children's Play Tendency Scale (p<0.001). It is recommended that teachers organize social and interactive programs for their students and direct them to games based on motor and cognitive skills.

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