Abstract

Earlier studies revealed that children prefer nonstandardized jumping stone configurations to standardized ones. In the present study, we examined whether children playing on jumping stones prefer variation in stone height, stone size, and/or gap width. In Experiment 1, children could play freely on one standardized configuration and three configurations in which one of the aforementioned factors was varied. It was found that children judged the variation in height as most fun. Yet, the configuration with gap width variation appeared to be most challenging for the children—most overground steps were made in this configuration. In Experiment 2, we examined whether the attractiveness of the configurations increased when height variation was combined with the other forms of variation. Adding size and/or gap width variation to the variation in height did not contribute to the attractiveness of the configuration. In line with experiment 1, it was found that the configurations with gap width variation were judged as the most challenging for children. The implications of these results are discussed in the context of the literature on play.

摘要

早期的研究表明，与标准化的跳石配置相比，儿童更喜欢非标准化的跳石配置。在本研究中，我们检查了在跳石上玩耍的孩子是否更喜欢石头高度、石头大小和/或间隙宽度的变化。在实验 1 中，儿童可以在一种标准配置和三种上述因素之一不同的配置上自由玩耍。结果发现，孩子们认为身高的变化是最有趣的。然而，间隙宽度变化的配置对孩子们来说似乎最具挑战性——大多数地上台阶都是在这种配置中进行的。在实验 2 中，我们检查了当高度变化与其他形式的变化相结合时，配置的吸引力是否增加。将尺寸和/或间隙宽度的变化添加到高度的变化中对配置的吸引力没有贡献。与实验 1 一致，发现间隙宽度变化的配置被认为对儿童最具挑战性。这些结果的含义在有关游戏的文献中进行了讨论。