Toddlarlek
En fenomenologisk studie om 1?2?åringarnas sociala samspel under fri lek
The aim of the study was to investigate peer interaction among toddlers 12 to 30 months of age and the teachers? ways to direct the children?s play in outdoor free play situations in a Swedish preschool. Data was gathered through direct observation, and the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty in combination with the assumption of children as social actors built the theoretical framework of the study. The results showed that the toddlers used different strategies to invite peers to interaction and made use of strategies in entering ongoing play that previously have been observed among older preschoolers. These strategies, bodily and therefore in accordance with the phenomenological approach, support the assumption of toddlers as social actors that actively engage in and make sense of their life worlds in the preschool. The teachers showed less interference in the children?s play compared with earlier studies. The results of the study stress the significance of free play as an arena for learning of different social skills and importance of the preschool teachers being conscious of these young children?s life worlds.