Playfulness in Early Childhood (Playful): A longitudinal study of individual and contextual determinants
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Content of this page
Profile
- Project leadership
- Corina Wustmann Seiler (PHZH)
- Project team
- Isabelle Duss, Patricia Lannen, Cornelia Rüdisüli (PH Schaffhausen)
- Organisational unit
- F-BW (Bildungswissenschaftliche Forschung)
- Project phase
- Completed (1.7.2020 – 31.10.2024)
- Project type
- Research & development project
- Funding
- Swiss National Science Foundation
- Participating institutions
- Marie Meierhofer Institut für das Kind (MMI)
Description
Time and opportunities for young children to engage in free play have been decreasing, even though play in early childhood has been shown to be crucial to the development of young children. Moreover, the way in which a child approaches play has been deemed even more important than the play activity itself. This so called “playfulness” is associated with well-being, creativity, and healthy mental development and is considered highly relevant for children’s development. However, very little is known so far about what promotes children’s engagement in play.
The research project focuses on the development of playfulness in children aged 2 to 8 years. The study examines the following research questions: How is children’s playfulness linked to their cognitive and social-emotional development? What is the role of the quality of teacher-child play interactions in childcare centres and kindergarten in terms of supporting children’s playfulness? What protects children’s playfulness in the face of adversities such as poverty, family disharmony, or parental mental illness? For this purpose, over 800 children attending childcare groups, kindergarten and school classes in the German-speaking part of Switzerland will be followed over a period of two years. The results will provide evidence on promotive and protective mechanisms of children’s playfulness in the family, childcare centre, and kindergarten/school – which will contribute towards a better support of children’s playful learning in educational practice.
Presentations
- Duss, Isabelle; Wustmann Seiler, Corina and Lannen, Patricia. 2022. “When I play, I feel really good”: Development and validation of a questionnaire to assess children’s playfulness in self-report between the ages of 3 and 8. Poster presented at the EARLI-SIG-5 Conference, Utrecht, Niederlande, 14 July 2022.
- Rüdisüli, Cornelia: Wustmann Seiler, Corina and Lannen, Patricia. 2022. Measuring and predicting teachers’ externally assessed role behaviour during free play in childcare centers and kindergarten. Poster presented at the EARLI-SIG-5 Conference, Utrecht, Niederlande, 13 July 2022.
- Duss, Isabelle; Wustmann Seiler, Corina and Lannen, Patricia. 2022. “When I play, I feel really good”: Development and validation of a questionnaire to assess children’s playfulness in self-report between the ages of 3 and 8. Poster presented at the Annual Conference of the Swiss Society for Research in Education (SGBF), University of Lausanne, Switzerland, 13 September 2022.
- Rüdisüli, Cornelia; Wustmann Seiler, Corina and Lannen, Patricia. 2022. Measuring and predicting teachers’ externally assessed role behaviour during free play – a multilevel regression model. Poster presented at the Annual Conference of the Swiss Society for Research in Education (SGBF), University of Lausanne, Switzerland, 13 September 2022.
- Wustmann Seiler, Corina; Duss, Isabelle and Rüdisüli, Cornelia. 2022. Children’s playfulness in childcare and kindergarten: What role does the play and learning environment play? Workshop presented at the Conference “Play Environment”, Zurich University of Teacher Education, Switzerland, 26 November 2022.
- Rüdisüli, Cornelia; Wustmann Seiler, Corina and Lannen, Patricia. 2023. Welche Zusammenhänge bestehen zwischen der Interaktionsqualität Fachperson-Kind(er) und der Qualität des kindlichen Spiels? Paper presented at the Conference of the Swiss Society for Research in Education (SGBF), Zurich, Switzerland, 28 June 2023.
- Wustmann Seiler, Corina; Rüdisüli, Cornelia and Lannen, Patricia. 2023. Gemeinsamer Spass oder aktive Lernunterstützung im Spiel? – Zusammenhänge zwischen Playfulness von Fachpersonen und Spielbegleitung in Kita und Kindergarten. Paper presented at the Conference of the Swiss Society for Research in Education (SGBF), Zurich, Switzerland, 30 June 2023.
- Duss, Isabelle; Wustmann Seiler, Corina; Rüdisüli; Cornelia and Lannen, Patricia. 2023. Kindliche Spielformen und Spielzeit als Schlüssel für Playfulness? Paper presented at the Conference of the Swiss Society for Research in Education (SGBF), Zurich, Switzerland, 30 June 2023.
- Duss, Isabelle; Rüdisüli, Cornelia; Wustmann Seiler, Corina and Lannen, Patricia. 2024. Development of playfulness in children with low executive functions: A longitudinal study. Poster presented at the Conference of the Swiss Society for Early Childhood Research (SSECR), OST-Ostschweizer Fachhochschule, St. Gallen, Schweiz, 11 January 2024.
- Rüdisüli, Cornelia; Duss, Isabelle; Lannen, Patricia and Wustmann Seiler, Corina. 2024. Relationships between teacher-child interaction quality and the quality of children’s play. Paper presented at the Conference of the Swiss Society for Early Childhood Research (SSECR), OST-Ostschweizer Fachhochschule, St. Gallen, Schweiz, 11 January 2024.
- Duss, Isabelle; Rüdisüli, Cornelia; Lannen, Patricia and Wustmann Seiler, Corina. 2024. Playfulness in childhood. Paper presented at the Conference of the Swiss Society for Early Childhood Research (SSECR), OST-Ostschweizer Fachhochschule, St. Gallen, Schweiz, 10 january 2024.
- Wustmann Seiler, Corina; Rüdisüli, Cornelia und Duss, Isabelle. 2024. Closing event. Playfulness in Childhood. University of Teacher Education Zurich, Zurich, 13 March 2024.
Pilot studies
Wustmann Seiler, Corina; Lannen, Patricia; Duss, Isabelle und Sticca, Fabio (2021) Mitspielen, (An)Leiten, Unbeteiligt sein? Zusammenhänge kindlicher und elterlicher Playfulness: eine Pilotstudie.
Frühe Bildung 10(3): 161–168.
Wustmann Seiler, Corina, Cornelia Rüdisüli und Regula von Felten (2022) Was braucht ihr für euer Spiel – darf ich mitspielen? Selbstwahrgenommene Spielbegleitung von Lehrpersonen in Schweizer Kindergärten.
Psychologie in Erziehung und Unterricht 69 (e-only).
Research-to-practice transfer
Evidence Briefe
Wustmann Seiler, C., Lannen, P., Duss, I., & Rüdisüli, C. (2025) Spielend die Welt entdecken: Playfulness und kindliche Entwicklung.
Evidence Brief Nr. 6 – Wissenschaft und Grundlagen für die Praxis. Marie Meierhofer Institut für das Kind und Pädagogische Hochschule Zürich.
Wustmann Seiler, C., Lannen, P., Rüdisüli, C., & Duss, I. (2025) Spielen lassen oder mitspielen? Die Kunst der Spielbegleitung.
Evidence Brief Nr. 7 – Wissenschaft und Grundlagen für die Praxis. Marie Meierhofer Institut für das Kind und Pädagogische Hochschule Zürich.
Lannen, P., Wustmann Seiler, C., Duss, I., & Rüdisüli, C. (2026) Was ist Spielen für Kinder? Zur Bedeutung der Kinderperspektive.
Evidence Brief Nr. 8 – Wissenschaft und Grundlagen für die Praxis. Marie Meierhofer Institut für das Kind und Pädagogische Hochschule Zürich.
Newsletters
Flyer
Publications
Lannen, P., Pritz, L.N., Duss, I., Rüdisüli, C. & Wustmann Seiler, C. (2026) Play through children’s eyes – The subjective meaning of play to young children.
Early Childhood Education Journal.
Rüdisüli, C., Duss, I., Lannen, P., & Wustmann Seiler, C. (2026) Am I interrupting or supporting? Associations between teachers’ roles in free play and children’s playfulness.
Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 1–19.
Wustmann Seiler, C., Duss, I., Rüdisüli, C., & Lannen, P. (2026) Playfulness aus Kindersicht: Wie verändert sie sich in der Kindheit und welche Rolle spielen dabei individuelle und familiale Merkmale?
Frühe Bildung, 15(2), 1–9.
Duss, Isabelle; Rüdisüli, Cornelia; Wustmann Seiler, Corina and Lannen, Patricia (2023) Playfulness from children’s perspectives: development and validation of the Children’s Playfulness Scale as a self-report instrument for children from 3 years of age.
Frontiers in Psychology, Section Developmental Psychology 14: 1–11.
Duss, Isabelle; Rüdisüli, Cornelia; Wustmann Seiler, Corina and Lannen, Patricia (2024) Development of playfulness in children with low executive functions: The role of parental playfulness and parental playtime with their child.
Behavioral Sciences, 14 (7), 542.
Rüdisüli, Cornelia; Duss, Isabelle; Lannen, Patricia and Wustmann Seiler, Corina (2023) External assessment of teachers’ roles during children’s free play and its relation to types of children’s play.
Frontiers in Education, Section Educational Psychology 8: 1–13.
Rüdisüli, Cornelia; Duss, Isabelle; Lannen, Patricia and Wustmann Seiler, Corina (2024) Relations between teacher–child interaction quality and children’s playfulness.
Early Child Development and Care 194 (7–8): 883–97.
Wustmann Seiler, Corina; Duss, Isabelle; Rüdisüli, Cornelia and Lannen, Patricia (2024) Developmental trajectories of children’s playfulness in two- to six-year-olds.
Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, Section Social and Emotional Development, 2:1426985
Wustmann Seiler, Corina; Rüdisüli, Cornelia und Besmer, Salomé (2025) Feuer und Flamme im Spiel: Playfulness im Zyklus 1 stärken.
In: Campana, S., Forrel Kasteel, E., & Jacober, B. (Hrsg.): «Die Kunst der Resonanz: Feuer und Flamme für guten Unterricht» (S. 131–139). Bern: Hep-Verlag.
Duss, Isabelle; Rüdisüli, Cornelia; Wustmann Seiler, Corina und Lannen, Patricia (2025) Fostering Playfulness in 2-to-6-Year-Old Children: A Longitudinal Study of Parental Play Support Profiles and Their Effects on Children’s Playfulness.
In: Behavioral Sciences, 15 (12), 1716.