Abstract

The aim of this article is dual: a) to present the first results of a study conducted in Greece about primary school children’s preferences and differences towards their leisure time, b) to highlight the importance for providing adequate playing activities in the mainstream primary school as well as in the one-day school that will meet pupils’ personal interests. The aim of the study was to explore the opinions of primary school children concerning their choices towards playing and toys. The sample of the study was 1338 (N) pupils, 685 girls and 653 boys, 10-12 years old, who attended the last two grades of primary schools in Northern Greece. A questionnaire was used (constructed by Beis 2001) in order to depict the preferences of children according to their gender. In this paper, descriptive statistics as well as chi-square tests are presented. According to the results of the study, there seems to exist a statistical significance between the gender of the pupil and the following dependent variables: preference of playing and toys, time they spent watching television, the kind of TV programs they watch, preference towards computer games, time they spent on playing as well as general preferences during leisure. More specifically, as far as the gender and the type of playing are concerned, girls prefer playing traditional games and with traditional toys compared to boys who prefer sports. Also, during weekend, girls spent more time on playing compared to boys. Furthermore, within the school environment, the leisure activities of pupils could be enriched with relevant activities of playing and games, which will take into consideration the interests and experiences of children according to their age, social and cultural background, their needs. On the other hand, children will develop their creativity and develop team co-operation and communication.