Objective: This study aimed to analyse the influence of young children’s playfulness
at home and class characteristics on their playfulness at kindergarten.
Methods: Twenty eight classes of 3, 4 and 5 year olds in Gyeonggi and
Chungbuk provinces were recruited. Participants of this study were mothers
and head teachers of the children of recruited classes. Analyses was implemented
using hierarchical linear modeling with HLM 7.0.
Results: Differences were found in children’s playfulness at kindergarten according
to their classes. Individual characteristics including, gender, age and
playfulness at home were shown to have significant influences on playfulness
at kindergarten, while relevance of variable class characteristics to playfulness
at kindergarten was not observed.
Conclusion/Implications: It is concluded that playfulness of children is more
related to playfulness at home rather than class characteristics, implying the
strong characteristic of playfulness as an individual trait.