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play Japan kindergarten
Play in Japanese pre-schools: In 2006, there were 14 percent babies, 24 percent 1-year-olds, and 32 percent 2-year-olds in day care. In Japanese pre-school for 3-6 year olds were 75 percent 3-year-olds, 94 percent 4 year olds, and 97 percent five year olds. The Japanese national educational curriculum says kindergartens should be play-centered. A group of German educators and researchers spent 2 weeks visiting Japanese day care and kindergartens. The article details the visit to play-oriented kindergartens - which speaks against the general assumption outside of Japan that Japanese young children are trained from the cradle in rules and structure. But, the author did not bring up the idea that perhaps the kindergartens are used as play and the rest of the children's lives are structured, or that these were special kindergartens. [View source ]
Maywald, Jörg, "Kindliches Spiel: Selbstzweck oder Instrument der Pädagogik: Erkundungen zur Rolle des Spiels in japanischen Kindertageseinrichtungen" frühe Kindheit, 0509, p 38-42.