This study compares Finnish children’s playing at the age of three in the kindergarten context and home context. The aim is to understand more thoroughly those educational processes linked with play practices in these two educational contexts. In playing practices, both quality and forms of play are in focus. The concept of playing practices is a cultural construct (see Roopnarine 2012).

Children’s play influences their development widely. Children’s cognitive, social and emotional development is influenced for example by the types of their play (Gaskins 2014, 32). In the review of Cheng and Johnsson (2010) found that in playing studies play served different roles; it had a major role, minor role, it was a context to study something else, or it was related to special children and intervention. In the review, more than half of the studies used play only as a tool to study other topics. In playing studies, the instrumental view of play dominates (Kuschner 2007). This is not the case in this study.

Giddens and Halverson (1981) found that children played about 2.6 hours per day with toys and also almost one hour per day with material that were not meant to be toys (e.g. furniture). Currently, the central role of play in children’s life has been seen as jeopardized (Gaskins 2014) and it has been argued about the sharp decline in children’s free play (Gray 2011) and play in early childhood education (Nicolopoulou 2010). On the other hand, mental well-being of children and adolescents has declined. It is possible that the decline in play has contributed to the rise in the psychopathology of children and young people. (Gray 2011.)

While children are the active agents in playing situations, adults have their respective roles also. Children need adult support and intervention when they are playing in educational contexts (see Nicolopoulou 2010; Martin 2011). Both educational practices which integrate the play element and free play of the children are needed in educational contexts (Nicolopoulou 2010).

The play research has especially been focused on the kindergarten context overlooking the home context. In this study, the focus is not only on formal educational context, but also on a context of family education, the home. The comparison of these two educational contexts is the standpoint in this study.

In many home environment studies, the child–parent relationship or the family relationships are on the focus (e.g. Ivrendi & Isikoglu 2010; Levine 1988; Lindsey, Caldera & Tankersley 2009; Vanderbleek 2011). Those studies have not particularly focused on the play itself nor its forms and quality, which are the focus in this study. Play in the family context is for the child,” a deliberate and compelling way of being that involves cognitive rehearsal and engagement, socio-emotional negotiations, social scripts ‘apprenticeships’, perspective-taking and abstract thought, and just plain fun (Cameron et al. 2011)”.

Internationally, there is a wide variation in concepts used for the formal educational contexts for three-year olds. Also, the childcare participation of three-year old children varies greatly across OECD countries.  In many European countries, at the age of three children are involved in pre-school institutions. (OECD 2014.) While the context of play varies across cultures, it is important to study play in different cultural contexts, if we want to understand the meaning of different play activities for children’s development (e.g. Roopnarine 2012). In this study, the focus is on Finnish context. In Finland basic education starts at the age of seven and the pre-school system concerns only the six-year-old children. For the three-year old children in Finland, the formal institution of early childhood education is mainly a kindergarten.

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