Young children's play during a time of social distancing

Through a 48-item questionnaire shared via social media, 546 participants from 47 American States reported on their children's (ages 0-8) play activities during early social distancing efforts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Results from the questionnaire indicate participants took social distancing guidelines seriously by keeping children at home and away from other children during the period of social distancing, thus affecting play behaviours. The study's findings are significant in that they document some parents' perspectives of their children's play during a unique period in American history. The authors discuss implications for parent and child play behaviours including the need for more unstructured play time, realities of parents working from home with children present, and the effects of children having a lack of access to peers to play with for sociodramatic and symbolic play. Recommendations for future research are provided.