A scoping review of methods and measures used to capture children's play during school breaktimes

Figures & data

Figure 1. PRISMA-ScR flow diagram for identification of studies.

Figure 2. Graph analysis demonstrating frequency and co-occurrence of methodological approaches. Node size represents the frequency of each methodological approach. Edges (lines) between nodes represent that at least one study has used these approaches in combination, and the weight of the edges represents the frequency of each combination. Qualitative approaches are presented in purple (dark grey in print) and quantitative approaches in blue (light grey in print).

Table 1. Named observation systems used to capture play. Note that these structured observation systems all give rise to quantitative data.

Name	Original reference	Approach	Description	Aspect of play captured	Number of included studies using scheme
Imaginativeness of Play Scale	Singer and Singer (1981)	Person-based	Observational system for determining the imaginativeness of children’s play.	Quality (depth)	1
Observation of Playground Play (OPP)	Massey et al. (2018) Adapted from the Activities of Daily Living – Playground Participation (ADL-PP; Stellino & Sinclair, 2014)	Place-based	Observation system to capture the games, activities and sedentary behaviours that children engage in on the playground.	Quantity (play types; activities)	2
Peer Play Scale^a	Bernardo (1995)	Person-based	Observation system for categorising play into types.	Quantity (play types)	1
Play Observation Scale	Rubin (1989; 2001)	Person-based	Observation system for categorising play into cognitive and social play types and assessing the valance of social interactions in play.	Quantity (play types) and quality (valence)	3
Playground Behaviour Observation Schedule	Charlton et al. (1998)	Person-based	Observation system for recording the occurrence of playground behaviours and group size.	Quantity (play types; activities)	1
Playground Code	Pepler et al. (1998) Adapted from Rusby and Dishion (1990)	Person-based	Observational system for assessing interactions and affect during play.	Quantity (play types) and quality (enjoyment)	1
Playground Observation Checklist	Ingram et al. (2007)	Person-based	Observational system to determine whether neurodiverse and typically developing children differ in their playground behaviour.	Quantity (activities)	1
Playground Observation of Peer Engagement (POPE)	Kasari et al. (2011)	Person-based	Observation system to capture the way that children interact with each other on the playground and engagement in activities.	Quantity (play types)	4
System for Observing Children’s Activity and Relationships during Play (SOCARP)	Ridgers et al. (2010)	Person-based	Observation system to capture levels of physical activity, social behaviour and types of play on the playground.	Quantity (play types)	5
System for Observing Outdoor Play (SOOP)	Engelen et al. (2018) Adapted from SOPLAY (McKenzie et al., 2000)	Place-based	Observation system to capture activity level, activity type and equipment use of groups of children on the playground.	Quantity (play types; activities)	1
System for Observing Play Engagement Episodes at Recess (SOPEER)	Khorana (2017) Adapted from SOCARP (Ridgers et al., 2010)	Place-based	Observation system to capture social behaviour on the playground.	Quality (valence)	1
System for Observing Play and Leisure in Youth (SOPLAY)	McKenzie et al. (2000)	Place-based	Observation system designed to capture levels of physical activity and predominant activities on the playground. Frequently extended to include further play types.	Quantity (play types; activities)	6
Test of Playfulness	Bundy et al. (2001)	Person-based	Observational system for assessing playfulness in children’s playground behaviour.	Quality (depth)	1
Toddler Peer Play Code	Jamison (2010)	Person-based	Observational system for categorising social play types, proximity and joint attention as well as teacher interventions.	Quantity (play types)	1

^a The description of this scale is limited in the original manuscript. The original author notes that although intended as an observational system, it was not used for this purpose due to practical difficulties using the scheme.

Table 2. Named questionnaires used to capture play.

Name	Reference	Respondent	Description	Outcomes	Number of included studies using scheme
Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction Scale (BPNS)	Stellino and Sinclair (2013)	Child	21 items examining children’s need satisfaction during recess.	Play quality (enjoyment; affordance)	1
Children’s Attitudes Towards Play (CATP)	Greer and Stewart (1989) adapted from Webb (1969)	Child	3 items assessing children’s motivation for play across three contexts.	Other: child’s motivation	1
Lunchtime Enjoyment of Activity and Play (LEAP)	Hyndman (2015)	Child	39 items examining how much children enjoy school play and lunchtime activity.	Play quality (enjoyment)	2
Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale (PIPPS)	Fantuzzo et al. (1995)	Teacher (parent version also available)	32 items assessing interaction, disruption and disconnection from play.	Play quality (valence)	1

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Data availability statement

Extracted data, the complete list of included reports and metadata files are available from the following Open Science Framework repository https://osf.io/8rga6/?view_only=859bc5b0037746c4a8e6aa8885a072d0.