In the late modern era, new trends of studying childhood have been emerging, in particular the phenomena of child-centeredness and protective childhood. The present thesis focuses on children's play as one of the first and crucial leisure time activities during childhood. In the research based on semi-structured interviews made among mothers of pre-school children, I discuss the sociological aspects that have an impact on the type of children’s play and the type of toys they choose and purchase. Despite the tendency to reduce gender differences and adopt gender-neutral positions among children, the influence of the cultural environment with stereotypical gender segregation is still very strong in the area of children's play. Exposure to role models, such as older people, peers and the media, influences the choice of children's toys or play the most. In contrast to gender, social class does not have a major influence on children's play, as belonging to different social classes is not categorized explicitly enough in Slovenia to cause significant differences. In the second part of the thesis I examine the concept of spending leisure time of pre-school children in connection to intensifying free time and the use of (new) technologies. The findings indicate that the schedule of pre-school children is not that strongly structured by various activities and commitments yet. Thus the major part of pre-school children’s time is spent on free play.
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