In this master thesis I present a child's perception of his own life world and a conversation with the child using art-making techniques. In the theoretical part I presented the definitions of childhood and the view of childhood over time, the child's life world, the characteristics of the conversation with the child and the development of the child's drawing. In the research, I focused on how children perceive their lifeworld. The research I have carried out is qualitative. I used art-making techniques (drawing) and semi-structured interviews for the questioning. I talked to the children about what they had drawn and what the drawing represented to them. I used family drawing and conversation as a method of learning about the children's life world. I was particularly interested in who the child perceives as close to him, how the child's perception of his lifeworld differs according to the child's age or developmental stage, how the child defines himself at different developmental stages, what the child interprets as important events in his life, and how drawing can help us in our discussion with the child. The population in my study is children aged 3 to 9 years. My sample consists of ten children, five preschool children and five school children.
I have discovered that children perceive their family members to be the people who live with them. Children find it easier to list the things they can do than the things they cannot do. Children feel safest at home or with their parents. Important events for children are most often linked to relationships with others or to personal achievements. The person with whom a child spends the most time is, in most cases, his mother. Children name grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles, aunts, cousins and godparents as their relatives. Most children know their neighbours and occasionally socialise with them. In most cases, children like to go to kindergarten or school. More than half of the children attend after-school activities. The number of friends children have is most often between four and six. Children associate friendship with playing together, socialising and being kind. Drawing relaxes the children, which helps them to communicate more easily.
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