Abstract

The main purpose of this research is determine the thoughts of 5 year old children about the activities implemented in preschool education instutions and to determine the needs of children through these thoughts. The case study pattern was used from qualitative research patterns in accordance with the purpose of the research. The study group was formed the principle of easy accessibility in mind and included 42 children, 19 of whom were girls and 23 of whom were boys, who attended preschool education in Göztepe district, Kadıköy district, İstanbul province during the fall-spring semester of the 2017-2018 academic year. The data was collected through a semi-structured interview form created by the researchers. Descriptive analysis was used in the analysis of the data obtained at the end of the data collection process and frequency and percentage values were determined in order to express the data obtained with numerical values. As a result of the study, children’s favorite activities were art, play, math, movement, science, and drama respectively. Close to all of the children involved in the research have their favorite activities in the classroom. A few of the children wanted to do their favorite activities in the classroom, while more than half said they wanted to do their favorite activities in garden, outside of classroom. When children asked to design their own day, it is determined that the passive-active balance naturally arises in the activities and that they plan a day that allows them to be more active in their design.