The influence of cooperative constructive play on the approaches to learning in 5-6-year-old children

Approaches to learning (ATLs) are domain-general learning behaviors that support children's school readiness. Constructive play is widely used in early childhood education, yet brief interventions that integrate cooperative interaction and structured reflection remain scarce. We developed a cooperative constructive play intervention grounded primarily in social constructivism and examined its effects through a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design. A total of 60 children (aged 5-6 years) from a kindergarten in Shandong, China, were divided into an experimental class (15 girls/15 boys, M age = 5.53 years, SD = 0.37) and a control class (15 girls/15 boys, M age = 5.71 years, SD = 0.36). The intervention lasted 16 weeks (32 sessions; 30 min/session) and aligned three implementation stages with a plan-do-reflect cycle. Children's ATLs were assessed using a task-based observational instrument measuring planning, creativity, persistence, initiative, and reflection. Repeated-measures ANOVAs showed significant time × group interactions for overall ATLs and for planning, creativity, persistence, and reflection, whereas initiative showed no significant interaction. Results suggest that cooperative constructive play may support the development of several key components of ATLs in preschool children.