한민족 아동의 놀이는 사회의 경제발전 시기에 따라서 차이가 있을 것이라는 가정 아래 한국, 중국과 북한에 거주하는 한민족 아동의 놀이와 놀이가사를 조사한 자료를 분석하여 아동의 놀이가 사회의 경제발전에 따라서 소박한 신체놀이에서 점차 인터넷 게임 등 영상놀이로 이행되는 공통적 변화 양상을 밝혔다.

The purpose of this study was to compare the kinds of plays and the meanings of words in play songs among children of Han heritage. A total of three data sets were used. Data for two of the data sets were obtained from only South Korean children in 1990 and 2005, respectively, while the other data set contained responses from South Korean, Chinese Korean, and North Korean children collected in 1999. The three societies of Han heritage differed in the level of economic and industrial development and ideological orientation, and each society tended to socialize and educate their children in different ways. The kind of plays and the lyrics of the play songs were different in each stage by the level of economic and industrial development, and ideological orientation. In each society, a dominant play changed periodically. For instance, physical play decreased while television, video, and internet game plays increased. The increase in internet game play was related to the level of industrial development. Although three groups shared some common play songs prior to 1945, they have developed their own play songs after 1945 according to their respective social ideological characteristics. Notwithstanding these differences in play songs, common themes, materials, rhythms, and the Korean emotionality exist across all groups.