본 연구는 스트레스 대처에 어려움을 보이는 유아가 모래상자놀이 과정에서 어떻게 자신의 심리적 문제를 표현하고, 표현 양상이 변화되어 가며, 모래상자놀이의 적용 효과는 어떠한지를 분석해 보는데 목적이 있다. 연구 대상 유아는 6년 3개월 된 남아 1명으로 주의산만, 반복적인 일탈행동, 스트레스에 예민한 문제로 의뢰해 온 유아였다. 연구절차는 모래상자놀이 도구 준비, 모래상자놀이 실시, 모래상자놀이 표현, 평가 순으로 진행되었다. 모래상자놀이도구는 Kalff(1966)이 제시한 방법에 따라 2012년 6월 20(수) ~ 10월 15일(월)동안 20회의 모래상자놀이를 실시하였다. 모래상자놀이 표현은 매회 진행하면서 유아의 행동 특성을 기록한 일화기록, 사진, 비디오 촬영, 유아의 놀이평가 등을 종합하여 모래상자놀이의 변화과정을 중심으로 분석하였다. 연구결과 모래상자놀이는 스트레스 대처에 어려움을 보이는 유아가 자신이 가지고 있는 스트레스 상황을 자연스럽게 모래상자놀이에 표현하면서 자신의 문제를 직면하며 억압에서 바람직한 방향으로 스트레스를 대처하고자 하는 힘의 표출이 내면에서 생겨나는 과정을 경험하고 있음을 알 수 있었다.

The present study was to explore the effects of sand-box play, how a child who has difficulty in stress-coping expresses his psychological status in the sand-box play and how the contents of his expression change in the process of play. For the purposes, following research questions were set up: 1. How does a child who has difficulty in stress-coping express his psychological status in the sand-box play? 2. How is the effect of sand-box play on a child who has difficulty in stress-coping? Participants were child and researcher. The subject was six-year-old male child. His teacher at the daycare center reported that he showed attention deficit and repetitive delinquent behavior such as rule transgressions, even though he knew the rules. He was also likely to avoid confronting conflicts and expressing his emotional expression. Especially, he had difficulty in coping with his own stress. The researcher was major in early childhood education in college and had 11 years of work experiences as an in-service teacher. She is in the process of learning developmental counseling in graduate school and completed the basic education. Also she has gotten supervision from a developmental expert and a sandplay expert. This study had been conducted in the sequence of the preparation of the sand-box tools, the administration of the sand-box play, the expression in the sand-box play, and the evaluation. The sand-box tools contain sand, a sand-box and play materials, which are followed by Kalff(1966). The sand-box play therapy was total 20 sessions from June 2012 to October 2012, in which 10 sessions(1st to 10th session) were implemented once a week, and the other 10 sessions(11th to 20th session) were implemented three times two weeks. The expression of sand-box play was analyzed by synthesizing the anecdotal documentations of children's behavioral characteristics in each session, photographs, videotape transcriptions and a child's self-evaluation of the play, focusing on the changing process of the play. Also, the evaluation of the sand-box play was focused on the changing process, which was analyzed on the aspect of psychological behavioral characteristics. The instruments used in this were study Korean Preschool Daily Stress Scale(KPDSS), Korean-Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Ⅲ(K-WISC-Ⅲ), Bender-Gestalt Test(BGT), Kinetic Family Drawing(KFD), Self-Esteem Scale for young children, Self-Efficacy Inventory and Children`s Playfulness Rating Scale. The results of the study were as follows: First, When inspecting the expression of sand-box play, at the 1st session to the 5th session, the overall impression was rather poor, mechanical and routine. The sand-box was filled with play materials in disorder. He not only allocated the space but also utilized the whole space in the sand-box. In the case of the play theme, even though he had difficulty in setting the theme, the theme was usually fight, mother, father or younger sister. He often used vehicles as play materials, though, his play showed an inconsistent pattern, the lack of integrity and dynamics. His ego-development stage showed ‘The AnimalsㆍVegetative Phase’. At the 6th session to the 16th session, play contents were the disorder, the confusion, the confrontation and the struggle. In the use of the space, he utilized the whole sand-box space. Moreover, there was a change of being more dynamic play. The play themes was family, motorcycle, robot, car racing, Jeju-do, foreign country, zoo, museum, accident or storm. He often used vehicles as play materials, and the movement of the vehicles had consistent directions, dynamics. His ego-development stage showed ‘The Fighting Phase’. At the 17th session to the 20th session, play contents was being more constructive, disappearing the disorder, the confusion, the confrontation and the struggle. In the use of the space, he arranged the left and right sides in zigzags. Moreover, with drawing a circle from the interface, the arrangements were concentrated. In the case of the play themes, even though he had difficulty in setting the theme, the theme was the racing car or the ship to London. Through the process of the play, the problem areas of integrated expressions were being taken out. Also, the play showed strong integrity maintaining the balance of power. His ego-development stage showed ‘The Phase of Adaption to the Collective adjustment ’. Second, when inspecting the psychological test results with the change of the stress-coping, findings of this study were as follows. Before performing the sand-play box, he tended to repress his stressful status, so he pretended not to have any stress. After the sand-play box play, he could recognize the stressful situation and show behavioral characteristics of coping with the stressful status. Moreover, positive changes were found in K-WISC-Ⅲ, BGT, KFD, Self-Esteem Scale for young children and Children`s Playfulness Rating Scale. These results suggest that the sand-box play for a child who has difficulty in stress-coping was helpful to develop strength to cope with the stress in a desirable way by confronting the problem, expressing one's own psychological status in the sand-box play. That means the sand-box play can be available in preschool education for a child with difficulties in stress-coping and the application of sand-box play can be effective in dealing with the psychological problem as a preventive and therapeutic approach.

• 장미화(서울 경인유치원 교사) | Jang, Mi Wha