The aim of this research is to study the effects of dividing a childcare room into several small spaces which provide a calm environment suitable for play, with a specific focus on how one-year old children moved in the newly-partitioned room. We examined the characteristics and background of the movement of children by paying attention to situations where childcare teachers or other children were present or not.

It became clear that the presence of childcare teachers and other children in the partitioned childcare room had an influence on the way children in the one-year old class chose to play. In addition, in order to carefully plan the provision of a calm environment suitable for play for children in small spaces, the perspectives that are considered to be important are, (1) a place where childcare teachers and children's peers are present and, (2) play contents that make use of a small space.