# Validating the Effectiveness of a Large Language Model-based Approach for Identifying Children's Development across Various Free Play Settings in Kindergarten

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.03369 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.03369/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 10 of its 57 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 6 May 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 10 of 10)

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- [Qwen Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.16609/) (2023)
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- [DialoGPT: Large-Scale Generative Pre-training for Conversational Response Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.00536/) (2019)
- [A Systematic Survey of Prompt Engineering in Large Language Models: Techniques and Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.07927/) (2024)
- [Challenges and Applications of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.10169/) (2023)
- [Leveraging Pre-trained Checkpoints for Sequence Generation Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.12461/) (2019)
- [How to Train Data-Efficient LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.09668/) (2024)
- [Can You Trust LLM Judgments? Reliability of LLM-as-a-Judge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.12509/) (2024)
- [GPT-3-driven pedagogical agents for training children's curious question-asking skills](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.14228/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [When AI Meets Early Childhood Education: Large Language Models as Assessment Teammates in Chinese Preschools](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.24389/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Free play is a fundamental aspect of early childhood education, supporting children's cognitive, social, emotional, and motor development. However, assessing children's development during free play poses significant challenges due to the unstructured and spontaneous nature of the activity. Traditional assessment methods often rely on direct observations by teachers, parents, or researchers, which may fail to capture comprehensive insights from free play and provide timely feedback to educators. This study proposes an innovative approach combining Large Language Models (LLMs) with learning analytics to analyze children's self-narratives of their play experiences. The LLM identifies developmental abilities, while performance scores across different play settings are calculated using learning analytics techniques. We collected 2,224 play narratives from 29 children in a kindergarten, covering four distinct play areas over one semester. According to the evaluation results from eight professionals, the LLM-based approach achieved high accuracy in identifying cognitive, motor, and social abilities, with accuracy exceeding 90% in most domains. Moreover, significant differences in developmental outcomes were observed across play settings, highlighting each area's unique contributions to specific abilities. These findings confirm that the proposed approach is effective in identifying children's development across various free play settings. This study demonstrates the potential of integrating LLMs and learning analytics to provide child-centered insights into developmental trajectories, offering educators valuable data to support personalized learning and enhance early childhood education practices.