Introduction and Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of play based on divergent and convergent thinking on perceived motor competence, game motivation, and play behavior in children aged 5-6 years during home quarantine.

Method: Participants in this study consisted of 45 children aged 5–6 years who were voluntarily recruited from the city of Saravan during the COVID 19 period.. The method of this research was quasi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design with three groups (divergent game approach, convergent game approach, and control group). The instruments used in this study are Perceived Motor Competence Questionnaire (PMC_C), Game Motivation Questionnaire (CMMQ), and Game Behavior Questionnaire (PPBS). Subjects participated in 18 practice sessions (five minutes of warm-up, 5 minutes of cooling, and 40 minutes of play related to the divergent and convergent thinking approach).

Results: The results of the repeated measures analysis of variance showed a significant difference in perceived motor competence, play motivation, and play behavior among 5–6 year old children in the convergent thinking, divergent thinking, and control groups (p < 0.05). Both experimental groups showed improvement from pretest to posttest; however, the divergent thinking group performed significantly better than the control group in the posttest on perceived motor competence, game motivation, and play behavior.

Conclusion: It is recommended that physical education teachers use nonlinear teaching approaches and divergent thinking–based instruction to enhance children’s perceived motor competence, game motivation, and play behavior.