The purpose of this study was to examine the aspects of changes in interactions between toddlers
and an intelligent robot puppy during free play time in the two-year-old classroom in an effort to
shed light on the meaning of the experiences. A robot was put into the two-year-old classroom at a
daycare center located in the city of P, and non-participant observation was made to observe what
experiences the toddlers gained while playing with the robot, and this researcher's note and the
observation data of their teacher were analyzed as complementary data to interpret the results. As a
result, the toddlers considered the robot to be wonderful and felt tense when they explored it in the
initial stage, but they soon started to view it as their attachment figure while they kept taking care
of it voluntarily. And they understood how the robot felt and tried to express it in language, and
this experience served to improve their emotional understanding and empathy skills. The toddlers
expanded their concern for and attachment to the robot into unstructured play with the lapse of
time, and that served as an opportunity for them to adapt themselves to the daycare center. The
findings of the study suggest that unlike other kinds of toys or media, the robot meant more for
the toddlers than a mere object attachment figure.