We have not learned to experience beauty as an essential, pervasive dimension of our actions. Aesthetic sensibility represents the child in us imbued with spontaneity, imagination, and unity of soul and action. This sensibility makes it possible to reevaluate the world in terms of metaphor, image, fantasy, and dreams. (PP)

Combining a scientific and a humanistic approach in a series of essays that draw on both clinical and literary data, this book examines how imaginative play begins and how it develops. From the infant's first smiles and peekaboo games to the toddler's exploration of objects and participation in symbolic and social pretend play, the book traces the…