Piaget's early contribution to theorizing about play is discussed critically with reference to three major interrelated problems. These are: (1) that despite their equipotentiality in Piaget's theory of intelligence, imitation and play are not conceptualized as making an equal contribution to cognition, play taking a subordinate role; (2) that…

A preeminent play-theory scholar reviews a lifetime devoted to the study of play in a lively, even playful, recounting of his illustrious career and some of its autobiographical roots. The author covers the development of his three major theories of play--as a viability variable, as culturally relative play forms, and as a co-evolutionary…

Well meaning parents and teachers often use children's play for the purposes of literacy and socialization. Yet, these attempts may deny play to children by subordinating play to some other concept. Evidence shows that even when parents play with their very young children they generally play games like shopping, cooking, and eating; whereas when…

This study represents the integration of several smaller studies and articles on how the fantasies of children between age 5 and 7 become structured by the socialization pressures of the media and the school and how this helps or hinders the growth of children's own imaginative processes. Paper 1 is a research review and theoretical overview of…

Author focused on play as a useful and essential activity. (Editor/RK)

The present descriptions of play of children two to five are based on the theory that the four processes of understanding include four different emphases: (1) imitation, (2) exploration, (3) prediction, and (4) construction (building, etc.). Therefore, the categories of children's play discussed are transformations of each of these types. Play is…

All forms of play are transformations of four basic modes by which people know the world: copying, analysis, prediction, and synthesis. Transformation involves foregoing the usual outcomes of adapted intelligence for the sake of voluntary control of one's own behavior in games, and for the excitement of novel affective, cognitive and behavioral…

Reviews research on possible contributions of role playing, games and sports, and play to the developmental process, e.g., the inter-relationships between play and creativity. (MBR)

An attempt is made to demonstrate that major theories of children's outdoor play reveal the social class biases of their originators. Most modern play theory is enclosed in the individualism of Western philosophy; its emphasis on the voluntary, the solitary, and the creative are seen as indications of its cultural relevance to people of higher…

This document discusses play behavior. Play is considered by many people to be useless; in fact harmful, as it may impede work. This attitude is related to historical and cultural patterns, particularly the work ethic of Western Civilization. Others consider play to be useful, adaptive activity. Evidence supporting this view is reviewed, including…

This paper, a discussion of papers by Robert S. Randall, Greta Fein, Richard Bauman and Murray Newman, looks at informal learning from an anthropological viewpoint with an emphasis on inversive theory. It is suggested that the irrational elements of informal learning, the combinations of order and disorder, allow children to relate to reality by…

This interpretive book explores some of the contexts in modern American society within which toys seem to be very important and discusses some of the conflicting interpretations regarding those contexts. Part I, which concerns the toy in the family, discusses the toy as bond and obligation, as solitariness, and as consolation. Part II discusses…

Challenging the use of schools for the preservation of selected traditional games, often in conjunction with competitive sports advocated by governments, this paper probes five issues. Are the traditional physical activities really worth preserving and, if so, why? Can such traditional activities actually be manipulated to meet expectations? Which…

Notes the omission of a historical perspective in the research papers in this special issue on prosocial and aggressive play. Maintains that the past several hundred years can be characterized as a time of domesticating children's play, and that more research on rough-and-tumble play is needed. (LB)

Details a study evaluating the construct and concurrent validity of a modified version of the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale (PIPPS), a teacher-rating instrument of interactive play behaviors of preschool children. Use and further study of developmentally appropriate social competencies for African-American Head Start children are discussed.…