Background: Engineering play is an emerging framework for understanding young children's constructive block play as an engineering design process. Few studies have evaluated engineering thinking, language, or behavior in preschool-age children, especially quantitative evaluations that systematically document specific early engineering behavior.…

Play materials designed to enhance children's pretense were investigated; namely, how the specific characteristics of the play sets (thematically open-ended village set vs thematically closed-ended train set) influenced children's play communication regarding their co-construction of shared meanings. Participants included 44 7-year-old focal…

This study investigated how specific characteristics of multipiece, miniature, realistic play props (thematically open-ended village set versus thematically closed-ended train set) designed to enhance children's pretense influenced their scenario creativity, object transformations, and the frequency and use of specific internal-state language. The…

Sibling-directed teaching of mathematical topics during naturalistic home interactions was investigated in 39 middle-class sibling dyads at two time points. At time 1 (T1), siblings were 2 and 4 years of age, and at time 2 (T2), siblings were 4 and 6 years of age. Intentional sequences of sibling-directed mathematical teaching were coded for (i)…

Research Findings: Pretend play is an important context that supports young children's developing social-cognitive and creative abilities. The play behaviors of 70 sibling dyads in early and middle childhood were examined for the following indices of creativity in play: (a) play themes (set-up/organization, expected, creative), (b) object use…

Preschool boys' pretense and coconstruction of shared meanings during two play sessions (superhero and generic toys) were investigated with 58 middle-class boys ("M" age = 54.95 mos.). The frequency of dyadic pretense and the coconstruction of shared meanings in the play were coded. The frequency of pretense did not vary across the two…

This study examined siblings' teaching strategies in 72 dyads (firstborn and second born, M ages = 81.64 and 56.31 months) as a function of dyad age, age gap between siblings, and teacher birth order. One child per dyad was randomly assigned to teach her or his sibling to construct a tractor toy. Interactions were coded for the topic of teachers'…

The influence of superhero versus nonsuperhero toys on boys' physically active and imaginative play was studied in 29 dyads (n = 58 middle-class preschool boys; M age = 54.95 mos, SD = 5.28 mos). Each dyad participated in two play sessions: 1) superhero toys (media related) and 2) nonsuperhero (nonmedia related) toys. Dyads were observed for the…

The review of toys and play behaviors notes the existence of two different but somewhat related forms: social play and cognitive play. Nonstructural factors (other than the presence of particular toys) affecting children's play behaviors are examined, as are peer influences on toy use and play. (CL)

This study investigated the effects of prop realism on the play of 24 preschoolers. Observations of play sessions revealed that highly realistic props and low-realism props elicited equal amounts of group dramatic play. However, low- realism props generated greater diversity of play themes, more fantasy role enactments, and more nonintended use of…