Describes use of play crates, containers holding items that connect activities to a particular theme, in the outdoor classroom. Describes using crates to plan more creatively, enhance children's independence, and build spontaneous and individual interests. Provides direction in assembling and implementing play crates, and extending outdoor…

Used Lausanne Triadic Play paradigm to examine the stability and predictive validity of cooperative, moderate, collusive, and disordered triadic family alliances during play in infancy. Triadic alliances describe families' fulfillment of functions of participation, organization, focal attention, and affective contact during play. Found that…

Investigated relations among child and classroom factors, and observations of 48 typical and 22 special-needs preschoolers in teacher-directed group play. Found girls were more likely than boys to play cooperatively in teacher-directed groups; special-needs children were more likely to play with a teacher and less likely to play cooperatively with…

Two experiments examined effects of play group composition (segregated or integrated), type of play materials, and group size (2 or 4 children) on language use of 24 preschool children with disabilities. Group composition and type of play materials had no significant effects. Group size had a significant multivariate effect on utterance rate and…

Discusses the psychological influence and adverse health effects of political terror and community violence on the minds and bodies of children. Claims that a posttraumatic assessment of these children is a critical dimension of clinical treatment. Proposes a treatment approach to alter the child's cognitive theories of self, trauma, and world.…

Compared conflict resolution patterns of mildly developmentally delayed preschoolers to those of older and younger typically developing children matched for age or developmental level. Analysis of naturally occurring conflicts showed that delayed children exhibit more negative and less adaptive interaction style, even compared to typically…

Naturalistic observations were made of children in grades one through six on school playgrounds. Observers coded interactive behaviors, affective valence, and play states. Aggressive children displayed more verbal and physical aggression, antisocial behaviors, and interaction than did nonaggressive children. Peers made similar initiations to the…

This review of school playtime literature finds that school play has gained serious recognition only in the last decade; that recognition generally falls into two camps, the romantic view (emphasizing what children learn and enjoy at playtime) and the problematic view (emphasizing issues such as bullying, disruptive behavior, and gender…

Used Smilansky and Parten/Piaget play measures to assess social class and sex differences in Singapore preschoolers' play at home and preschool centers. Found that parallel and functional play were higher at home than in centers and associative/cooperative play was higher in centers than homes. Smilansky scores were higher at centers than homes,…

Discusses the recommendations of a federal advisory committee to the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board for minimum standards of accessibility at play areas. According to the board, a proposed rule addressing accessibility guidelines will come out in late 1996. (MLF)

Compared children's play with transformational objects (vehicles that change to robots) to play with representational objects (cars and figures). Found that those playing with transformers engaged in more parallel play and manipulative activity, while those with representational objects displayed more social play and more symbolic play. Found no…

Notes that holistic approaches to learning through play may not be universally effective with all children. Reviews studies in this journal issue, noting the absence of socioeconomic status as a variable, and questions raised by their results in the context of applying them to increasingly diverse populations. (HTH)

Possible antecedents of toddler gender separation were studied with 57 toddlers with a mean age of 35 months. There were no differences between gender-segregating and nonsegregating children regarding gender toy preferences or gender awareness, but teachers saw gender-segregating girls as more socially sensitive. (SLD)

Explains how high-level play is an instructional strategy that builds language, vocabulary, and underlying cognitive skills necessary for children to become successful readers and writers. Notes that high-level play in the classroom occurs in two major areas, manipulative materials play and dramatic play. Explains that in dramatic play the teacher…

Studies low income special education students decided on a theme/story line/subject for an improvisational drama and developed it into a radio play. Concludes that drama is one effective way to find out what quiet people may have to tell educators about themselves and about complex situations and problems that need to be heard and analyzed before…