The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of group size on toddlers' peer interactions and social interactions with mothers. In particular, the study sought to answer the following questions: (1) When both mothers and peers are available to the child, with whom does he/she prefer to play? and (2) Are there differences in the types of…

This guidebook provides an empirically-based set of planning and design guidelines for the construction of winter play facilities for Canadian youth residing in locations where outdoor play in winter is curtailed for approximately 4 months of the year. Information used in developing the guidelines was derived from field observations, a literature…

By participating in their children's imaginative play or pretending, parents may be able to understand better their children's feelings, resolve parent-child conflicts, communicate parental values, and build parent-child relationships based on mutual respect. Many people seem to believe that pretending appears automatically in young children, that…

The findings and recommendations of a study of potential opportunities to convert under-utilized space in multiple residential projects into play spaces for children are reported. On the basis of site visits, informal interviews and discussions with management from a selected and representative sample of 18 residential projects in the Toronto…

First listing and discussing optimal features of playthings for early childhood education, this reference book subsequently describes play activities and equipment appropriate for infant and toddler day care programs as well as specially designed equipment for exceptional children. A chart indicating age-appropriate play and classroom equipment…

This preliminary edition of the International Directory of Child Development Research includes listings for 45 nations. Entries are grouped in the following sections: intranational organizations, international organizations, private institutes, and handicapped children. Names of contact persons, addresses, and institutional affiliations are…

The symbolic representational block constructions of twenty 4-year-olds and twenty 7-year-olds were analyzed from Werner and Kaplan's (1963) theoretical perspective. Each child was read a story and then asked to use the blocks to represent the story. Older children included in their representations a larger number of features that were central to…

The paper reports a project to create a play environment to discourage undesirable behaviors and encourage exploratory play behavior in severely and profoundly retarded institutional residents. It is explained that in addition to information gained from past experience, input from parents, direct-care staff, professionals, maintenance personnel,…

The objectives of this study were (1) to observe and describe the social quality and the cognitive type of spontaneous play exhibited in a group of 20 children in a child care setting during two age periods, toddler (14-30 months) and preschool (30-48 months), and (2) to chart the developmental trends using a model of play complexity derived from…

Educators may find activities for indoor and outdoor winter programs in the games of the traditional Eskimo. These games are dominated by few-step operations and low level structural organization. For the most part they are quickly organized, begun, terminated, and ready to be recommenced. All types of games can be found, including quiet ones,…

Creative dramatics or child-oriented dramatic play is a basic educative process that draws upon the learning strategies developed in children's play and relates them to classroom learning tasks. As a structured play process that encourages children to explore the world in ways familiar to them, creative dramatics relates new experiences to old…

This report reviews research related to effects of the amount and quality of early peer group interaction on the social and cognitive development of young children and briefly describes a preschool playgroup program for geographically isolated Australian families. Research suggests that children from isolated rural areas may perform more poorly…

An analysis of presently existing research indicates a strong relationship between the culture of the black community (which is traceable to an African heritage), childrearing practices of black families, and the learning and expressive styles of black children. In this paper key studies are reviewed that provide information on cognitive styles…

Various procedures for training parents to be play therapists for their own young children are described. In their play encounters with the child parents learn ways of being with the child that show empathy and caring as well as the way their playroom actions toward the child reflect their own conflicts as persons and spouses. This describes a…