Music teachers are trained to teach music, but the truth is that they teach children. They must consider the whole child in their teaching. To be successful in school and in life, children need literacy skills. Literacy is naturally developed through music. Within a safe, inviting environment with opportunities for play, children learn when they…

To help teachers understand or evaluate young children's play, six features of play are described. These features, derived from research, are: (1) intrinsic motivation; (2) attention to means rather than ends; (3) nonliteral behavior; (4) freedom from external rules; (5) self rather than object; and (6) active engagement. Related documents from…

This article is a first-hand account of how providing five groups of children with a puzzle helped break down the first-week barriers of school, teach cooperation, and foster discovery. (Editors/JA)

This article suggests that modes of inquiry into sport should be heterogeneous; that there is not only one correct method. (RC)

This article delineates an archetypal approach to drama in education. Participation in drama draws on both conscious and unconscious imaginative capabilities and involves teacher and student in the bedrock of human reaction. Drama could provide us with valuable information concerning archetypes as they unfold in the lives of our children. (MT)

Play materials may be classified according to (1) their characteristics and use (subdivisions of instructional materials, real objects, constructive or creative play objects, and toys), and (2) empirically derived approaches (those developed by L. McCune-Nicholich and T. Yawkey). Educational implications are addressed. (CL)

Observations were made on 16 preschoolers (12 handicapped) regarding frequency of interactions, amount of time preschoolers engaged in toy play, and toy preferences. Results revealed that under conditions in which only social toys were available, children generally engaged in more interactions and less toy play as compared to other conditions.…

Twenty profoundly retarded children (mean chronological age 14 years) were observed while playing with special toys which emitted stimuli when appropriately operated. They were also observed with the toys when the stimuli were unavailable. Ss interacted significantly more with the experimental toys than control toys and engaged in significantly…

Fifteen legally blind preschoolers and 15 sighted controls matched for age, sex, and socioeconomic status were observed with novel and non-novel toys. Analysis of the exploratory behavior revealed no significant differences between the interaction of each group with either toy except in patterns of sensory utilization. (CL)

Observation of imaginative play and scores on measures of ideational fluency, fantasy predisposition, and intelligence for 15 preschoolers revealed that ideational fluency and fantasy predisposition were related to naturally occurring imaginative play behavior. (CL)

Definitions are offered to distinguish natural play from educational play, which is linked to predictable and specific learning experiences for the players. (GW)

All play activity has an aesthetic dimension that is itself beautiful, or is done in pursuit of the beautiful. (RC)

Describes research on procedures implemented to increase the social play of handicapped preschool children. The use of nonhandicapped children as models increased quantity and quality of play in the target population. (DP)