This questionnaire offers a form that can be used for the evaluation of the role of adults in children's play. The form focuses on adult support of the child's point of view, choice of activities and materials, and psychosocial needs. (SH)

Discusses purposes and effectiveness of indoor climbing structures and offers general safety guidelines. Provides a guide to products from 14 companies. The guide describes the equipment, age and weight range, guarantees, price range, and shipping. Addresses, telephone, and FAX numbers of each company are listed. (SH)

Seven experiments tested 18- to 36-month-old children's understanding of adult pretense. Results indicated that children understood when adults referred to make-believe substances or made make-believe substitutions; appropriately directed their pretend actions; understood the causal consequences of imaginary actions; produced suitable remedial…

Assessed the interactions of preschooler dyads during two play sessions one year apart. Found that dyads' scores on measures of positive social orientation, cohesiveness, and control were correlated across time and that coordinated play and positive social orientation were more salient at time two than time one. (BC)

Reviews the role of social interaction in literacy knowledge construction and the importance of the enrichment of the classroom environment in promoting literacy interactions. Describes the information about writing embedded in a group of kindergartners' interactions during play. (RS)

The relation of compliance to comprehension in toddlers of 12-18 months was studied. Requests were made to children in naturalistic play situations, and children's responses were coded. Significant shifts in the categories of compliance-comprehension and noncompliance-noncomprehension were found. (BC)

Eighteen handicapped and six nonhandicapped preschool children were observed during free play time. Children engaged in social behavior more often when playing with toys classified as social toys compared to isolate toys, and the incidence of social play was higher in integrated groups than in nonintegrated groups. (Author/JDD)

Uses the emergent goals framework of G. Saxe (1991) to illustrate how the mathematical problems that emerge in children's play of Monopoly are interwoven with their developing competencies and social interactions. Findings from six groups of four children each, ranging in age from 8 to 14 years, show that the mathematics that emerged during play…

Illustrates how children's "poetic voices in action" provide context for the writing of poetry. Describes how the author taped hours of classroom interaction and the talk that surrounded the children's writing, browsing, reading and performance of poetry. Shares examples of reflective voices at play. Examines ways in which teachers can…

Five experiments tested whether children understand pretense intentions before they understand pretense mental representations. Findings revealed that children did not understand that intention is crucial to pretense. Various methodological factors that might have compromised results such as force choice versus yes-no questions or using a…

Maintains that Lillard's and Joseph's articles provide an example of how apparently divergent empirical results may turn out to reflect interesting differences between children and adults. The researchers agreed that for young children, pretense is often, but not necessarily, intentional and neither found evidence for a representational…

Studied the role of popular culture in the literacy curriculum by focusing on superhero role play by 57 6- and 7-year-olds. Findings suggest that superhero play is strongly attractive to girls, who explore agency and autonomy through such plays. (SLD)

Children recognize two kinds of classroom play: instrumental play organized by teachers for academic purposes; and illicit play stressing surreptitious, unsanctioned activities like whispering and clowning around. Each is associated with a particular form of classroom community. This article considers how the nature of classroom play influences…

Presents a therapeutic model in which the mental-health counselor functions as a play therapist with children who have been sexually abused. The therapy is based on existential, client-centered, and developmental theories and it relieves the emotional distress of sexual abuse through a variety of expressive-play materials. (RJM)

Studied 2-year olds' understanding of pretense expressions of independent agency in scenarios in which a doll acted as the agent of a series of pretend events. Found no gender differences in the doll's imaginary intentions, but older toddlers performed reliably better than younger. Episodes requiring enacting conclusions to events that began with…