Examined 22 Head Start teachers' involvement in activity settings, their roles, and their talk during free play. Found that teachers were most often in the role of play enhancer/playmate and stage manager. Teachers spent most time in constructive and manipulative activity settings. Their talk focused most often on statements and questions…

Considers aspects of talk into telephones by young children in play. Examines expression of the incorporation of recognition of another's perspective, a movement towards recontextualization of language from the primary conversational contexts of joint environment, and experiences reflected in face-to-face talk on here-and-now topics with familiar…

A veteran adventure educator offers pearls of wisdom: identify those people who want/need to meet, and encourage them to do that; identify something that no one else wants to do, and do it well; failing forward with confidence regularly produces better results than confident discussion; play mitigates fear; a good idea doesn't care who has it; and…

Deplores the trend toward competitive, market-oriented forms of outdoor adventure education that speak of "outcomes,""risk management," and "performance indicators." Discusses children's need for time to play outdoors and develop ecological awareness and sense of place through sensory experiences. Calls for outdoor…

By carefully planning for outdoor play, adults can help ensure that outdoor experiences are challenging and safe for young children. Creative outdoor play should encourage healthy risk taking; offer graduated challenges; include variety in types of play; focus on child-centered and child-planned activities; and include the use of moveable…

Videotaped four- and five-year-olds playing to investigate conflict emotions during peer disputes. Found that initiators', recipients', and observers' emotions differed in the conflict and postconflict periods. Conflict initiators almost exclusively expressed happiness, whereas conflict recipients expressed mostly sadness and anger. Conflict…

Investigates how children use directives and forms of exclusion to organize play activity. Elementary school children of mixed ethnicity were observed playing jump rope over one month. Girls' dominance in the game was observed to change over time. The ability to use actions that tell others what to do in a very direct fashion in cross-sex…

Investigated young children's ability to talk about representational aspects of pretense. Found that 5-year-olds, but very few 4-year-olds, can explain why certain actions should not be called pretending; young children discriminate between pictures of thinking and pretending based on a depiction of action; and preschoolers are less able than…

Assessed representational abilities in hearing and deaf 2-year-old children of hearing and deaf mothers. Found group differences in expressive and receptive language based on maternal report and on experimenter assessment, but no differences emerged in child solitary symbolic play or in child- or mother-initiated child collaborative symbolic play.…

A study examined appropriateness of the self-monitoring intervention procedure for African children with autism. Tentative comparisons of African data with previously reported data on American children indicated that the concepts underlying the use of self-monitoring as an intervention procedure are relevant and that there was a positive…

Used classification and seriation games over 4 months to teach the oddity principle and insertion into a series to Head Start 4-year-olds during free play. A comparison group participated in free play without the teacher-directed classification and seriation games. At the conclusion, intervention students were significantly better than comparison…

This retrospective study incorporating drawing and group discussion examined the memories of 478 university students in Sweden regarding their play at 4 age periods: 3-6 years, 7-12 years, 13-18 years, and adult. Findings indicated that ages 7-12 years were especially important for play memories: people, place, and interaction were all considered…

Describes toys presented at the Tokyo Toy Fair in 1999 that use technology to allow users to take more creative control. Discusses video games, computerized toys, toy robots, and high tech learning aids and simulation techniques, and considers them in light of the Montessori philosophy of learning how to learn. (JPB)

Discusses problems with computer use by young children, including activation of neural pathways that hinder learning and a drop in emotional competence. Argues that instead of television and computer time, children need open-ended play time, concrete materials such as board games and building toys, and interaction with caring adults. (JPB)

Addresses the concept of "play as a child's work," from the viewpoints of Montessori, Freud, and Piaget. Contends that children's play: (1) like adult play, may be individual or social; (2) has immediate value for the child as a way of expressing feelings; and (3) is a healthy counterpoise to work. (SD)