The imaginative behavior scores of 42 children correlated significantly with their mothers' scores during play sessions, but not across sessions. That children's scores during nursery school times were not related to either mothers' or children's scores during those original sessions suggests the importance of situational factors in preschoolers'…

This paper speculates on conceptual problems that must be at least partially resolved before empirical or pedagogical studies on the impact of role-playing on children's moral education can be undertaken. (MM)

Examined whether spatial classification is discovered during play and if external products of play lead children to use space to represent similarity. Found through two experiments--a longitudinal study of four children's classification behaviors, and the examination of play behavior with two types of objects--that comparison of different kinds…

Notes the limited usefulness of Mulligan's book for student care-providers; its strengths lie in usability for students and instructors; its encouragement of care providers to be reflective, responsive professionals; and in the scope of topics discussed. Examines each book chapter in terms of usefulness for assisting care providers in assuming…

Used a Partially Ordered Scaling of Items method to analyze block construction play in a replication of Innes and King-Shaw's 1985 study. Found several developmental pathways for block play, illustrating the web-like nature of conceptual development. Results suggest a contextual developmental approach to better acknowledge individual diversity in…

Describes the new "basic" preschool program which focuses on enhancing, rather than accelerating, all children's development and enhancing health care. Centered upon Vygotsky's theory of development, such preschool programs focus on play as the leading activity of preschool children, organize the child's material environment, and thereby…

Study results with 82 preschool children show that mothers' and fathers' emotion socialization strategies were different and in some cases differed with the child's gender, and that these reported emotion socialization practices were differentially related to children's behavior during peer play. (SLD)

Focuses on the impact of severe visual impairment on the development of play skills that facilitate concept development and discusses interventions that can enhance play experiences for infants and young children with severe visual impairments. Strategies encourage intrinsic motivation, spontaneity, active engagement, positive effect,…

Three groups of 10 children matched on verbal mental age (either with autism, with Down syndrome, or normally developing) attempted to imitate single pretend acts and a series of pretend acts that formed a script. Although children with autism were best on the single-act imitation, they demonstrated specific difficulties on the script imitation.…

Tested 2,400 three- to five-year olds for cognitive style and observed their play behaviors. Repeated measures multivariate analysis indicated that field-independent children engaged in more play than did field-dependent children. Significant interaction was found for age, cognitive style, and play behaviors. Older field-independent children…

Discusses creativity, play, and nonconformity in children, including the illusion of thought disorder or abnormality, and aspects of everyday creativity, health, and survival. Describes creative divergence, chaotic amplification, the evolution of information, and primitive cognitive processes. Concludes with a discussion of cognitive styles,…

This retrospective study examined play memories from childhood to adulthood of 478 university students between ages 20 and 62 as exhibited in drawings of play memories and questionnaire responses. The study focused on the role of the physical environment and place identity in play memories and individual identity development. Findings showed that…

Examines possible cultural and socioeconomic status (SES) differences in the type, frequency, and complexity of 4- and 5-year-old American and Chinese children's everyday mathematical activities during free play. Results showed neither any differences between the types of mathematical activity American and Chinese children exhibit, nor in the…

Used the Activity Apperception Story Procedure to elicit perceptions of play, work, and learning from 3- to 6-year-olds. Found that children could distinguish play/work and learning/not learning using photographs. While children attended to anticipated cues for justifying their classification of photos, the justification data suggested that the…