Assessed cognitive styles of 300 children aged 3-5 years and explored social factors in children's play based on their cognitive style. Field dependent children engaged more often in activities with others and with concrete objects, while field independent children were more involved in restructuring the environment. (RJC)

Observed 28 toddlers' reactions to an adult's programed play overtures. Coordinated responses and alternative overtures increased with age. Words were increasingly used to regulate activity between toddler and adult. (RJC)

Studied 40 parents and their children aged 18-23 months to determine whether parents encouraged involvement with sex-stereotyped toys or avoidance of cross-sex-stereotyped toys, and whether masculine and feminine toys led to different patterns of parent-child interactions. Children showed greater involvement with same-sex than with cross-sex toys.…

Investigates traditional circle games played in 203 public school kindergartens in 35 states. Results indicate that music/movement and racing games were the major game categories; the most common frequency and duration was three times per week for 20 minutes; and the purposes of the games were to have fun, and to foster social, physical motor, and…

Investigated the quality of spontaneous play with sticks, nuts, and bolts in 18 children aged 44 months and the effects of this on a subsequent problem whose solution required 2 sticks to be bolted together. Children who discovered the elongation principle during play were better problem solvers than those who had not. (RJC)

Describes the creation of an arts playground at Queen's University, Ontario (Canada), containing "tools" for children and adults to direct their own explorations in the arts. Discusses how a classroom might function like such a playground, and considers the issues of structure, communication, and evaluation of students' progress. (SV)

Observations of playground behavior of kindergarteners and second- and fourth-grade students suggested that rough-and-tumble play led to games-with-rules for popular children, and to aggression for rejected children. Findings are discussed in terms of possible effects of the sociometric composition of rough-and-tumble play groups. (RH)

Describes Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, a behavioral family therapy approach for the psychological treatment of preschool children and their parents that emphasizes the integration of traditional child play therapy techniques within a behavioral framework of parent-child therapy. Implications for the treatment of a broad range of childhood…

The study found low to moderate correlations between cognitive and play measures for over 200 preschool children classified as mildly retarded, moderately retarded, borderline, and language disordered. Retarded and borderline groups achieved similar mental ages on both measures while language disordered and atypical groups demonstrated marked…

Observed full-term and high- and low-risk preterm infants in toy-centered interactions with their mothers. Found that high-risk infants were more likely than other infants to increase their play complexity when their mothers maintained attention. All infants displayed greater play complexity when their mothers used structured interaction than when…

This paper describes the integration of nine preschool children with blindness into a regular preschool program in Sweden. It focuses on the first introductory period; the children's strategies in orienting within the environment and exploring objects and toys; their participation in play; and their social interaction with sighted peers and…

Forty-eight four-year-olds grouped in quartets of same-sex unfamiliar peers were observed during five play and activity tasks. Found that, although solitary-passive, solitary-active, and reticent behaviors were nonsignificantly intercorrelated, reticence was associated with demonstrations of anxiety and hovering near others; maternal ratings of…

The self-injurious behaviors of nine subjects with developmental disabilities were observed in settings in which play materials, experimenter demands, or social attention were systematically varied. Although there was much between-subject and within-subject variability, higher levels of self-injury were consistently associated with a specific…

This article discusses what play is, why teachers of students with disabilities should be interested in it, how it can be a useful tool in the elementary school classroom, and its beneficial effects in the context of the family. The sequential development of play activities is outlined, and two scales are presented for assessing play development.…

Examined the relationship between variation in 840 children's cognitive activities and child-care quality, interaction with teachers, and children's play activities and attachment security with their child-care teachers. In 7 of the 8 subsamples, 15 to 30% of the variability in cognitive activities could be predicted from positive social…