Outlined are preliminary findings from a study of computer use by Australian preschool children. Subjects were 90 children of 4 years who were enrolled in four Sydney preschool classes. A computer was set up in a learning center and was available to the children during free play sessions. Children's behaviors were observed and recorded as the…

This paper summarizes how Chomsky's methodological principles of linguistics may be applied to the clinical interpretation of children's play. Based on Chomsky's derivation of a "universal grammar" (the set of essential, formal, and substantive traits of any human language), a number of hypothesized formal universals of…

Children are encouraged early in life to adopt socially appropriate sex-role activities and behaviors. Parents influence their children's behavior and attitudes through the toys they choose for the children and the toy play they sanction. The term androgynous is used to indicate the blending of masculine and feminine characteristics. This study…

The manual is intended to provide suggestions for play to parents of young children with exceptional educational needs. Nineteen types of activities are described and pictured, including make believe with boxes, dress-up activities, kitchen play, bubbles, small motor activities using beans and buttons, use of throw-away materials, painting,…

The ways in which fathers and mothers communicate with and teach their 6-month-old first-born infants were compared. Twenty-two white, middle class mothers and fathers were videotaped interacting with their infants (11 male, 11 female) on 10 tasks. Trained observers coded the parents' interaction with their infants on the following variables:…

What children do in play is simultaneously influenced by the properties of the play object and the skills of the child. Properties of objects lend themselves to re-engagement in investigative play or support for shared action. Repeated play with particular objects increases the number of actions possible with these objects. The process of…

There are many forms of outdoor learning. In the UK outdoor adventures, residential centres, field studies, Forest School and play in the outdoors are all available to some extent for the three to eleven age group. Each type has distinct aims and purposes but there are however some commonalities which may point to what the special nature of the…

The current study was initated as an attempt to further inquiry, in which the child comes to perceive and make attributions to social others, by examining the developmental changes in the bases for such perception. (Author/RK)

Provided are sample lesson plans for a program to develop pre-language skills in profoundly retarded children and adults. Characteristic of the suggested activities is the stimulation of all sensory channels through structured infant-like play activities in five general areas: oral stimulation, sensory arousal, motor stimulation, vocal play, and…

Eight girls and 8 boys, 4 years of age, were individually administered two measures of role-taking skill (empathy and spatial egocentrism), a measure of classification ability and a measure of sociometric popularity. Activity during free play was also observed. Results support Smilansky's (1968) beliefs concerning the ontogenesis of play in young…

The study compared the motor activities and environmental interactions of 36 sighted, partially sighted, and blind children (7 to 13 years old) during unstructured play. Objectives were to assess motor proficiency level; to establish frequency and kind of gross motor, manipulative self stimulation, and social/play behaviors; and to assess use of…

To investigate the development of symbolic play, 18 Japanese normal boys and girls were individually tested once every even-numbered month from when they were 12 to 24 months of age. Symbolic play was generally defined as behavior which represents actual or imagined experience by using objects, gesture or language alone or in combination. The…

This study examines the potential of adult-guided sociodramatic play for improving children's interpersonal problem-solving skills. Nineteen females and 21 males from 3 separate kindergarten classrooms participated in the study. Within each of the three classrooms, children were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. For both…

An attempt is made to demonstrate that major theories of children's outdoor play reveal the social class biases of their originators. Most modern play theory is enclosed in the individualism of Western philosophy; its emphasis on the voluntary, the solitary, and the creative are seen as indications of its cultural relevance to people of higher…

A variety of classroom activities are offered in this paper as ways of exercising children's imaginations. Following a discussion of the need for developing creative thinking in children, some ways to establish the freedom or atmosphere to begin fantasies are offered and a guided fantasy technique for classroom use is outlined. The second half of…