A condensed review of the concepts of exploration and play is presented, followed by an outline of the major research findings. From this basis, gaps in the literature and new research directions are discussed. (Author/AM)

Compared the free play activities of children who had attended kindergarten or play-centers, and those who had attended neither. (SB)

The author discusses the psychology of creativity, particularly as it relates to fostering creative expression in the classroom. (SBH)

Explores the hypothesis that play can be a useful preliminary experience for the more advanced problem-solving involved in mathematical concept formation. (Author/RK)

This study analyzed the social interaction sequences and behavioral components of social interaction in two toddler playgroups across a 7-month period. Playgroup number 1 was composed of 6 male toddlers aged 1 year and playgroup number 2 was composed of 6 male toddlers aged 16 months. (JMB)

Contingent praise by classroom teachers was used to cue and reinforce cross-sex cooperative play in 2 nursery school classes of 4-year-old children. Results suggested that previous learning and/or current classroom contingencies may reinforce same-sex playmate choices when teachers do not deliberately reinforce play between boys and girls. (JMB)

This study was undertaken to ascertain which types of listener feedback lead to effective communication by observing how 4-year-olds adapt their speech to a peer listener during free play. (JMB)

This article examines the philosophic basis of play in physical education. Specifically discussed are: (1) current and historical perspectives of play in physical education; (2) why physical educators have an aversion to play in the classroom; (3) and the immediate need for the play-directed experience to be the cornerstone of physical education.…

The Sequential Prompt Reduction Technique (SPRT) was used with a 5-year-old severely retarded boy to develop his play skills. The SPRT has four components: identification of a desired terminal behavior, establishment of task sequences, delineation of prompts, and establishment of a prompt sequence. (DB)

A social interaction intervention program implemented with three groups of preschool hearing-impaired children increased positive interaction, sharing, and conversation. Generalization of skills was observed when toys incorporated into intervention activities were presented during free-play probes. The importance of incorporating generalization…

Relationships between syntactic and semantic aspects of mothers' speech and infants' word acquisition was examined in 27 mother-infant dyads. Results indicated that the more the mother differentiated the complexity of her speech to child and adult, the earlier the child attained 20 words. The more the mother used adult-basic labels in her speech,…

In a recent survey of parents and early childhood professionals the prevalence of war play among children and an increase in the amount of violence in children's play was noted. Outlines how the deregulation of children's television during the Reagan administration has affected children's exposure to violence in children's television programming.…

Describes factor analysis of preschool children's play behavior, as measured by the Smilansky-Parten play matrix. Varimax rotation solution suggests three factors: Dramatic-Constructive Play, Solitary Behavior, and Functional-Constructive Play. Study suggests that these factors represent constructs of preschoolers' play. (Author/RWB)

Investigated predominant kinds of parent-infant play and individual differences in play style. Participants were 24 families of healthy, full-term, firstborn infants, four boys and four girls at each of three ages: 7, 10, and 13 months. (RH)

Considers possible links between development of empathy and some children's spontaneous creation of imaginary companions or situations, citing examples of Agatha Christie's "Autobiography." Questions if such activities show ability to "decenter emotionally." Suggests need for better methods of assessing emotional decentering…