A study was conducted to test the hypothesis that spontaneous mastery would predict infant functioning on the Bayley Mental Development Index better than would infants' executive capacity scores. At 12 and 18 months of age, 38 infants (20 from Pennsylvania and 18 from Bermuda) were observed for 30 minutes in their homes while engaging in…

Five preschool-age boys participated in a study of the effects of detailed and nondetailed toys on solitary creative play. In contrast to detailed, high-structure toys, nondetailed, low-structure toys were hypothesized to enhance creative play. In a multi-element design taking place over 13 daily sessions, detailed and nondetailed toys were…

Investigated 19 primary school children's behavior on a school bus through naturalistic observation prior to and during the use of experimental "bus teachers" who provided safe play materials and conducted activities designed to enhance the bus experience. (ED)

A large body of research documents the positive impact of sociodramatic play on children's language development. Through the social interaction that takes place during sociodramatic play, children develop the ability to express thoughts in a logical sequence, share ideas about events in which there is not shared context, and develop vocabulary.…

Explores the possibility that "make-believe" violence on television affects children less than "real" violence, concluding that children's perceptions of violence differ from those of adults. (RB)

Appropriate play with toys was studied in two autistic children (8 and 6-years-old) with high occurrences of self-stimulatory behavior. (Author/CL)

In order to influence motivation and children's creativity, some attractive methods were introduced into the classical contents of the usual program of material (Serbocroatian) language and literature and other subjects in the curriculum planned for the third grade. Work on a tale was carried out in an atmosphere of slightly transformed space in…

This report reviews a practicum designed to study and address problems of the physical play environment of a preschool which served children of 2 to 5 years. The goals of the practicum were to: (1) increase the amount of time children spent in physical play activities; (2) enhance the play environment by the addition of at least 10 pieces of…

In an effort to clarify some of the problems educators have in understanding children's play behavior, a half-hour-long episode of two 4-year-old girls playing with newsprint, paints, and brushes at an easel is described. The episode showed how ephemeral yet recognizable play can be. The idea of countours is used to describe play behavior in its…

Questions concerning the ontogeny of the planning process and its role in the regulation of behavior have been markedly absent from the literature. The present study examines the planning done during solitary play by middle-class children from four public nursery schools in Athens, Greece. One hundred preschool children in five age groups (42, 48,…

The primary purpose of this study was to compare, from a social/cognitive perspective, computer free play with more traditional preschool free play. Secondary objectives were to find out whether there were gender differences in the duration and type of computer play and whether receptive language differences or sociometric status affected the use…

The purpose of this study was to describe preschool teachers' interventions during children's free play. A Weberian sociological framework was used to examine (1) what happens when teachers intervene into children's play, (2) teachers' beliefs and thus their decisions about play, and (3) the relationship between these issues. Three preschool…