Describes how narratives can stimulate children's play and how it is possible to create playworlds. Shows how cultural context has a positive influence on children's quest for meaningful action. Asserts that a child's imagination is captured by the narrative, which gives objects and actions their meaning. Maintains that when adults play roles and…

The use of play therapy with mentally retarded children and adults is examined. The lack of research on the topic is noted, and information on psychoanalytically oriented play therapy approaches are reviewed. Application of play therapy to mentally retarded clients is explored in terms of two questions: (1) at what level do mentally retarded…

A total of 64 preschool children were assigned to one of three conditions--fantasy play, play, or imitation--with common objects, or to an alternative-materials group. Subjects were tested for associative fluency for familiar and novel objects, both immediately and after a delay of one week. No significant main effects for condition were found.…

Pretend play is often undervalued and ignored. This videotape and accompanying booklet highlight how the dramatic scenarios, microworlds, storytelling, and block building of pretend play provide young children the opportunity to develop skills for a lifetime of intellectual, social, emotional, and creative development. The booklet describes the…

Ten adolescents with and 10 without disabilities were asked about their perceptions and experiences of play. The following themes emerged: the nature of play, environmental barriers and supports, and individual differences in play experiences. Results support a client-centered approach in which client values and attitudes are incorporated into…

Recent research provides evidence of the strong connections between quality of play in preschool years and children's readiness for school instruction. Mature play, characterized by imaginary situations, multiple roles, clearly defined rules, flexible themes, language development, length of play, helps students' cognitive development. (Contains 12…

Contends that, in childhood, work and play seem to come together. Says that for young children their play is their work, and the more adults encourage children to play, the more they emphasize important lifelong resource. Examines some uses of children's play, making and building, artwork, dramatic play, monsters and superheroes, gun play, and…

Describes the rule structure within which 3- to 5-year-olds operate as they develop social pretend skills. Identifies implicit and explicit rules supported with narrative excerpts. Explicit rules include having a leader who suggests the plot, asking to play, taking a role in the pretend sequence, and playing fairly. Implicit rules include…

This article looks anew at the important role of physically active, outdoor play in children's social and cognitive development and the role of adults in supporting active, child-directed outdoor play. The authors describe the concept of play ecologies to highlight how children experience their environment as enlivened by their interactive…

Over the last four decades, electronic games have profoundly changed the way people play, learn, and connect with each other. Despite the tremendous impact of electronic games, however, until recently, relatively few programs existed to preserve them for future generations of players and researchers. Recognizing the need to save the original…

The research in this dissertation examined the language and literacy practices of middle school children as they played Gamestar Mechanic, a game-based learning environment constituted by a flash-based multiplayer online role-playing game designed to introduce them to the Discourse of game designers, by exposing them to key principles and…

For the last five decades, the medial temporal lobes have been generally understood to facilitate enduring representation of certain kinds of information. In particular, knowledge about the relations among items and concepts appears to rely on that region of the brain. Recent results suggest that those same structures also play a subtle role in…

The game-based nature of teaching games for understanding means that teachers must be effective observers of game play in order to encourage thinking processes during game play, diagnose the performance problems of participants, and identify solutions. This article briefly reviews the teaching games for understanding (TGFU) approach and describes…

This article describes the story of the bridge. The story illustrates the essence of outdoor experiences for children from the perspective of the classroom teacher. The children's ideas, images, and words are extremely meaningful, demonstrating that children are very capable at even young ages when supported by adults. Teachers support the theory…