Caroline Pratt, the founder of the City and Country School, is one of the few educators who tried to work out a program that would engage and develop students' imaginations. Along with other progressive educators, however, she has been criticized for her child-centeredness, that is, valuing children's spontaneity at the expense of planning and…

We greatly appreciate the astute comments on Lillard et al. (2013) and the opportunity to reply. Here we point out the importance of keeping conceptual distinctions clear regarding play, pretend play, and exploration. We also discuss methodological issues with play research. We end with speculation that if pretend play did not emerge because it…

In this essay Amy Shuffelton considers Jean-Jacques Rousseau's suspicion of imagination, which is, paradoxically, offered in the context of an imaginative construction of a child's upbringing. First, Shuffelton articulates Rousseau's reasons for opposing children's development of imagination and their engagement in the sort of imaginative play…

Since 1992 C. J. Rogers has lived with wolves and studied their societies at Raised by Wolves, a licensed, nonprofit research sanctuary situated in a high valley of New Mexico's Zuni Mountains, not far from the Four Corners. Rogers, who has taught at Northeastern Illinois University and Western New Mexico University, holds doctorates in both…

Vivian Gussin Paley is a teacher, writer, lecturer, and advocate for the importance of play for young children. Author of a dozen books about children learning through play, she has received numerous honors and awards including an Erickson Institute Award for Service to Children, a MacArthur Foundation Fellows award, and a John Dewey Society's…

Real play--play that is initiated and directed by children and that bubbles up from within the child rather than being imposed by adults--has largely disappeared from the landscape of childhood in the United States. There are many reasons for this, such as the long hours spent in front of screens each day or in activities organized by adults. In…

Presents arguments based on the writings of John Dewey which offer support for the continued use of computers in classrooms. Topics discussed include a philosophy for computers in education; the meanings and values of tools, including meaning as a social construct; and imagination and play. (Contains four references.) (LRW)

Reviews Josephs's (1998) article connecting play as a discourse in metaphorical transformations with narrative and identity development, focusing on using narrative as a discourse of accounting for self and others in space and time and the role of self-thematization, death, and play in development. Concludes that Josephs advocates the cancellation…

The intent of this article is to describe the basic processes used by the child in order to create and imagine; to explain the significance of objects for encouraging creativity, imagination, and intellectual growth; and to show how creative thinking is nurtured using the world of objects. Five reasons are advanced to support the claim that the…

Describes four types of play training that teachers can use to help children incorporate into their play the elements of role playing, make-believe transformations, social interaction, verbal communication, and persistence. Types of play training include modeling, verbal guidance, thematic-fantasy training, and imaginative play training. Using…

Discusses three developmental theories of sensorimotor play--Piagetian theory, psychoanalytic theory, and symbolic interaction theory. The relationships among the theories are explored. (CM)

Raises concerns about whether literacy-enriched play in early childhood settings is really play. Presents a vignette to illustrate how a teacher can model literacy unobtrusively, thereby enhancing literacy, but unwittingly draw children away from meaningful play activities. Differentiates the cognitive processes involved in play and literacy…

Learning through the arts has the potential to stimulate open ended activity that encourages discovery, exploration, experimentation and invention, thus contributing to children's development in all areas of learning and helping to make the curriculum meaningful to them. In this book, the author draws on her extensive experience of promoting young…

Through examples of both a child's imagination and pretend play activities, demonstrates how a child's imagination is the thinking function that sets the stage for play, while actual play consists of a child's understanding and representation of reality. (HOD)

Well meaning parents and teachers often use children's play for the purposes of literacy and socialization. Yet, these attempts may deny play to children by subordinating play to some other concept. Evidence shows that even when parents play with their very young children they generally play games like shopping, cooking, and eating; whereas when…