This article describes teachers' collaborative inquiry into the pretend "bad guy" play of 12 children in a university laboratory preschool classroom in the northeastern United States. The article describes the inquiry process and includes details and documentation of children's decisions, actions, and interactions related to the bad guy…

Oral storytelling supports young children's learning and development differently than stories read aloud from picture books. It gives children an opportunity to exercise their imagination, communicate effectively, enhance their social literacy, and build community in a different way. Oral storytelling encourages a heightened and more sophisticated…

Two major questions were explored by this study: "Will the use of socio-dramatic play increase the use of language?" and, "Will the use of language in fantasy play transfer to a cognitive task?" Results affirmatively answer these questions. (Author)

Documented differences in the quality of play in thematic and housekeeping organizational patterns of the sociodramatic play center in a preschool classroom. Found the thematic organization resulted in higher quality sociodramatic play in which the children enacted more roles outside the home, utilized more aspects of their roles, demonstrated…

The effects of two types of play experiences (constructive and dramatic) on 64 preschool children's perspective-taking performance were studied. (Author/MP)

Disadvantaged preschool children directed in the role-enactment of imaginary stories were found to be superior to control children (who did not engage in role playing) on several measures of social and cognitive development. Fantasy play training resulted in a higher incidence of spontaneous sociodramatic play, higher scores on an interpersonal…

This study compared the quality of preschool children's sociodramatic play in classrooms that used centers for housekeeping role play with those that used centers for various other types of role play. Classroom play sessions in the preschool were videotaped biweekly over the course of the 1992-1993 academic year. These videotapes were then…

Four articles focus on children's make-believe play: (1) "Make Believe Play: Why Bother?" on the role of pretending in early learning; (2) "Fantasy and Exploration: Two Approaches to Playing" on children's imaginative styles; (3) "Infants Don't Pretend, Do They?" about developing play abilities; and (4) "Problems…

Observed the effects of dramatic play center variations on children's social and cognitive play behaviors. Found that solitary-designed centers facilitated more solitary play than group-designed centers; dramatic play increased in the intervention and follow-up housekeeping centers compared to the baseline housekeeping center; and thematic centers…

Systematic efforts at the Arizona State Child Study Laboratory were successful in replacing children's undesirable superhero play with other types of sociodramatic play. Teachers found superhero play undesirable because it was aggressive and noisy and was accompanied by an increase in random activity. Observations indicated that superhero play had…

Preschool educators developed a library media learning and play center to enable children to "experience" a library; establish positive attitudes about the library; and encourage respect for self, others, and property. The center had the following areas: check-in and check-out desk, quiet reading section, computer center, listening center, video…

Superhero play among preschool children appears to be quite different from socio-dramatic play. While exhibiting characteristics of socio-dramatic play, superhero play does not facilitate the development of social or verbal skills. Observations of television programs indicated that superhero play provides little opportunity for verbal reasoning,…

The discourse of Mexican-American preschoolers during sociodramatic play was investigated to learn what the children knew about the social world and how this knowledge was organized in their speech. The theoretical framework for the study was derived from two sources: the psychological construct of the script and the sociolinguistic view of play…

The role of sociodramatic play in children's cognitive, social, and physical development is discussed, drawing on observations of work with parents and their children ages 3-5. The paper focuses on the way the teachers guided and facilitated play taking cues from the children. A training session was provided to the parents on ways to play with…