Children aged 2 1/2, 3, and 3 1/2 years who had demonstrated appropriate uses for a set of objects, were asked to perform these same actions with objects which varied in similarity in the reference object, or with no object present. (JMB)

Twenty-six precocious preschoolers exhibited high frequencies of dramatic and associative play. Girls engaged in more cooperative and less solitary play than boys. Elder children participated in more solitary, parallel, and less cooperative and less dramatic play than younger peers. The higher intelligence quotient group undertook less…

Used traditional housekeeping and novel dramatic play centers to compare the effects of theme, novelty, and duration on the social and cognitive play of two- to five-year olds. More dramatic play was observed in centers that used familiar rather than unfamiliar themes. Girls preferred traditional to novel centers; boys preferred novel to…

Examined 2- to 5-year-olds' play with peers in their child care classroom and on the playground. Found that children were more likely to engage in interactive dramatic play outdoors than indoors. Outdoors, older children were more likely to interact with peers than were younger children. Outdoors offered older children functional and dramatic play…

This paper describes two projects analyzing forms of appearance and the characteristics of symbolic play, that is, spontaneous play free from adult intervention. The paper highlights some characteristics and theoretical orientations and discusses preliminary findings. The theoretical framework includes using evolutive cognitive and…

Two studies were conducted to determine the effects of specific learning centers on preschoolers' functional uses of language. It was hypothesized (1) that different centers would elicit different functions of language and (2) that contexts which promote fantasy play would elicit more multifunctional utterances than would other contexts. In the…

Presents results from ethnographic study on children's everyday life in Finnish daycare centers. Raises question of the relationship between play and real life, and analyzes play and playfulness as communicative resources used by children in creating everyday routines. Argues play is not a separate children's world; by using play, children also…