ABSTRACT
Few familiar with young children can doubt the extraordinary motivating power of two connected themes: story and ‘sociodramatic play’. School yards used to ring with the sound of ‘cops and robbers’; now it is more likely to be ‘Thunderbirds’ or ‘Ghostbusters’. Once I lived next to a family whose children spent much time in their garden. I think the parents had some religious pretensions; at any rate over the hedge I frequently overheard rich dialogue from the children involving angels and the devil in addition to a glittering range of more earthly characters. These ‘games’ were characterized by a total and extended involvement of the players. They happily negotiated their respective roles, and the events which were to take place, switching in and out of role to effect the planning. The same story sequence would be repeated again and again.
