ABSTRACT
This chapter explains that free play and the play studied in almost all the post-Piaget studies cited differ crucially. Fear of objects could be conquered through play. Jean Piaget identified stages of development in the kinds of things the children did with objects. Play is studied as an isolated skill. The way the object felt created a new reality for the 3-year-olds. Piaget argued that, usually, children under the age of about 7 were trapped by immediate sensations and could not conceive of a difference between appearance and reality. The chapter claims that, after Piaget's pioneering research, too much effort has been devoted to isolating the cognitive aspects of play without any consideration of the actual environment it blossoms in. It shows that.
