ABSTRACT
The developing child comes under many influences. By the time they are five or six, they start to spend much of their day at school. Iona and Peter Opie, lifelong collectors of children's folklore, have looked more closely at just what goes on at playtime and they reveal a far more complex world and one that is immensely rich in tradition. According to the Opies, the day to day running of playground life involves 'affidavits, promissory notes, claims, deeds of conveyance, receipts and notices of resignation, all of which are verbal and all sealed by the utterance of ancient words which are recognized and considered binding by the whole community'. The study of learning, or rather the impact of experience on development, has always been a central theme in psychology. In revealing the many ways in which children talk to and manipulate each other, we are reminded not only of our own childhood, but also of everyday adult life.
