ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the domestic play of five children: their play-related interactions with caregivers and the play of very young children at home. It explores caregivers' roles as supporters of the play. The chapter examines engagements where the children acted 'as if', focusing on symbolic play, partly because it is relatively easily agreed upon as different from other play forms, simply requiring that the child be engaged in representational activity with adult reality held more or less at bay. Five families with 30-month-old girls were contacted by local researchers in Thailand, Italy, Peru, the US and Turkey. These toddlers were selected in their local communities by members of an international team of researchers investigating strong and thriving early childhood beginnings. The importance of context in studying play (Roopnarine, Johnson & Hooper, 1994) raises questions about the significance ascribed to play in early childhood education; that is in childcare centres and kindergartens specifically designed for children.
