ABSTRACT

Play in many ways is the quintessential developmental activity of childhood. Play is what young children do and in some ways play is the activity that defines children as different from later developmental periods. Indeed, play is often defined as behaviours in which juveniles engage: if juveniles do it, it must be play. Additionally, most theories of play assume that it is beneficial, though there is widespread debate on the magnitude of the benefits and when during development they occur. Despite these considerations on the magnitude and location of the benefits of play, it is assumed that it does indeed have benefits. Consequently, observations of children at play provide the investigator with insight into child competence in a number of areas (e.g., communication skills, role taking, cooperation, motor coordination). As noted in the first chapter, however, play can be viewed as an imperfect version of mature behaviours that must be learned. The notion that play is used in the assembly of skills and is disassembled when the skill is mastered has been labelled the ‘scaffolding’ view of play (Bateson, 1981) and is consistent with the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky. For example, the role of pretend play would be an aid to children’s learning adult societal roles.