ABSTRACT
This chapter describes what children do on the playground during recess and how this behavior may be important for their social development. It presents some very general and preliminary finding documenting the types of behavior that children exhibit on different types of school playgrounds. The chapter explores how children's behavior on the playground varies considerably by gender and playground location. Children's playground behavior is varied indeed and is affected by a number of child-level variables, such as gender, as well as the type of playground equipment available, the daily schedule, and the weather. The chapter shows how different behaviors observed at recess relate to children's social status and social skills. Developmental psychologists have studied peer relations for many, many years, and they generally agree that a very powerful indicator of social skills is the degree to which a child is popular with or rejected by his or her peers.
