ABSTRACT
A teacher of 4-year-olds saw a dramatic transformation in the play among the girls in her classroom after the December holiday break. A group of girls, who talked a lot about the princess movies they had seen and princess gifts they had received over the vacation, announced they were princesses. Th ey insisted on dressing up as princesses in the dramatic play area. Heated arguments kept breaking out over who could be what princess and who got to wear what costumes. Hair color often got used to define which girl could be which princess. Of course, “Cinderella had to be a blond-haired girl.” And then, there were the few girls who were becoming increasingly isolated in the classroom because they either did not seem interested in the play, or were rejected by the princesses—for reasons like the color of their hair.
