ABSTRACT
The type of play most important to the area of creativity is pretend play. Pretend play is play that involves pretending, the use of fantasy and make-believe, and the use of symbolism. The affect play condition was most effective in that, after baseline play was controlled for, the affect play group had significantly higher play scores on the Affect in Play Scale on all play processes. Children who are able to express emotion in pretend play, and who can express and master negative affect and conflicts in play, may be at an advantage later in life when engaging in creative work. Children who can express emotion in play should be able to express emotion in other situations. They should also have more access to emotional memories. S. Russ and E. Schafer proposed that children who had more affect in their play would be able to express emotion and think about emotion in other situations.
