ABSTRACT
Many parents not only observe, but become actively involved in the play of their young children (Garvey, 1990). Likewise, some developmental psychologists (e.g., Howes, 1992), early childhood educators (e.g., Paley, 1984), play therapists (e.g., Hellendoorn, van der Kooij, & Sutton-Smith, 1994), and early interventionists (Sheridan, Foley, & Radlinski, 1995) consider pretend play a means through which adults may observe and support children’s emotional, social, and cognitive development (Rubin, Fein, & Vandenberg, 1983). In addition, scholars from various disciplines consider pretend play to be a potentially rich context for the creation and re-creation of cultural meanings (Gaskins, 2003; Goncu, 1999; Haight & Miller, 1993; Schwartzman, 1978; Singer & Singer, 1990). In a classic chapter on play, a psychologist discussed two little sisters who pretended to be sisters (Vygotsky, 1978). He noted that in a literal context, children behave without thinking about their role relationships; but in pretending, for example, to be sisters, their actions must conform to the cultural “rules” of sisterly behavior. Thus, “What passes unnoticed by the child in real life becomes a rule of behavior in play” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 95).
