ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of facility at games in children's social competence and adjustment to very early school, or the first year of mandatory, full-day schooling. It discusses the degree to which children's facility with playground games at the start of school predicts their subsequent social competence with peers in school and to their more general adjustment to early schooling. The chapter suggests that the role of game leadership, or facility, in children's social competence and adjustment to school supports, or scaffolds, initial interactions between children at recess. The games of primary school children reflect the beginnings of operational thought. In this case, the child can handle multiple perspectives on other people and events and subordinate his or her view to preset rules. Playing the games requires learning the rules, applying them, and recognizing violations. The chapter also discusses the types of boys' and girls' games as they progressed across their first year of full time schooling.
