Sequential transition patterns of preschoolers’ social interactions during child-initiated play: Is parallel-aware play a bidirectional bridge to other play states? (original) (raw)

Effects of Play on the Social Development of Preschool Children

2019

This concept paper aims to provide early exposure and an understanding of the effectiveness of playing on the social development of children. Generally, children that play more are better at self-control, cooperation, thoughtfulness, sociable and have a higher social competence. There are various importances of play that are involved in the process of teaching and learning that affects the social development of children. This concept paper focuses on the theories, definitions, interests, and the components of the social development of children. This paper discusses the implications of play on the social development of children.

Free-Play Behaviors in Preschool and Kindergarten Children

Child Development, 1978

RUBIN, KENNETH H.; WATSON, KATHHYN S.; and JAMBOR, THOMAS W. Free-Play Behaviors in Preschool and Kindergarten ChUdren. CHILD I>EVELOPMENT, 1978, 49, 534-536. The present study concemed age differences in the social and cognitive play of children. It was revealed that kindergarten children displayed less unoccupied, onlooker, solitary, and functional activity and more group and ramatic play than preschoolers. Examination of the combined Parten-Smilansky Play Scale revealed preschoolers to engage in significandy more solitary-functional and parallel-functional play and in less parallel-constructive, parallel-dramatic, and group dramatic play than their kindergarten counterparts.

Social pretend play and social interaction in preschoolers

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 1988

Social interaction was observed during social pretend play and nonpretend activities to determine whether positive and mature social behaviors were differentially associated with the pretend context. A within-subjects design and a semistructured play setting were used to control for individual differences, child and environmental effects. Thirty-seven 4-and 5-yearoold children were observed in groups of four for 47.5 minutes, in a series of play sessions. Their interactions within social pretend play and social nonpretend activities were.observed and compared. The results indicated that during pretend play, children's social interactions were more enjoyable, lasted longer, involved larger groups, and showed more play involvement and greater reciprocity. The results substantiate prior theoretical and empirical work which highlights the educational significance of social pretend play in early childhood. Social pretend play appears to provide a contextual framework within which mature social interaction can occur and social competencies may be acquired.

Title I funded preschools as a developmental context for children’s play and verbal behaviors

Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2001

This study examined changes across the school year in the play and verbal behavior during center based activities of 283 children in 22 public school preschool classrooms, funded through Title I. Using a time sampling method, observations of children in classroom settings were conducted twice during the preschool year. Repeated measures multivariate analyses of variance revealed that: (1) children were involved most in parallel play activities, and the amount of parallel play increased across the year; and (2) associative and cooperative play decreased. This pattern of behavioral change was present in 15 of the 22 classrooms. Conditional probability analyses indicated that associative play was an important context for verbalizations directed to both teachers and peers. At the time of each observation children played and talked with their peers most. We obtained one interaction effect between gender and time-the amount of talk from girls to teachers increased over the school year, whereas boys talked less to teachers over time. Classrooms were staffed by a certified teacher and an assistant and uniformly rated quite high on the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale. This research demonstrates that public school preschools are funded and staffed appropriately, but that more attention could be paid to facilitating play and verbal interactions that might be important for later school success.

Toddler interaction during play in the Swedish preschool

Early Child Development and Care, 2011

This article focuses on how children aged 17-24 months initiate play and interact with their peers during self-initiated play in preschools. Play is looked upon as a rich arena for observing toddler interaction. The ethnographic study was carried out in a toddler unit with 15 children. Six one-year-old girls and boys were observed during five weeks at the end of a longer research period. The study follows a phenomenological tradition with participatory observations and video recordings. The overall findings support a theoretical perspective where very young children are seen as social actors, with social competences. Play invitation strategies, as well as play enactment and play-closing moves, were mostly found to be based on nonverbal communication such as locomotion, gestures, physical actions and facial expressions. This study also shows that the competence of taking others' perspectives was found recurrently in play among younger children. Furthermore, the young children used negotiating skills during their play.

Social Play of Preschool Children with Special Needs and Typically-Developing Children

2000

Inclusive early childhood settings are believed to promote interaction between children with special needs and typically developing children by allowing the latter group to serve as "peer models." This study examined the social play of children with special needs and their typically developing peers. Participating in the study were 156 typically developing and 26 special needs children attending an inclusive, university-based preschool. Children ranged in age from 22 to 61 months, with an average age of 40 months. Data were collected through classroom observations following the Howes and Matheson Revised Peer Play Scale. Each child was observed during 4 visits that included three 5-minute samples. Children's level of play (solitary, parallel, parallel aware, simple social, complementary and reciprocal, and cooperative/complex social pretend) and their playmate during each 20-second interval were recorded. Findings indicated that compared to typically developing peers, special needs children engaged in higher levels of solitary and parallel play and lower levels of parallel aware, simple social, and complementary and reciprocal play. Play interactions of typically developing children involved a special needs child 46 percent of the time. Play interactions of special needs children involved another child with a disability 20 percent of the time. The relatively high percentage of typically developing children's interactions with children with special needs may be a result of teachers' efforts to promote social play. (KB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.