THE MAGIC OF PLAY: LOW‐INCOME MOTHERS’ AND FATHERS’ PLAYFULNESS AND CHILDREN'S EMOTION REGULATION AND VOCABULARY SKILLS

Using data from a diverse sample of low‐income families who participated in the Early Head Start Research Evaluation Project (n = 73), we explored the association between mothers’ and fathers’ playfulness with toddlers, toddler's affect during play, and children's language and emotion regulation at prekindergarten. There were two main findings. First, fathers’ playfulness in toddlerhood was associated with children's vocabulary skills in prekindergarten whereas mothers’ playfulness was related to children's emotion regulation. Cross‐parental effects were found only for mothers. The association between mothers’ playfulness and children's vocabulary and emotion regulation was strengthened when fathers engaged in more pretend play and when children were affectively positive during the play. These findings show that playfulness is an important source of variation in the vocabulary and emotion regulation of children growing up in low‐income families. They also point to domain‐specific ways that mothers and fathers promote children's regulatory and vocabulary skills, and highlight the importance of children's positive engagement in play.     

MOTHER–CHILD AND FATHER–CHILD PLAY INTERACTION: THE IMPORTANCE OF PARENTAL PLAYFULNESS AS A MODERATOR OF THE LINKS BETWEEN PARENTAL BEHAVIOR AND CHILD NEGATIVITY

Based on the premise that father–child play is an important context for children's development and that fathers “specialize” in play, similarities and differences in the role of playfulness in the father–child and mother–child relationship were examined. Participants in this study included 111 families (children's age: 1–3 years). Father–child and mother–child play interactions were videotaped and coded for parental playfulness, sensitivity, structuring, and nonintrusiveness as well as child negativity. Results indicated that mothers and fathers did not differ in playfulness and that mothers and fathers who were higher in playfulness had children with lower levels of negativity. However, playfulness differently moderated the links between parents’ and children's behaviors for mothers and fathers. A double‐risk pattern was found for mothers, such that the links between child negativity and maternal sensitivity, structuring, and nonintrusiveness were significant only for the subgroup of mothers with low levels of playfulness. When mothers had high levels of playfulness, these effects were negligible. For fathers, a double‐buffer pattern was revealed, indicating that the links between child negativity and paternal sensitivity and structuring were significant only for fathers with high levels of playfulness. When fathers had low levels of playfulness, these effects were negligible. These findings demonstrate the important role that parental playfulness has on parent–child interaction as well as the need to examine moderation patterns separately for fathers and mothers.     

Teachers’ creativity,playfulness, and style of interaction with children

Abstract:

This investigation examined the relationships among a teacher's creative thinking, playfulness, and degree of sensitivity in their interactions with preschool children during play. These variables were operationally defined as scores on measures of ideational fluency, playful disposition, and quality of self‐reported play interaction. The Multidimensional Stimulus Fluency Measure, the Adult Behavior Inventory, and the Play Interaction Scale were administered to 46 students and 37 teachers of three‐ and four‐year old children. The Play Interaction Scale, developed for this study, was based on environmental components identified in earlier research as facilitative of play. Subjects indicated the frequency with which they might respond in a structured, elaborative, or unstructured manner to 20 vignettes describing the play of children. Results indicated that the expected positive relationships among creativity, playfulness, and an elaborative teaching style were found only for the students. The predicted negative relationships between creativity and a structured interaction style were found only for the experienced teachers.     

Reciprocal Imitation Following Adult Imitation by Children with Autism

This study examined the effects of adult imitation and adult playfulness on the imitation, social attention and initiation of new behaviours by non‐verbal preschoolers with autism. Videotapes taken from a previous study were recoded for the adult's imitation and playful behaviour and the children's imitation, social attention (looking at the adult's actions) and initiation of new behaviours. In the original study, twenty non‐verbal, 4‐ to 6‐year‐old children with autism were randomly assigned to an imitation or a contingent responsivity group. Both groups of children engaged in an intervention phase (during which the adult imitated the children or contingently responded to them) and a subsequent spontaneous play phase (during which the adult interacted spontaneously with the children). ANOVA for the current study revealed that the imitation group children versus the contingent responsivity group children spent a greater percent time showing social attention and initiating new behaviours during the intervention phase and showing social attention and imitating the adult's behaviours during the subsequent spontaneous play phase. A correlation analysis yielded significant correlations between the percent time the adult imitated the child during the intervention phase and the percent time the child showed social attention during the same intervention phase and imitating the adult during the subsequent spontaneous play phase. Adult imitation and playfulness during the spontaneous play phase were also correlated with the children's social attention during that phase. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationship between implicit false belief understanding and role play: Longitudinal study

Pretend play is one of the earliest forms of children’s imagination. While social pretend play (role play) may facilitate the development of theory of mind – including false belief understanding – theoretically, the reverse may be true; theory of mind may facilitate the development of role play. To clarify this relationship, the present longitudinal study examined whether toddler’s implicit understanding of false beliefs predicted their role play during preschool years. We examined 18-month-old toddlers’ looking time in an implicit false-belief task (Time 1). When the children were 4/5 years old (Time 2), children’s parents answered a questionnaire on their child’s engagement in role play, such as playing with an imaginary companion and impersonating an imagined character. Toddlers’ looking time in the false-belief task at Time 1 predicted impersonation scores at Time 2. The results suggest that early theory of mind skills can facilitate children’s role play.     

Play Behavior and Playfulness in Adulthood

Although research has established play behavior and playfulness as important to the well‐being of children and animals, researchers have not typically considered the importance or implications of play in human adults. This is surprising given that play behavior is a topic of high relevance to social psychology. Definitional issues, a lack of a theoretical framework, and a dearth of standardized measures have posed obstacles in the advancement of this interesting research area, which is ripe for investigation. In this review, we summarize the extant literature, identify strengths and weaknesses of this literature, propose definitions to guide future work in this area, identify relevant theories that may be expanded to provide a framework for programmatic research on play in adulthood, and elucidate avenues for future research. Our aim is to encourage the development of this research area within social psychology.     

Let’s play at the park! family pathways promoting spiritual resources to inspire nature,pretend play,storytelling, intergenerational play and celebrations

Contemporary interest from scholars examining spirituality have suggested that young children have an innately rich spiritual dimension that can be nurtured when they are given opportunities to express it or when such expressions are recognised. Based on direct observations in natural settings, this article addresses the importance of children’s spirituality and how outdoor play spaces, especially community parks, can contribute to a child’s spiritual development through enriching activities in nature, pretend play, storytelling and intergenerational play. The article also aims to encourage consideration of a variety of strategies that can be used to support the holistic development of a young child and nurture children’s spirituality. Supporting a child’s spiritual development with playful activities in outdoor spaces can help to identify the child’s interests, strengths and creativity through relationships that shape bonds with both families and community.     

There’s a Place: How Parents Help Their Children Create a Capacity for Playfulness and can it be Sustained across the Lifespan

ABSTRACT

This article traces the ways that playfulness shifts and grows with the child and with the parent-child dyad. It also speaks to the paradoxical manner in which feeling essential as a parent is both necessary at the beginning of the child’s life yet must evolve into relevance as the child’s autonomy warrants. Interestingly, grace and playfulness are both a content and a process in parenting. The playful parent’s wisdom produces a sense of grace over time just as it produces a way of being that the child can internalize so that they too can eventually parent with grace and fun should they so desire.     

Gender-Typing of Children’s Toys: Causes,Consequences, and Correlates

Gender differences in children’s toy interests and play behaviors are large and may lead to gender differentiation of physical, cognitive, and social development among children. In this Special Issue, we gather together cutting-edge research on the factors that affect gender differences in children’s toy interests, how subtle gender-related messages affect children’s performance and behaviors, and how adults create these gender-related messages and affect children’s interests. We illustrate themes found in the current literature, but also comment on issues that need to be addressed by future research. We also identify points of intervention in which stereotypes about toys and gender differentiated play behaviors and toy interests can be reduced in an effort to promote greater diversity of children’s play.     

Identifying play characteristics of pre-school children with developmental coordination disorder via parental questionnaires

Motor coordination deficits that characterize children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) affect their quality of participation. The aim of the current study was to identify play characteristics of young children with DCD, compared to those of children with typical development in three dimensions: activity and participation, environmental factors and children’s impairments.MethodSixty-four children, aged four to six years, participated. Thirty were diagnosed as having DCD; the remaining 34 children were age, gender and socioeconomic level matched controls with typical development. The children were evaluated by the M-ABC. In addition, their parents completed a demographic questionnaire, the Children’s Activity Scale for Parents (CHAS-P), the Children’s Leisure Assessment Scale for preschoolers (CLASS-Pre), and My Child’s Play Questionnaire (MCP).ResultsChildren with DCD performed significantly poorer in each of the four play activity and participation domains: variety, frequency, sociability, and preference (CLASS-Pre). Furthermore, their environmental characteristics were significantly different (MCP). They displayed significantly inferior performance (impairments) in interpersonal interaction and executive functioning during play, in comparison to controls (MCP). Moreover, the children’s motor and executive control as reflected in their daily function as well as their activities of daily living (ADL) performance level, contributed to the prediction of their global play participation.DiscussionThe results indicate that the use of both the CLASS-Pre and the MCP questionnaires enables the identification of unique play characteristics of pre-school children with DCD via parents’ reports. A better insight into these characteristics may contribute to theoretical knowledge and clinical practice to improve the children’s daily participation.     

The Role of Play in Contemporary Child Psychotherapy: A Developmental Perspective

ABSTRACT

This article reviews evidence for the importance of play in children’s social and emotional development. Play is an essential pathway toward social maturity in young children. Children experience interactive play with admired adults as a form of affirming responsiveness, a basic nutrient of emotional health that all children want and need. Children learn through interactive play how to make accommodations and cooperate with others, how to cope with frustration and disappointment, and to develop self-restraint. Improved problem solving, creativity, and cognitive flexibility are also intrinsic to children’s play. All of these aspects of emotional maturity come together, synergistically, when we play with children. They are not learned, however, in front of a screen. The many benefits of play to children’s social maturity leads to a first clinical implication: As child therapists, we should help parents understand the importance of play and regularly encourage both mothers and fathers to play, frequently and enthusiastically, with their children.     

Modeling ADHD-type arousal with unilateral frontal cortex damage in rats and beneficial effects of play therapy

It has been recently shown that human adolescents with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have frontal lobe deficits, especially on the right sides of their brains (). ADHD is commonly treated with psychostimulants which may have adverse consequences. Hence, less invasive therapies need to be developed. In the present work, we tested the ability of right frontal lesions to induce hyperactivity in rats. We also evaluated the effects of chronic play therapy during early adolescence to reduce both hyperactivity and the elevated playfulness later in development. Play therapy was able to reduce both hyperactivity and excessive playfulness. In additional work, we found that access to rough-and-tumble play in normal animals could enhance subsequent behavioral indices of behavioral inhibition (i.e., freezing in response to a startle stimulus) that appeared to be independent of increased fearfulness and fatigue. Overall, these results suggest that (1) neonatal frontal lobe lesions can be used as an animal model of the overactivity in ADHD and (2) rough-and-tumble play therapy may be a new useful treatment for ADHD.     

Mediated mutual reciprocity in the process of African children’s social ontogenesis

The paper highlights Nsamenang’s social ontogenesis theoretical stance in explaining how participatory pedagogies in socialisation impact not only development but children’s capacity to assume responsibilities for their own development. A synoptic review is presented of widely discussed challenges faced by African children, under the headings of redefining the African personhood and process of child development, poverty and malnutrition, changes in educational systems and poor access to quality education, child labour versus productive participation in the household economy, conflict and war, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and access to health care. Research evidence from Cameroon suggests that despite the challenges and adversities faced by these children, their ingenuity, resilience and cultural assets play an important role in mediating positive outcomes. Building on and expanding Nsamenang’s Africentric perspective on the sustaining power of African indigenous education processes, the paper presents a complementary theory of Mediated Mutual Reciprocity (MMR) that explains how children and learners are the main drivers of the learning process.     

Finding connections between spirituality and play for early childhood education

ABSTRACT

In an attempt to provide holistic education and care, expand the view of young children’s development to include the spiritual, and make connections with the found benefits of play for all areas of development, this article looks at 33 surveyed U.S. early childhood educators’ perceptions on nurturing spirituality through open-ended and free play. Data collected from the open-ended questions of an online survey were analyzed looking at 22 mentions of play as a mean to support spirituality. Findings show that 45.5% of surveyed teachers mentioned play as a way intentionally used in the classroom to nurture children’s spirituality. It is posed that developmentally appropriate approaches to early childhood education would be enhanced by including spirituality in their understanding of the child, as well as intentionally nurturing spirituality in educational settings, by providing free, child-centered, child-directed play and opportunities for children to experience spiritual moments, defined as feeling wonder, awe, joy, and inner-peace.     

A Psycho-linguistic Study on Adult Playfulness: Its Hierarchical Structure and Theoretical Considerations

By means of a linguistic corpus analysis, statements were derived that reflect trait-like characteristics of playful adults. These were given to a sample of 240 adults who also completed two measures of adult playfulness. Using Goldberg’s (J Res Pers 40:347–358, 2006) top-down approach, the hierarchical factor structure of playfulness in this data set was examined. A solution with seven factors fits the data well and could be clearly interpreted. The retrieved factors were (1) cheerful-engaged; (2) whimsical; (3) impulsive; (4) intellectual-charming; (5) imaginative; (6) lighthearted; and (7) kind-loving. The two playfulness measures did not cover all of these dimensions. The intellectual-charming and the kind-loving variants of playfulness were less well represented in these instruments. The study contributes to the basic question of what factors underlie playfulness and suggests that there are aspects of adult playfulness that were hitherto less well described.     

Advertising Literacy and Executive Function: Testing Their Influence on Children’s Consumer Behavior

For decades, researchers have theorized that children’s persuasion understanding should help them cope with commercial messages. Yet, to date, there is little evidence to support this hypothesized relationship. Recently, scholars have suggested 2 potential reasons for the lack of findings. The first is that the measure of children’s persuasion understanding has not been thoroughly conceptualized, as previous work has confused knowledge of persuasive intent with knowledge of selling intent. The second is that previous research on the subject has not appropriately considered the role that cognitive development plays in helping children respond to commercial messages with a particular focus on the role that executive function should play. Working with 79 elementary school children and their parents, this study tested whether children’s advertising knowledge was associated with parent-reported consumer behavior (i.e., purchase requests) and if children’s executive function moderated this relationship. Results indicate that children’s understanding of selling intent is negatively associated with parent-reported purchase requests, but understanding of persuasive intent is not. Moreover, although children’s executive function does not moderate this relationship, it is directly associated with consumer behavior. These results offer new insights into how children’s advertising literacy and cognitive development potentially affect their consumer behavior.     

The Royal Road: Children, Play, and the Religious Life

This article explores the role of play in human development and religious faith. It begins with problems in children’s play in contemporary society, as seen through history and sociology, and then analyzes the contributions of two psychologists, Erik H. Erikson and D. W. Winnicott, and recent thought on play in theology, childhood studies, and the scholarship of Donald Capps in particular. It argues that play has a potentially fruitful role in development and the life of faith for children and adults but modern constructions of play have obscured its place in adulthood and overlooked its uneven distribution among children in different classes and races.     

Development of a Defense Mechanisms Manual for Children’s Doll Play (DMCP)

Researchers have long recognized the richness of children’s fantasy play and the ability of such play to reveal children’s inner worlds and defensive structures. This article describes the development of The Defense Mechanisms Manual for Children’s Doll Play (DMCP), a detailed and comprehensive manual that codes for 32 defense mechanisms in children’s play. The levels of narrative coherence, creativity, and aggression in play narratives are also assessed. The manual draws on contemporary dream theory using the premise that the child narrator will disguise anxiety-provoking impulses through a number of defenses that can be discerned through the choices the child makes in creating the plot of the story. The manual was developed through the analysis of 30 sets of 10 story stems collected from 5- and 6-year-old children using the MacArthur Story Stem Battery, a structured story-completion task. Inter-rater reliability varied with the frequency of occurrence for each defense, ranging from excellent reliability for some measures to too few cases to assess for others. Cluster analyses of measures suggested four main clusters, loosely conceptualized as connecting to others, channeling aggression, avoidance, and symbolization.     

Education as Free Use: Giorgio Agamben on Studious Play,Toys, and the Inoperative Schoolhouse

In this essay, I argue that the work of Giorgio Agamben provides us with a theory of studious play which cuts across many of the categories that polarize educational thought. Rather than either ritualized testing or constructivist playfulness, Agamben provides a model of what he refers to as studious play—a practice which suspends the logic of both ritual and play. In order to explore this notion of studious play, I first articulate Agamben’s fleeting remarks on the topic with an important problematic found in his early, literary work: transmission. If ritual transmits cultural traditions to ensure continuity with the past, and play as constructivist invention makes such transmission impossible, then studious play transmits transmissibility itself as a pure potentiality. Studious play accomplishes this peculiar educational task by suspending without destroying traditional things: laws, signs, and so on. I end the essay with a consideration of the ontological status of suspended things, arguing that they are transformed into toys via the action of study. Finally, I give a literary example of studious play found in Robert Walser’s novel Jakob von Gunten in which the school itself is imagined to be a kind of toy.     

Dyadic Mental State Talk and Sophistication of Symbolic Play between Parents and Children with Behavioral Problems

Parents’ ability to recognize children’s mental states and use mental state language in their interactions are associated with children’s mentalization, affect regulation, and symbolization in play. However, the relations among these constructs have not been investigated in school-age children with behavioral problems. This study examined the association between 53 Turkish mother-child and 40 father-child dyads’ mental state talk, children’s play characteristics, and behavioral problems at the beginning of psychotherapy. Results indicated that parents’ and children’s play-related mental state talk was associated with children’s interactive role-play, and mothers’ mental state talk was associated with children’s affect regulation in play. Moreover, mental state talk through pretend play was linked with fewer internalizing symptoms; yet a direct focus on children’s mental states out-of-pretend play was correlated with more behavioral problems, highlighting the multidimensional nature of the mentalization construct. These results are discussed taking into account the socio-cultural variations of the Turkish culture highlighting the unique characteristics of the parent-child play in context. The clinical implications point to the importance of parental and child mentalization within pretend play, that provide opportunities for affect processing, which could promote symptomatic improvement.