Self‐Socialization of Gender in African American,Dominican Immigrant,and Mexican Immigrant Toddlers

This article advances a self‐socialization perspective demonstrating that children's understanding of both gender categories represents an intergroup cognition that is foundational to the development of gender‐stereotyped play. Children's (N = 212) gender category knowledge was assessed at 24 months and play was observed at 24 and 36 months. Higher levels of gender category knowledge and, more specifically, passing multiple measures of knowledge of both gender categories at 24 months was related to increases in play over time with gender‐stereotyped toys (doll, truck), but not gender‐stereotyped forms of play (nurturing, motion). In contrast to the long‐standing focus on self‐labeling, findings indicate the importance of intergroup cognitions in self‐socialization processes and demonstrate the generalizability of these processes to a diverse sample.     

Play in Children with Severe Multiple Disabilities: Play with toys - a review

Play in children with severe and profound disabilities is discussed. The focus is on toys and play material and the role of adults, such as parents, caregivers, and teachers. In this review article theoretical aspects on children's play are briefly described.     

Developing a play‐based communication assessment through collaborative action research with teachers in northern Canadian indigenous communities

With the goal of developing culturally appropriate approaches for assessing and supporting children's language use, teachers of 4‐to 6‐year‐old children in northern Canadian rural and Indigenous communities are involved in a 6‐year collaborative action research project. Teachers video record children's interactions during dramatic and construction play and then meet with university researchers to carry out inductive analyses of ways in which children use language to achieve social purposes. From these analyses, a Play‐based Communication Assessment has been created. Examples from two teachers' classrooms in one Indigenous community are used to show how play contexts and the still‐evolving play‐based communication assessment provide opportunities for teachers to recognise and build upon the linguistic and cultural resources that children bring to classrooms. Through the play‐based assessment and action research processes, teachers have come to recognise the richness of children's language when they are engaged in play and have gained understandings of their community's culture. Teachers and researchers are exploring ways to capture children's non‐verbal communication abilities through this assessment approach.     

Talking Shape: Parental Language With Electronic Versus Traditional Shape Sorters

As the traditional toys of the past are quickly being replaced with electronically “enhanced” toys, it is important to understand how these changes impact parent–child interactions, especially in light of the evidence that the richness and variety of these interactions have long‐term effects on diverse areas of cognition (Hart & Risley, 1995). Here, we compared the quantity and quality of the language children hear during play with either a traditional (nonelectronic) or an electronic shape sorter designed to teach children about geometric shapes. Spatial toys and spatial language, in particular, were explored since recent work has established that parents' use of spatial language links to children's short‐ and long‐term performance on spatial tasks (Pruden, Levine, & Huttenlocher, 2011), and that spatial skills are relevant to success in learning mathematics and science (Newcombe, 2010). Traditional toys prompted more parental spatial language and more varied overall language than did electronic toys.     

Conflict-Related Emotions During Peer Disputes

The aim of this study was to investigate young children's conflict emotions during peer disputes. Twenty-seven 4- to 5-year-old children participated in four 15- minute sessions in which groups of 3 children played with table toys. Videotapes of these sessions were used to identify all conflicts and conflict roles (initiator, recipient, and observer) and all conflict-related displays of facial emotions (using the AFFEX coding system). Results indicated that initiators', recipients' and observers' emotions differed in the conflict and postconflict periods, but that there were no initial preconflict differences. Overall, conflict initiators almost exclusively expressed happiness, whereas conflict recipients expressed mostly sadness and anger. In addition, children's conflict emotions were related to the frequency with which they initiated and received conflicts. Children who expressed higher percentages of negative emotions as conflict recipients both initiated and received more conflicts, and children who expressed more happiness when initiating conflicts also initiated more conflicts. These findings have implications for how young children develop methods of conflict resolution, and how they form concepts about sociomoral emotions.     

The Relation Between Toy Gun Play and Children's Aggressive Behavior

To assess the relation between toy gun play and aggression, thirty-six 3- to 5-year-olds were observed in free play in their daycare center and coded for amount of real aggression, pretend aggression, rough-and-tumble play (R & T), and nonaggressive pretend play. Based on a questionnaire completed by the parents, the children were also coded for the amount they played with toy guns in the home, the rated aggressive level of their preferred television programs, the rated aggressive level of their most preferred toys, and amount of parents' physical punishment of the children. Of all children, 56% played with toy guns in the home, most of whom were boys. Multiple regression analyses indicated that amount of parents' punishment strongly predicted real aggression in both boys and girls, and amount of toy gun play strongly predicted real aggression in boys. However, when it came to pretend aggression, aggressive level of children's preferred toys was the strongest predictor, while toy gun play negatively predicted pretend aggression. Toy gun play did not predict nonaggressive pretend play, but parents' punishment negatively predicted nonaggressive pretend play. These results indicate that toy gun play and parental punishment are positively associated with a higher level of real aggression but not pretend aggression. This pattern is discussed in terms of a cuing effect theory versus a cathartic effect theory. It also argues for distinguishing between real and pretend aggression and other forms of play in future studies.     

Grade 1 Students’ Out-of-School Play and Its Relationship to School-Based Academic,Behavior, and Creativity Outcomes

Research Findings: This study explored the relationship between play and child development at the Grade 1 level. As previous research has noted a sudden curtailment of classroom play during this period, the relationship between play at home and children's school grades, behavior, and creativity scores was examined using correlational and regression analyses. In particular, this study sought to assess whether particular types of play (pretend play, active physical play, construction play, etc.) and social arrangements during play (play with siblings, with parents, alone, with friends) predicted any of the outcome measures. A total of 56 children ages 6 and 7 from suburban areas outside of Montreal, as well as their parents and teachers, participated in the study. Practice or Policy: Findings indicated that children spent between 1 and 2 hr playing after school each day and that the most common form of play was active physical play. The most common social arrangement during play was play with siblings. Children's free time in the morning and freedom to choose their play activities in the afternoon were predictive of children's academic progress. Watching others play and the ability to choose their own activities in the afternoon predicted positive adaptive behaviors at school. Play with commercial toys and playing alone were predictive of creativity scores.     

Individual differences in children's risk perception and appraisals in outdoor play environments

Child characteristics including age, gender, risk-taking behaviour and sensation seeking are thought to influence children's ability to appraise risks. The present study investigated children's risk perceptions and appraisals in the context of common outdoor physical play activities. Risk perceptions and appraisal of four- and five-year olds were assessed using a pictorial risk appraisal measure and through individual semi-structured interviews examining children's decision-making. Sensation seeking and risk-taking behaviour were assessed using self- and parent-report measures. Results revealed that the children were able to identify injury risk behaviours however differentiating the severity of the potential injury was less accurate. Furthermore, the children appeared to use these judgements in their play to inform their behaviour whilst using playground equipment. Whilst they actively sought out those activities that offered challenge and excitement, they were aware of their abilities and showed caution in engaging in activities that were beyond their current capabilities. The results have implications for the provision of calculated risk-taking in outdoor play and for adult responses to the risk-taking behaviour of children.     

Children's perceptions of primary science assessment in England and Wales

This study builds on and contributes to work on assessment of children in primary school, particularly in science. Previous research has examined primary science assessment from different standpoints, but no studies have specifically addressed children's perspectives. This article provides additional insight into issues surrounding children's assessment in primary school and how the assessment of science might develop in England after the science SATs (Standard Assessment Tests) were abolished in 2009. Some research suggests that primary science assessment via SATs is a major reason for the observed decline in children's engagement with science in upper primary and lower secondary school. The analytic focus on engaging children as coresearchers to assist in the process of gathering informed views and interpreting findings from a large sample of children's views enables another contribution. The study, based on a survey of 1000 children in primary and secondary schools in England and Wales, reveals that despite being assessed under two different regimes (high‐stakes national tests in England and moderated teacher assessment in Wales), children's views of science assessment are remarkably consistent. Most appreciate the usefulness of science assessment and value frequent, non‐SATs testing for monitoring/improving science progress. There was a largely negative impact, however, of science assessment on children's well‐being, particularly due to stress. The paper demonstrates that children provide an important perspective on assessment and that including their views can improve policy‐making in relation to primary science assessment.     

Bi-directional dynamics underlie the complexity of talk in teacher–child play-based conversations in classrooms serving at-risk pupils

This study examined the transactional, utterance-by-utterance dependencies in the syntactic complexity of teachers’ and children's talk during small-group conversations in preschool classrooms. The sample included 39 teachers and select children in their classroom, which targeted enrollment to children experiencing documentable risk factors. Patterns of sequential dependencies demonstrated a bi-directional interdependence in teachers’ and children's complex syntactic use, whereby both teachers and children appeared sensitive to each other's use of complex syntactic forms. Teachers’ use of complex syntax increased the likelihood that children's adjacent utterance would contain complex syntax; similarly, children's use of complex or simple syntax increased the likelihood that teachers’ adjacent utterance would mirror their syntactic level. Associations were small to moderately large in strength, but varied across individual classrooms. The findings point to complex, bi-directional relationships underlying the complexity of talk within the classroom language environment.     

Play-based Occupational Therapy

In this paper, we will provide an overview of how occupational therapists view play, illustrate how occupational therapists' view of play has evolved, generating a shift in focus for intervention, introduce a model of play as occupation to illustrate how children's ability to play may be influenced by developmental disabilities, outline occupational therapy assessment and treatment using play as the basis for intervention, and finally, identify aspects of best practice. The term developmental disabilities refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders. It is not within the scope of this paper to provide detailed discussion of play-based occupational therapy intervention for all the children who comprise this group. Therefore, we have chosen to illustrate various points made with examples of different types of children with various types of disability.     

Children's Use of Retreats in Family Child Care Homes

The use of retreat spaces by 65 children in 9 family child care homes was assessed in this study. Family child care providers used daily diaries to collect information about children's retreat frequency and associated behavior. The findings revealed that nearly half of the children used informal, readily available retreats during the research period. Playing with toys was the most frequent and stable retreat activity across age groups. Yet the number of passive and engaged behaviors varied based on child characteristics such as age, gender, and child's mood for the day. Retreat use can be viewed as a potentially adaptive environmental strategy that children apply as their needs change in a given day and from one developmental period to the next. Thus, it is recommended that child care professionals provide access to retreats and support children's varied use of retreat space.     

Young children's interpretation of the task demands in a simple experimental situation: an example from drawings

This paper presents a very simple experiment on children's drawings to explore the reasons underlying children's contextual sensitivity. Five‐ and six‐year old children were asked to draw from a model on two consecutive tasks. The only difference between the two tasks was the model's orientation. A model cup was presented on one task with its handle visible (at the side) and on the other task with its handle hidden at the back. Previous research would predict that children of this age should show a tendency towards drawing a familiar model such as a cup in a stereotyped orientation (i.e. handle at the side), irrespective of whether or not the handle was visible. However, the results from the present study showed that the children's preparedness to draw the model as it appeared was influenced by the order of task presentation. The findings are discussed in terms of children's interpretation of the task demands which alters as a result of the contrast between the two tasks.     

Identifying and promoting social competence with African American preschool children: Developmental and contextual considerations

School psychologists and teachers are frequently asked to assess the level of social competence of preschool children as one indicator of their academic readiness. However, many assessment instruments available to psychologists working in early childhood settings fail to consider important contexts where children acquire social competencies. This study presents a comprehensive picture of multiple constructs that play a role in understanding African American preschool children's social competence. Domains of temperament, language, self‐regulation, and peer play were assessed within a classroom context for a sample of 139 low‐income African American children attending Head Start. Findings support the importance of considering both children's developmental stage and their gender when evaluating aspects of social competence, particularly temperament and interactive peer play abilities. As a group, younger boys experienced the greatest difficulties with initiating and sustaining play activities with classmates. Language abilities and self‐regulation were significantly greater among older preschool children. Implications for school psychologists conducting preschool assessment, intervention, and outreach to parents and teachers within early childhood settings are discussed. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Young children’s classification,stereotyping and play behaviour for gender neutral and ambiguous toys

Developmental intergroup theory would predict that children develop fewer or weaker stereotypes about toys that have less distinguishable gender attributes than those that are clearly associated with a gender. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of neutral and ambiguous toys in 31 three‐ to five‐year‐old children’s play behaviour and understanding about gender. Overall, children did not categorise more perceptually salient (ambiguous) toys than less distinguishable (neutral) toys to their own gender. Colour was the most frequently used reason for the toys’ gender assignment. The findings also showed that with age, girls’ play complexity increased linearly, whereas boys’ scores did not. A play substitution scale measuring play creativity or maturity showed no gender differences. The discussion highlights the role of perceptual salience in sex‐dimorphic toy preferences and behaviour and their application to educational issues.     

Young black children and science: Chronotopes of narratives around their science journals

We explored 30 Black Kindergarten‐2nd grade students' spoken narratives around pages of their science journals that the children selected as best for showing them as scientists. Because in all narratives, space–time relationships play an important role not only in situating but also in constituting them, we focused on such relationships using Bakhtin's (1981) construct of chronotopes. Our chronotopical analysis aimed at fleshing out the temporal and spatial features that were present in the children's journal pages, and in the children's ways of talking both about these features and about being scientists. Our goal was to better understand ways in which African‐American children identify with science and scientists in particular contexts: an interview with an adult who had visited their class throughout that year and a class where they were offered various opportunities to engage with science. Using six cases that maximized the variety of understandings we could develop vis‐à‐vis our research question, we show how the children's narratives were filled with differing space–time relationships in which the children found ways to showcase their agency. Thus, we provide insights into how the children authored relationships with science and scientists, negotiated the past with the present and possible future, and contextualized their narratives within various time‐spaces that had meaning for them. Moreover, multiple people populated the children's chronotopes and became intertwined with the space–time relationships that underlined their conceptions of themselves vis‐à‐vis science and scientists. Despite the varied conceptions of science and scientists that the children portrayed, their narratives communicated a high level of confidence in being able to do science and be scientists, and initiative in learning. The children's narratives were filled with hope, “able‐ness,” knowledge, affect, and possibility. These findings point to several considerations for practice. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 568–596, 2012