Multiple Perspectives on Play in Early Childhood Education: (SUNY series, Early Childhood Education: Inquiries and Insights)

Play has been part of early childhood programs since the initial kindergarten developed by Friedreich Froebel more than one hundred and fifty years ago. While research shows that most teachers value children's play, they often do not know how to guide that play to make it more educational. Too often, in reflecting the value of child-initiated activities, teachers set the stage for children's play, observe it, but hesitate to intervene in that play. They may fear that to intervene is to create a developmentally inappropriate set of educational practices. However, the lack of intervention may limit the educational outcomes of play. Meanwhile, a large body of research exists on different forms of children's play in educational settings that could inform teachers of young children and help them to improve their practice and support more educational play. Saracho and Spodek bring together much of that research in an accessible volume for early childhood teachers and teacher educators.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction: Play in Early Childhood Education Olivia N. Saracho and Bernard Spodek 1. A Historical Overview of Theories of Play Olivia N. Saracho and Bernard Spodek 2. Playing with a Theory of Mind Angeline S. Lillard 3. The Social Origins of Mind: Post-Piagetian Perspectives on Pretend Play Larry Smolucha and Francine Smolucha 4. Seeing through Symbols: The Development of Children's Understanding of Symbolic Relations David H. Uttal, Donald P. Marzolf, Sophia L. Pierroutsakos, Catherine M. Smith, Georgene L. Troseth, Kathryn V. Scudder, and Judy S. DeLoache 5. The Development of Pretense and Narrative in Early Childhood Robert D. Kavanaugh and Susan Engel 6. Play as an Opportunity for Literacy Kathleen Roskos and Susan B. Neuman 7. Play and Social Competence Gary L. Creasey, Patricia A. Jarvis, and Laura E. Berk 8. Social and Nonsocial Play in Childhood: An Individual Differences Perspective Kenneth H. Rubin and Robert J. Coplan 9. Play in Special Populations Fergus P. Hughes 10. The Cultural Contexts of Children's Play Jaipaul L. Roopnarine, Jennifer Lasker, Megan Sacks, and Marshall Stores 11. Play and the Assessment of Young Children A. D. Pellegrini 12. What Is Stylish about Play? Olivia N. Saracho 13. Physical Environments and Children's Play Joe L. Frost, Dongju Shin, and Paul J. Jacobs 14. Real and Not Real: A Vital Developmental Dichotomy Brian Vandenberg Contributors Subject Index Author Index

About the Author :
Olivia N. Saracho is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Maryland. Bernard Spodek is Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Illinois. Saracho and Spodek have written several books together, including Right From the Start: Teaching Children Ages Three to Eight and Dealing with Individual Differences in the Early Childhood Classroom.

Review :
"While reading, I folded the corners of pages I wanted to reread. I found I have many pages with turned corners! The inclusion of the many different perspectives on play (social, literacy, environment, cultural, cognitive) in a single edited volume is helpful." — Carol Vukelich, University of Delaware