Children's Play

W. George Scarlett is senior lecturer and deputy chair of the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University. He received a BA from Yale University, an MDiv from the Episcopal Divinity School, and a PhD (in developmental psychology) from Clark University. He has authored or co-authored six books and co-edited the Encyclopedia of Religious and Spiritual Development (published by SAGE). His second most recent book was Approaches to Behavior and Classroom Management (also published by SAGE). He has been the lead author or co-author of chapters in The Handbook of Child Psychology and The Handbook of Life-Span Development - both leading resources for professionals conducting research on children and adolescents. In addition, he has published numerous articles on a variety of subjects pertaining to children, including articles on behavior management, and he has been on the research teams of several internationally known leaders, including Ed Zigler at Yale (early research on Head Start) and Howard Gardner at Harvard (early research on multiple intelligences). He has served as a consultant to the Cambridge, Somerville, and Lowell Head Start systems in Massachusetts and directed a residential summer camp for children with emotional and behavioural disorders. Currently, he is a regular consultant to reporters and news agencies, communicating to the general public best practices for raising and educating children and youth. At Tufts, in addition to his administrative duties as the department's deputy chair, he teaches courses on approaches to problem behavior, children's play, and spiritual development, and writes a column, "Kids These Days," for Tufts Magazine. Sophie Naudeau is a graduate of Sorbonne University and a former Fulbright fellow. She has extensive fieldwork experience with refugee children in diverse cultures (Bosnia; Guinea-Conakry; Sierra Leone; Thailand and Cambodia) and currently writes and conducts research on resilience and children's play among war-affected children and children of prisoners. Dorothy Salonius-Pasternak is a graduate of Wesleyan University and was formerly affiliated with the National Research Institute in Finland and the Yale New Haven Hospital. Currently, she conducts research on adolescents with diabetes through the Harvard Medical School, Joslin Diabetes Clinic and Tufts University. Iris Ponte is a graduate of Holy Cross College and a former Watson Scholar. She has conducted extensive research in preschools in the United Kingdom, Taiwan, China, Japan and Newfoundland and has worked for Sesame Street Research at the Children's Television Workshop in New York.

Preface 1. Introduction PART I: THE DEVELOPMENT OF PLAY FROM INFANCY THROUGH LATE CHILDHOOD 2. The Emergence of Play in Infancy and the Toddler Years 3. Play in Early Childhood: The Golden Age of Make-Believe 4. Play in Late Childhood: Rule-Governed Play 5. Children's Humor PART II: REVOLUTIONS IN CHILDREN'S PLAY 6. Electronic Play: Computer, Console, and Video Games 7. Organized Youth Sports PART III: MAJOR SETTINGS FOR CHILDREN'S PLAY 8. Home and Outdoor Play 9. Schooling and Play PART IV: THERAPEUTIC USES OF PLAY 10. Restorative Play in Stressful Environments 11. Play Therapy Web Resources References

"This is the most clearly self aware of the several current works in the psychology of children's play. It has the unique worth of being unusually comprehensive with respect to play stages, gender differences, private lives, neighborhoods, humor, collections, video games, responses to stress and the uses of recess and play therapy. I particularly liked the demonstration of the continuing role of make believe from early childhood on into the theatric, literary, and electronic foci of adolescence. These four authors are to be congratulated for having brought us as students and as parents an unusually readable text." -- Brian Sutton-Smith "The authors' treatment of play is both original and provocative. Unlike most previous expositions on play, they consider not only the social and cognitive dimensions of play but also its aesthetic nature. The treatment of youth sport was especially impressive. This is a 'must read' for students of play." -- Anthony D. Pellegrini "Children's Play combines uncompromising scholarship with fresh, joyful prose. By looking at both the structure and content of play the authors help us understand the developmental significance of this complex way of being in the world. Each chapter contains exactly the topics we want to study and adds surprises that counter the folk-psychology of today. Children's Play does more than overview the research literature; it engenders new thinking." -- George E. Forman, Ph.D. "Enlivened with illustrations and case studies, this book gives an exceptionally readable account of the development of children's play from infancy through to adolescence. It also branches out to include humor, sports, and modern developments in electronic games, as well as uses of play in therapy. It will be a great resource for practitioners and play workers, and indeed for parents who wish to be informed of current thinking and research." -- Peter K. Smith "Readers who are parents and students interested in examining and learning about the complexities of children's play will find this book wonderfully educational. The vocabulary and language used in this book is clear and easily understandable to those reading at the college level. The authors' optimistic and energetic description of children's play makes reading this book effortless. The information in this book leads its readers to a provocative examination of their own play experiences and those of the children around them. Readers will feel stimulated and tempted to engage in further exploration in this fascinating area of study by the content and concepts presented in this splendid book." -- Steve Ta-Shen Yang * Springer *