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Child Care Information Exchange 11/97 — 49

Play, Policy, and Practice: The Essential Connectionsby Edgar Klugman and Sandra Waite-Stupiansky

What’s New in Play Research? by Doris Pronin FrombergObservations of Play by Margaret Cooney

Documenting Play Lynn Cohen

The Value of Play

Reprinted with permission — Child Care Information ExchangePO Box 3249, Redmond, WA 98073 • (800) 221-2864 • www.ChildCareExchange.com

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hree children are deeply engaged in a blockbuild-ing project, two researchers are discussing teacherentry into child play, an educator is preparing an

article on the value of play as it occurs in an earlychildhood program. Are all these people Ñ theirthoughts, ideas and work Ñ connected? We stronglyargue ÒYesÓ Ñ in fact, the connections made amongand between these people are crucial to quality careand education of young children.

Have parents ever confronted you, the director, aboutproviding more academic programming? Have youinteracted with teachers who want to integrate playinto the curriculum but arenÕt sure how? Have teachersin your program read about research on the importanceof play for later learning? Interactions such as thesepoint to the necessity for finding, making, and support-ing connections among play, policy, and practice.

The National Association for the Education of YoungChildren, in its publication, Developmentally Appropriate

Sandra Waite-Stupiansky, Ph.D.teaches preschoolers and kinder-gartners at the Miller ResearchLearning Center on the campusof Edinboro University of Penn-sylvania. Her book, BuildingUnderstanding Together: AConstructivist Approach toEarly Childhood Education,was published earlier this year by Delmar Publishers (Albany,NY). She serves as the ManagingEditor for the Play, Policy, and

Practice Connections newsletter.

Edgar Klugman, Ed.D. is aspecialist in child and family pol-icy. He is one of the founders ofthe Play, Policy and PracticeCaucus and consulting editor ofPlay, Policy and PracticeConnections newsletter. He hasco-authored and edited Children,Families & Government, Cam-bridge University Press; Chil-drenÕs Play and Learning:Perspectives and PolicyImplications, Teachers College

Press; and Play, Policy and Practice, Redleaf Press.

by Edgar Klugman andSandra Waite-Stupiansky

Play, Policy, andPractice:

The EssentialConnections

Practice in Early Childhood Programs (Bredekamp andCopple, 1997) takes the stand that play belongs at thecenter of a curriculum designed for the young child. As a matter of fact, ongoing research, as well as publi-cation after publication in the early childhood field,emphasizes the crucial, intrinsic connections amongplay, policy, and practice.

Over the last century, research and theory in earlychildhood education have continued to point to theconnections between play and learning. Theories andresearch findings of Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky firstinformed educators of the active role children take intheir learning. More recently, the curriculum model ofthe Reggio Emilia schools in Italy demonstrates thatchildren act as the inventors and constructors of theirown knowledge through their active and interactiveexplorations of the world. In the words of LorisMalaguzzi (1993), the teacher-theorist whose ideasshaped the schools in Reggio Emilia, ÒAlways andeverywhere children take an active role in the construc-


Since the director feels strongly that play is one of themost important components of the program, and since she is new to the setting, she uses her entry process todialogue with individuals who are directly or indi-rectly involved with the program. She sets up meetingswith teachers, board members, and parents. She invites their thoughts about the school, the overall program,and childrenÕs play in particular. She develops a fewquestions to ask all constituents so that feedback aboutthe findings can be provided to members of each of thegroups being interviewed. Interestingly, she finds thatthe teachers all rate play as theoretically the mostimportant activity in the center. The parents are mostconcerned that the children Òlearn something.Ó Boardmembers see learning and play as important dimen-sions of the program, but add safety as their additionalconcern.

As a next step, the director invites each group to meetwith her to share feedback on the findings and to beginto point out ways to address the concerns and issuesraised by each constituency. The meetings focus simul-taneously on ways to address the safety of children,their play, and their learnings. The teaching staffdecides to focus the yearÕs staff development effort onplay and learning. The board requests that a joint sub-committee be set up to consider the three issues of play,learning, and safety, with representation from all threeconstituencies. The director sees that it would be help-ful if a parent and a board member were to become alink between the sub-committee and the staff develop-ment sessions. While this seems somewhat difficult interms of time arrangements, two people from each cate-gory volunteer to alternately attend the teaching staffdevelopment seminars.

Since the concern of all constituent groups is childrenÕslearning, the first few sessions of the staff developmentseminar focus on play and learning. The director sug-gests that each person think about her own childhoodplay memories. To help people get started, the directorsuggests that it might be useful to think about any ofthe following: a) the age of the player at the time of theplay memory; b) the place in which the play memoryoccurred (e.g., was it indoors or outdoors? school orhome?); c) whether the memories were of playing aloneor with others; if with others, who they were; d) thetoys, play equipment, or natural materials such aswood, sand, or water, involved in the play memory.

Now the group of teachers and representatives fromthe board and parents analyze their childhood playmemories from a learning perspective. As they gothrough the process, the extent ofinterdependence and intertwining of

tion and acquisition of learning and understandingÓ (p. 60). If educators, parents, administrators, and othersresponsible for young children accept children as activelearners, then play becomes a vehicle, we would arguethe most important vehicle, to empower children aslearners.

In a work-oriented culture, such as ours, play is oftenperceived as the inverse of productive work. Play isreserved for after school or after work. It is often seenas the frivolous activity that children and adults earnthrough their hard work.

Yet, the widely-accepted definition of play in earlychildhood literature focuses on the intrinsically-motivated, child-directed, open-ended nature of play.Play is exploratory and process-oriented more thanproduct-driven (Waite-Stupiansky, 1997). Play andlearning are inextricably intertwined for young chil-dren. In fact, a recent study by Cooney (1997) foundthat preschool-age children blur the lines between playand work. It is not until formal schooling that childrenbegin to differentiate between the two activities. Thus,play and work are not dichotomous, but are part of thewhole-thinking-learning process for young children.

As directors/policy makers, we are presented with aspecial leadership role in facilitating and helping toencourage the dialogue around play, policy, and prac-tice and in affecting the perceptions and decisionswhich relate to it. Only to the extent that we can do thiscan we affect the quality of experiences offered to thechildren in our programs. We need to find ways towelcome and integrate the voices of children, class-room teachers, parents, researchers, teacher educators,administrators, and policy makers, each of whomrepresents an important perspective on the issuessurrounding childrenÕs play.

Sylvia Washington, a new director of a small child carecenter, finds that the teaching staff are most comfort-able using play materials which are highly structured,such as coloring books, puzzles, and other quiet materi-als, leaving little opportunity for children to use theirown ideas, imaginations, or creativity. They leave thechildren completely on their own and spend the out-door time talking to each other. The educational back-ground of the teaching staff includes a high schooldiploma for all, and some additional college courses inthe liberal arts and general education for two. One staffmember received a bachelorÕs degree in English. TheCenter director has a masterÕs degree in leadership andearly childhood education.


play and learning becomes clearer. The teachers, boardmembers, and the parents are astonished at this inter-connection. The next sessions are planned to focus onclassroom observation, assessment of play, and a newlook at the role of the adult as teacher, facilitator, andlife-span-expander for children.

Needless to say, those involved in this integratedprocess are able to gain a new level of understandingand respect for childrenÕs play. At a later point in theyear, when it is time to plan the following yearÕs bud-get, board members who have experienced the inte-grated staff development sessions will have far bettergrounding in what it can mean for program and chil-dren when integrated, carefully designed staff develop-ment seminars, such as those offered by Sylvia, aremade available. The board easily passes the necessaryseparate budget items to support the ongoing seminarsand begins to accrue for the center carefully selected,play-enhancing materials and equipment for the nextacademic year. This center is well on its way towardthe goals of staff development, board development,and program development and improvement. A fall-outproduct is the team building among the diverse con-stituent groups which undoubtedly will continue to bevery useful during the following year as new chal-lenges are encountered and met.

To return to the initial question: Are there essentialconnections among play, policy, and practice? Thisexample illustrates that there are powerful and positiveconnections in programs that value play as the vehiclefor learning. The constituents involved in the precedingexample would give a resounding affirmative response.They can refer to the work they have done and itsmany positive results, to explain why the connectionsare crucial. In the process, they revisited the playexperiences they had as children and discovered thereasons why play and learning cannot be separate foryoung children.

References

Bradekamp, S. and Copple, C. (editors). Developmentallyappropriate practice in early childhood programs (revisededition). Washington, DC: NAEYC, 1997.

Cooney, M. Play from a childÕs perspective. Play, Policy,and Practice Connections, the Newsletter of the Play, Policy, and Practice Caucus of the National Associationfor the Education of Young Children, 1997. (Available by writing Sandra Waite-Stupiansky, Miller Research

Learning Center, Edinboro Universityof PA, Edinboro, PA 16444).

Malaguzzi, L. History, ideas and basic philosophy: An interview with Lella Gandini, In C. Edwards, L. Gandini, and G. Forman (editors). The hundredlanguages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach to earlychildhood education. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corp.,1993.

Waite-Stupiansky. Building understanding together: A constructivist approach to early childhood education.Albany, NY: Delmar Publishers, 1997.


verybody is an expert in identifying whenyoung children are at play, because we can seeit happening, and we expect that children will

play. We are less ready to consider that some of thesame processes go underground throughout adult life.By looking at what play is, what children do while theyengage in play, and what benefits they derive fromplay, we have a chance to learn how they think andwhat they know. Sociodramatic play is a powerfuldevelopmental activity and form of assessment.

Defining and Describing Play Processes

Play is symbolic (acting Òas ifÓ or Òwhat ifÓ), meaning-ful, active, pleasurable even when serious, voluntaryand intrinsically motivated, rule-governed (implicitlyor explicitly), and episodic (shifting spontaneously andflexibly). The philosopher John Dewey (1933) suggestsa continuum of foolingÉ playÉ workÉ drudgery, andindicates that a balance between play and work is thereasonable place for education to take place. Psycholo-gist Lev Vygotsky (1978) sees play as a rule-boundform of impulse control that leads childrenÕs under-lying representational development. He sees play as aÒscaffoldingÓ that takes place as children engage insocial activity at the edge of their learning potential(Òzone of proximal developmentÓ). When children play,they are able to leave the play framework, communi-cate with one another about how to play (e.g., ÒYou bethe doctor and IÕll be the sick baby), and reenter theplay (e.g., ÒWaah!Ó) after having negotiated the rules ofengagement.


by Doris Pronin Fromberg

What’s Newin Play

Research?

Doris Pronin Fromberg is Professor of Education and Direc-tor, Early Childhood Teacher Education at Hofstra Universitywhere she also served as Chairperson, Department ofCurriculum and Teaching. She teaches graduate courses inearly childhood curriculum and early literacy. She is pastpresident of the National Association of Early ChildhoodTeacher Educators and is an advocate for high-quality earlychildhood teacher and administrator education. Her publica-tions include: The Full-Day Kindergarten: Planning andPracticing a Dynamic Themes Curriculum (secondedition), Teachers College Press, The Encyclopedia of EarlyChildhood Education co-edited with Leslie Williams (Garland) and Play from Birth to Twelve and Beyondco-edited with Doris Bergen (in press, 1998, Garland).

E


Script building29 together is the powerful, central pro-cess in sociodramatic play. Children use their personaland cultural knowledge of events (e.g., shopping, cook-ing, weddings, street scenes, television settings) to buildscripts together. Using the outline of their daily lifeexperiences, children create new scripts Òthrough sharedpredictability and collaborative noveltyÓ.22 They learn agreat deal about what other people understand by theirreactions to suggestions, come to understand other chil-drenÕs perspectives, and refine their ways to influenceothersÕ rules in the script. In these ways, script buildingis similar to the relationships of an editor and author orcoach and player.

Theory of mind researchers1, 3 try to understand howchildren represent the real as well as the imaginary,think about their own thinking, and the thinking of oth-ers. They have asked children about desires, beliefs,false beliefs, and deception as well as looked at chil-drenÕs play. The active verbal and physical nature ofsociodramatic play offers opportunities for such study.There is a sense from both script theory and theory ofmind study that human beings, through social interac-tion, develop the use of multiple Òmental modelsÓ18 andÒimage schemasÓ23 to represent their experiences. Inthese ways, play functions with a ÒgrammarÓ of experi-ence in which its surface forms represent underlyingintegrated processes.

Play and Development

There is agreement among researchers that engaging insociodramatic play helps children to develop their liter-acy skills, social competence, and their cognitive ability,especially problem solving. There is also a group ofstudies, that have been challenged, which have foundthat childrenÕs pretend play improves their imaginationand creativity.

Literacy skills develop through opportunities for socialinteraction. A body of applied research points to theimportance of simultaneously varying props, writingmaterials, and play themes in order to enrich childrenÕsliteracy, for example, when children play with beautyparlor, post office, bank, and hospital props that includelanguage literacy materials6 and emergent numeracy7

materials. Other studies have found that childrenÕs storyrecall improves when they have engaged in role playingafter hearing a story,26 particularly when small groupshad opportunities to play out the stories.35

Social competence appears to be more apparent in pre-tend play than other activities2 and children maintain

stability and consistency by sharingmeanings. ChildrenÕs play with older

children, siblings, and parents is more advanced andextended than with peers.20 ÒMaster playersÓ28 are moreflexible, fluid, cooperative, and engaged in extendedplay. More secure children show similar characteris-tics.13 These characteristics make it easier for other chil-dren to accept them and their ideas. On the other hand,children who have had many different group settingsare less competent in their play.19

Cognitive development takes place during pretendplay. When teachers or parents have intervened byplayfully modeling, providing varied props, andraising play-related questions, young children havebecome more flexible planners, used more expandedlanguage, and sustained play for longer periods oftime.4, 11, 31 Researchers have found a relationshipbetween enriched adult play intervention and chil-drenÕs academic skills, as well as I.Q.21 with animprovement in systematic and process-orientedproblem solving33. There is also evidence that the use of low-specificity toys is related to more interactiveplay and a longer shared play script.24, 25

Imagination helps when children need to wait becausethey create imaginary stories, and use analogies.30 Afterexposure to modeling and the use of divergent materi-als, young children have been able to engage in morecombinatorial play and make new connections.9, 15, 26

Children seem to stimulate each otherÕs imaginationswhen in groups of two or three, and working with thegroup itself might help to reduce aggressive behavior.14

Methodological criticism of some of these studies, how-ever, has become part of an ongoing dialogue.9, 12, 32

Integration of cognitive, linguistic, socioemotional, andcreative processes characterizes pretend play. Problemsolving, which children practice during their play,requires such integration. It is helpful to consider theintegrative function of play as having lymphatic func-tion within childrenÕs experience and learning. It isworthwhile, therefore, for teachers to provide opportu-nities for children to have the choice of a rich socio-dramatic play life in group settings.

Implications for Teachers and Administrators

Planning for sociodramatic play means providing time,space, resources, and support. Children need longblocks of time (a minimum of 45Ð60 minutes) in orderto organize and play out their scripts. They need spacewith changing themes and props (4Ð6 weeks for atheme and related props). Maintaining the housekeep-ing center for the entire year as a housekeeping centerreduces opportunities for expanded language and ideas


accomplished that day, and a newsletter describing thethemes, books, and experiences to which children wereexposed.

Adults who work with young children have an ethicalresponsibility to provide worthwhile experiences thatcan help young children feel successful as they con-struct many ways to work, play, and think. Whilesociodramatic play may be a vehicle for extending chil-drenÕs learning, it is worthwhile in its own right as apotentially empowering, integrative, joyful, aesthetic,and humanizing experience. The teacher whose focusand trust rest with childrenÕs construction of importantintegrated connections serves the ethical purpose ofeducation. A sense of appreciation, respect, humor, andplayfulness helps, too.

References

1 Astington, J.W. The childÕs discovery of the mind. Cambridge, MA:Harvard University Press, 1993.

2 Barnes, M.K. and A.L. Vangelisti. Speaking in a double-voice:Role-making as influence in preschoolersÕ fantasy play situations.Research on Language and Social Interaction, 28, (4), 351-389, 1995.

3 Bartsch, K. and H.M. Wellman. Children talk about the mind. NewYork: Oxford University Press, 1995.

4 Bretherton, I., B. OÕConnell, C. Shore, and E. Bates. The effect ofcontextual variation on symbolic play development from 20 to 28months. In I. Bretherton (editor), Symbolic play: The development ofsocial understanding (pp. 271-298). New York: Academic Press, 1984.

5 Cazden, C. Language programs for young children: Notes fromEngland and Wales. In C.S. Lavatelli (editor), Language training inearly childhood education (pp. 119-153). Urbana, IL: ERIC, 1971.

6 Christie, J.F. (editor). Play and early literacy development. Albany,NY: State University of New York Press, 1991.

7 Cook, D. Mathematical sense making and role playing in the nurs-ery. Early Child Development and Care, 121, 55-66, 1996.

8 Dansky, J.L. Questioning ÒA Paradigm QuestionedÓ: A commen-tary on Simon and Smith. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 31, 279-384, 1985.

9 Dansky, J.L. Play and creativity in young children. In K. Blan-chard, W.W. Anderson, G.E. Chick, and E.P. Johnson (editors), Themany faces of play (pp. 69-79). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1986.

10 Dewey, J. How we think. Boston: Heath, 1933.

11 Dias, M.G., and P.L. Harris. The effect of make-believe play ondeductive reasoning. Developmental Psychology6, 207-221, 1988.

to develop.5 Extending opportunities for richly variedand novel experiences also adds to childrenÕs eventknowledge, which forms the basis for their scripting ofplays.

When teachers sit in the blocks area, a source of visual-spatial learnings that assist the development of chil-drenÕs mathematical competence,22 more girls, whotend to remain near the teacher, are likely to partici-pate. Literacy materials can be in the blocks area aswell as other thematic sociodramatic play areas, includ-ing the housekeeping area. These provisions should beavailable among the choices in general activity periodsduring which small groups of children work together.

Consider also the power of interage grouping for scaf-folding childrenÕs play and learning. Teachers circulateand intervene unobtrusively.

It is relevant for teachers of young children to reviewtheir schedules in order to provide for mostly smallgroups to work together much of the time for longertime blocks. These provisions mean reviewing the dailyschedule to eliminate many shorter time blocks andtheir related transition times, which denote more wholegroup instruction.

Questioning with a view toward expanding childrenÕslanguage use differs from questioning that demands asingle correct answer. If there is only one answer andthe teacher already knows it, then it is a testing orguessing exercise and not an authentic question. Chil-dren are able to expand their language use when teach-ers use open-ended questions to which children mayrespond with their ideas, opinions, preferences, ordescriptions. Children can interpret and predict whatmight happen in a story and then role play differentendings. When a teacher models divergent questioningand role playing, children learn to use a wider range ofoptions in their pretend play and language use. Mostimportant, children feel a sense of competence andpower to choose. Such a sense of success goes a longway toward preventing the development of destructivebehavior.

Ethical Teaching. Young children are often willing toplease adults and can do many things that are not nec-essarily most helpful to their long-term development asresponsible, independent, flexible, and socially compe-tent thinkers. Parents sometimes have other ideas aboutwhat their childrenÕs school experience should looklike. It helps, therefore, to document what children arelearning, through photographs and slides, childrenÕsdrawings and writings, language experience charts,one- or two-line notes home to each family on a rotat-ing basis with information about what their child


12 Dunn, L. and J.E. Herwig. Play behavior and convergent anddivergent thinking skills of young children attending full-daypreschool. Child Study Journal, 22, (1), 23-38, 1992.

13 Fagot, B.I. Attachment, parenting, and peer interactions of toddlerchildren. Developmental Psychology, 33, (3), 489-499, 1997.

14 Farver, J. Aggressive behavior in preschoolersÕ social networks.Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 11 (3), 333-350, 1996.

15 Feitelson, D. and G.S. Ross. The neglected actor Ñ play. HumanDevelopment, 16, 202-223, 1973.

16 Fromberg, D.P. Play issues in early childhood education. In C. Seefeldt (editor), Continuing issues in early childhood education 2nd. edition. Columbus, OH: Merrill Macmillan, in press, a.

17 Fromberg, D.P. A review of research on play. In C. Seefeldt (edi-tor), The early childhood curriculum: A review of current research 3rd edi-tion. New York: Teachers College Press, in press, b.

18 Harris, P.L. and R.D. Kavanaugh. Young childrenÕs understandingof pretense. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Develop-ment, Serial No. 231, 58, (1), 1993.

19 Howes, C. and P. Stewart. ChildÕs play with adults, toys, andpeers: an examination of family and child-care influences. Develop-mental Psychology, 23 (3), 423-430, 1987.

20 Howes, C. with O. Unger, and C.C. Matheson. The collaborativeconstruction of pretend: Social pretend play function. Albany: StateUniversity of New York Press, 1992.

21 Levenstein, P. Mother-child home program (Toy demonstrators).In L.R. Williams and D.P. Fromberg (editors), The encyclopedia ofearly childhood education, (pp. 481Ñ482). New York: Garland, 1992.

22 Maccoby, E.E. and C.T. Jacklin. The psychology of sex differences.Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1974.

23 Mandler, J.M. How to build a baby: II. Conceptual primitives.Psychological Review, 99, (4), 587-604, 1992.

24 McGhee, P.E., L. Etheridge, and N.A. Berg. Effect of toy structureon preschool childrenÕs pretend play. Journal of Catholic Education,144, 209-217, 1984.

25 McLloyd, V. The effects of the structure of play objects on thepretend play of low-income preschool children. Child Development,54, 626-635, 1983.

26 Pellegrini, A.D. The effects of exploration and play in youngchildrenÕs associative fluency. A review and extension of trainingstudies. In T.D. Yawkey and A.D. Pellegrini (editors), ChildÕs play:

Developmental and applied (pp. 237-253). Hills-dale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1984.

27 Pellegrini, A.D. and L. Galda. The effects of thematic-fantasy playtraining on the development of childrenÕs story comprehension.American Education Research Journal, 19, 443-452, 1982.

28 Reynolds, G. and E. Jones. Master players. New York: TeachersCollege Press, 1997.

29 Schank, R. and R. Abelson. Scripts, plans, goals and understanding:An inquiry into human knowledge. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum,1977.

30 Singer, J.L. and D. Singer. The values of imagination. In B. Sutton-smith (editor), Play and learning (pp. 195-218). New York: Gardner,1979.

31 Smilansky, S. The effects of sociodramatic play on disadvantagedpreschool children. New York: John Wiley, 1968.

32 Smith, P.K. and S. Whitney. Play and associative fluency: Experi-menter effects may be responsible for previous positive findings.Developmental Psychology, 23 (1), 49-53, 1987.

33 Sylva, K., J.S. Bruner, and P. Genova. The role of play in problem-solving of children 3Ð5 years old. In J.S. Bruner, A. Jolly, and K.Sylva (editors), Play Ñ its role in development and evolution (pp. 244-257). New York: Basic Books, 1976.

34 Vygotsky, L.S. Mind in society: The development of higher psychologi-cal processes (M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, and E. Souber-man, editors). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978.

35 Williamson, P.A. and S.B. Silvern. Thematic-fantasy play andstory comprehension. In J.F. Christie (editor), Play and early literacydevelopment (pp. 69-90). Albany: State University of New York Press,1991.


Margaret ÒPeggyÓCooney is an AssistantProfessor in LifelongLearning and Instruc-tion in the College ofEducation at theUniversity of Wyomingin Laramie, Wyoming.She teachers coursesleading to state EarlyChildhood certificationand mentors graduatestudents whose area ofemphasis is Early

Childhood Education. Peggy was the Director of the Univer-sity of Wyoming Child Care Center for seven years. Peggy isa validator for the NAEYC accreditation program.

iane, an early childhood education teacher, wonderswhy some children in her inclusive prekindergarten

classroom can enter ongoing plan and why others havesuch difficulty. She thinks the children who receive specialeducation services have more problems with this than theother children. Diane hypothesizes to her director that if shecould help all the children with their play entry skills, thesocial skills level of the entire group would improve. Dianefurther speculates that more advanced social skills wouldpositively impact the childrenÕs cognitive, language, affective,and physical development. (Oglietti, 1997)

In order for Diane to help the children in her classroomwith their play entry skills, she will first have to spendsome time observing their play. She needs to knowwhere they are developmentally, what play entrystrategies they are using, and which ones result in suc-cessful bids. Then she can reinforce the successfulstrategies and teach them directly or indirectly to thechildren in her classroom.

This entire process depends upon DianeÕs ability tocollect useful observation records of the children atplay. She will need guidance and support from herdirector to master observation and recording skills.

Observing and Recording Play Benefits Children

Communicating the value of observing and recordingchildrenÕs play in order to benefit the children them-selves is an important contribution her director canmake to DianeÕs plan. According to our profession,observation is the early childhood teacherÕs most effec-tive means of assessment (NAEYC, 1988; NAEYC/


by Margaret Cooney

ObservingChildren’s

Play

D


NAECS, 1991). Teachers can use it in the followingways.

■ Informing the curriculum. Using observation to inform the curriculum is a developmentally appropri-ate practice. It tells the teacher where the children aredevelopmentally, both as a group and as individuals. Itbuilds teacher understandings about how the childrenthemselves see their world. It provides the teacher withvaluable information about the childrenÕs interest andbecomes fuel for the emergent curriculum (Jones &Nimmo, 1994). Recalling the vignette describingDianeÕs goal, letÕs examine how she used observation toinform the curriculum.

Diane videotaped the children playing in order to make wisedecisions about curricular activities to meet her social devel-opment goal. She viewed the videotapes and identified suc-cessful play entry behaviors. Diane discovered that thechildren who watched play before entering were more suc-cessful. She also observed that the children who were morepersistent, that is, tried more than one time with more thanone strategy, were most successful. Diane confessed her sur-prise that children responded more favorably to nonverbalstrategies than the Òuse your words and ask if you can playÓstrategy typically recommended by teachers! Diane plannedsome puppetry curriculum activities for her circle time. Shebased these activities on what she learned about successfulsocial skills during play. Diane also facilitated childrenÕsentry into play groups when they needed help. (Oglietti,1997)

As a result of observing, the teacher can make wisedecisions about curriculum activities to effectively meether goals. She learns how to facilitate the childrenÕsdevelopment during play and during the other dailyactivities.

■ Communicating with parents. Using observations as a basis for talking with parents creates opportunitiesfor both parents and teachers to share what the childcan do at home and at school. As they take turns shar-ing stories based on their observations, a more realisticpicture of the child is painted. Thus, the parent-teacherpartnership, designed to benefit the childÕs growth anddevelopment, is born. The outcome solves an age-oldproblem of discrepancy between parent and teacherperspectives regarding what the child can and cannotdo. When the competency is grounded in a specificcontext, it is better understood. Both informal and for-mal conferences between parents and teachers basedupon observation benefit the child by providing unifor-mity in his life.

■ Identifying children with special needs. Observation and recording

techniques used routinely by the teacher can provideimportant and specific data to support the teacherÕsimpression of a childÕs needs. Through observation ofchildren at play, the experienced observer gains insights into all areas of child development. For exam-ple, DianeÕs videotaped observations allowed her towatch specific children at play to determine their skill atentering play groups. During this process, Diane noticedthat two of the children consistently utilized two playentry strategies that were unsuccessful. They disruptedthe ongoing play and seemed unaware of peer emo-tions. These observations provided important informa-tion to Diane about how to help the two children learnsuccessful play entry strategies.

Because childrenÕs play tends to reveal their highestlevels of development, observing them during playgives their teacher a more accurate view of their com-petence (Vygotsky, 1978). Teachers have reportedsurprise upon watching videotaped clips of children intheir program identified with special needs who weresuccessfully demonstrating skills from their IndividualEducation Plans (IEPs) during play (A. Sullivan, per-sonal communication, August 10, 1997). For example, a male child with an identified delay in personal-socialskill development demonstrated social skills whileplaying with a female play partner that were consideredbeyond his competence level by the team who diag-nosed him. When given the freedom to play in a naturalsetting with a self chosen play partner, he performedÒabove his head.Ó

Effective observation techniques are powerful toolsavailable to early childhood teachers for purposes ofcurriculum planning, communicating with parents, andidentifying children with special needs. The power ofobservation lies in the positive impact it can have onchildren.

How to Observe and Record

There are many strategies for recording children at play. For example, Diane chose to do a running recordof children entering play twice a week at playtime using videotaped recordings. Another teacher may use anecdotal records as a form of recording his obser-vations of childrenÕs object substitution during dramatic play. Before choosing the best observation and recording strategy, it is necessary to take thefollowing steps:

■ Choose a naturalistic, familiar, and informal setting.One reason observation is so effective is that it allowschildren to be assessed during their natural play activi-ties rather than in a contrived environment. The chil-


table above contains the strategies and their definitions.Although these strategies are divided into four types, I believe they overlap one another when applied in theclassroom setting. The teacher learns to trust herself toadapt the chosen strategy to meet her particular pur-poses. For example, I favor anecdotal records for sev-eral reasons. First, they yield specific information, yetare opened-ended and flexible. This open-endedattribute allows for unexpected findings to emerge.And second, anecdotal records are a realistic strategyfor a busy and overextended teacher.

Imagine that you are a teacher of a five year old groupof children. You are collecting data on their interests inorder to select a class project responsive to the children(Jones & Nimmo, 1994). After recording anecdotalrecords for two weeks, you and your aide both readover the data and find that the children as a group have an interest in cats, both domestic and wild. Youdecide to launch a project that explores cat characteris-tics and habitats. The following anecdotal record is asample:

Mark arrives at school about 8:00 am with his father.He runs up to Dan at the puzzle table and says, ÒLook,Dan! My dad brought me a tiger shirt from the SanDiego Zoo.Ó Dan replies, ÒSoÉ I have a cheetah posterin my bedroom.Ó (10/02/97)

Each anecdotal record is dated and contains the specificinformation surrounding the incident in which aninterest is expressed or explored. Additional informa-tion beyond the childrenÕs interests, such as specialfriendships, is revealed through theanecdotal record approach.

dren are doing what they would normally be doing.Furthermore, they are being observed by a familiaradult, rather than an outside person without an estab-lished relationship. The teacher, therefore, is in an idealposition to get an accurate view of childrenÕs compe-tence, needs, and interests.

■ Define the purpose. DianeÕs purpose in observing was to design a curriculum that would build uponchildrenÕs social skills. There are other purposes forobserving children at play. Perhaps the teacher wants tofind out the childrenÕs interests in order to plan mean-ingful projects or units. It is important to have apurpose in mind, even though the observation recordscan be used in multiple ways. Having a focus helps theteacher know what to record and when to record.

■ Plan the time. Deciding upon the times to observe and record is the teacherÕs next task. What are the besttimes to observe in light of the purpose? When can theteacher have some time to observe without too manyinterruptions? Times during the day or week when thechildren are engaged in child initiated activities oftenwork best. Perhaps there is a teacherÕs assistant orparent available at certain times during the week.

■ Choose a strategy. Observations require a recordingstrategy; simply relying on memory of observations is not effective. Additionally, there must be a cleanseparation of objective (the details of activity andcontext) and subjective data (observerÕs interpreta-tions). Strategies can be divided into four main types(Bredekamp & Rosegrant, 1992). Each strategy hasadvantages and disadvantages and is utilized for itseffectiveness in meeting the purpose of observing. The


Strategies for Observing and Recording Children at Play.

Strategies Definitions

Narratives Ñ diary description, anecdotal record, record of what is happening within therunning record, specimen description, log/journal observationÕs focus

Time Sampling record of what happens within a given period of time,using tallies or codes to monitor frequency of specific behaviors

Event Sampling record of an event and what happens before and after,recorded while it is taking place

Modified Child Study Ñ checklist, variety of techniques originally used by researchersrating scale, shadow study and adapted by teachers for classroom use

Observing and Recording Play Promotes the Teacher-As-Researcher Role

Observations of children have the potential to con-tribute to the field by affirming or calling establishedpractice into question. For example, DianeÕs play entrystudy affirmed the notion that play entry skills werelinked to social competence. Her finding that thesuccessful bids resulted from nonverbal observing andmodeling strategies called into question the Òask if youcan playÓ practice recommended in the literature.

Observing can be thought of as a form of data collec-tion for the teacher who is engaging in research.Literally thousands of questions about young childrenÕsplay remain unanswered. Just as Diane posed her ques-tion about play entry strategies, other teachers can pur-sue answers to their research questions by observingand recording children at play. With time and practice,Diane grew to see herself as a teacher researcher. Infact, she found a new question emerged from her playentry study. Now she wants to look at how childrensustain play. The teacher-as-researcher cycle involvesasking the question, observing and recording to findthe answer, reflecting on the findings, and then gener-ating a new question to explore.

Vivian Paley, a kindergarten teacher in the Chicago LabSchool for many years, is an excellent model for theteacher-as-researcher concept in preschool andkindergarten. She has written nine books about youngchildren at play. Each book answers a different questionbut all are aimed at documenting the childÕs way ofthinking or the childÕs perspective. Paley recognizedthat through careful observation of children, hercurriculum could become more child centered. Herbook, You canÕt say you canÕt play (1992) is the story ofher approach to the phenomenon of peer rejection inplay.

Teacher researchers have the potential to contribute tothe body of knowledge about young childrenÕs play.They have access to the children who are playing in anaturalistic setting and who are constantly demonstrat-ing the process of learning through play. All we need todo as teacher researchers is learn to ask the right ques-tions and make a plan for observing and recording as away to find the answers.

References and Recommended Resources

Bredekamp, S. and Copple, C. (editors). Developmentallyappropriate practice in early childhood programs. Washington,

D.C.: National Association for the Edu-cation of Young Children, 1997.

Bredekamp, S. and Rosegrant, T. (editors). Reaching poten-tials: Appropriate curriculum and assessment for young chil-dren. Volume 1. Washington, D.C.: National Association forthe Education of Young Children. 1992.

Carini, P.F. The art of seeing and the visibility of the person.Grand Forks, ND: University of North Dakota, 1979.

Cohen, D.H. and Stern, V. Observing and recording thebehavior of young children. New York: Teachers College,1975.

Geneshi, C. (editor). Ways of assessing children andcurriculum. New York: Teachers College, 1992.

Jones, E. and Nimmo, J. Emergent curriculum. Washington,D.C.: National Association for the Education of YoungChildren, 1994.

National Association for the Education of Young Children.Position statement on standardized testing of young chil-dren 3 through 8 years of age. Young Children, 43(3), 42-47,1988.

National Association for the Education of Young Children& the National Association of Early Childhood Specialistsin State Departments of Education. Guidelines for appro-priate curriculum content and assessment in programsserving children ages 3 through 8. Young Children, 46(3),21-38, 1991.

Oglietti, D. BoysÕ play entry strategies in an inclusivepreschool environment. Unpublished Masters Paper.Laramie, WY: University of Wyoming, 1997.

Paley, V.G. You canÕt say you canÕt play. Cambridge, MA:Harvard University, 1992.

Vygotsky, L.S. Mind and society: The development of highermental processes. Cambridge: University Press, 1978.


Special thanks for helping to shapethis Beginnings Workshop:

Lynn CohenPeggy Cooney

Doris Pronin FrombergEdgar Klugman

Betty JonesKaren Miller

andSandra Waite-Stupiansky

he drama center has been transformed into ahospital. Gowns, masks, plastic gloves, ban-dages, Q-tips, stethoscope, flashlight, cradle,

blanket, clipboards with paper, pencils, and a toy tele-phone are the props used by children as they engage insociodramatic play.

Thomas says, ÒIf you donÕt take care of me, IÕm going to die.ÓTory Ñ Writes out a prescription on the clipboard.Thomas Ñ ÒLetÕs go fast, IÕm going to die.ÓTory Ñ ÒI need to write everything.ÓMarissa and Tanika Ñ Both girls are playing with thedoctorÕs bag.Tory Ñ Finishes his report. Picks up a Q-tip to checkMarissa for head lice. He looks in her eye.Tory says, ÒYou have an eye infection.ÓTanika takes the role of MarissaÕs mother.Tory Ñ ÒMoms are not allowed in the office.ÓMarissa Ñ ÒI want my mommy.ÓTory examines Marissa and says, ÒJust one lump. Rubberbands are pulling on it. You need medicine.ÓTory gives Marissa a shot.

This is a typical pretend play scene in my early child-hood classroom. Children are learning about the worldof hospitals through play. It is important to try to capi-talize on this natural inclination by providing the timeand materials needed for play. In describing NAEYCÕsdevelopmentally appropriate practices Bredekampstates: ÒThe childÕs active participation in self-directedplay with concrete, real-life experiences continues to bea key to motivated meaningful learning in kindergarten


DocumentingPlay

Lynn Cohen is a kindergarten teacher for the Great NeckPublic Schools and is recognized nationally as an earlychildhood curriculum consultant. She is a freelance writer,has written six early childhood trade books, and is an adjunctfaculty at C.W. Post College, Brookville, New York.

T

by Lynn Cohen


and the early gradesÓ (Bredekamp, 1987, p. 4).Many parents, administrators, and teachers thinkbecause children are in school, they should be doingschool things. Parents typically ask, ÒWhat did you do inschool today?Ó Children in developmentally appropri-ate early childhood classrooms, where play is seen as avehicle for developing literacy, math and social skills,would probably reply, ÒWe played!Ó This may causeparents to feel anxious because they do not fullyunderstand or value the role of play in the earlychildhood curriculum, although they value andpromote play at home. We need to help parents andadministrators understand the differences in play.

Play in Child Care Programs

Here are some differences between childrenÕs play athome and early childhood programs that we can sharewith parents and administrators:

Group Size Ñ Children learn to play in larger groupsin child care programs. While some children may stillengage in solitary or parallel play, their play takes placein the context of a larger group. A child at homecouldnÕt organize a hospital episode or any earlychildhood circle game.

Materials and Equipment Ñ Child care settings pro-vide children with sand tables, water tables, wood-working tools, and easels. Clay and paint aresometimes considered too messy for home use. Manyparents purchase commercial toys for their children. Inchild care programs, children can create, design, andinvent their own materials.

Space Ñ Indoor space is not limited to a bedroom, liv-ing room, or family room. Children in classroom set-tings have more space to engage in block play orsociodramatic play. Children can create a block struc-ture and revisit it the following day! Children at homeusually have limited outdoor space and equipment.Homes have swing sets and sand boxes, in comparisonto play areas in child care centers equipped withoutdoor apparatus for climbing and rings and bars for swinging. Children living in urban areas havelimited opportunities to play outdoors, especially ininclement weather.

Time Ñ In developmentally appropriate programs,play is an integral part of the day. Play is scheduled ona daily basis. At home, a parent is busy with householdchores. Some families with busy schedules may skipplay altogether.

Adult/Child Interaction Ñ Teacherscan facilitate, expand, and scaffold

childrenÕs play in child care programs. Vygotsky (1978)believes that learning leads development. According tohis theory, learning is most effective when it takes placewithin the childrenÕs zone of proximal development.The zone of proximal development is the area betweena childÕs level of independent performance and assistedperformance. For example, a child is playing withteddy bear counters. The teacher observes the childplaying with the counters and assists by suggesting thechild count, sort, and graph the bears by color or shape.Parents would probably not guide and discuss manyplayful discoveries with their children.

To eliminate misconceptions of play in schools, earlychildhood educators first need to help parents andadministrators understand the differences between playat home and child care settings. Then we need to helpparents and administrators recognize the way the play-oriented classroom supports learning. I write monthlynewsletters and conduct workshops on topics such asearly literacy or manipulative math. Many parentsand/or grandparents can rearrange their schedules tovolunteer an hour a week. I invite two parents orgrandparents every day to participate in my roomduring play time for one hour each week.

Mechanisms to document play to parents are anecdotaldescriptions of childrenÕs progress, photography,audiotapes, videotapes, and work samples. Morerecently, I am integrating Reggio EmiliaÕs approach todocumenting childrenÕs play and experiences throughpanels accompanied by explanatory notes, samples ofchildrenÕs work and transcripts of childrenÕs conversa-tions.

Anecdotal Notes

In my classroom I try to observe children every day.Carol Seefeldt believes the best way to assess an indi-vidual child is through direct observation. ÒObservingis probably the oldest, most frequently used and mostrewarding method of assessing children, their growth,development, and learning.Ó (Seefeldt, 1990, p. 313).

Children play in the block center every day for at leastan hour during activity time. Dr. Drew DiscoveryBlocks as well as Caroline Pratt unit blocks arearranged on book shelves and in crates. I provide awealth of block accessories to add stimulation, aestheticbeauty, and dramatic play content. Literature related tobuilding is left in the block center as reference materialfor classroom architects and mathematicians.

For many children building and constructing is themost comfortable way to represent thinking. Youobserve children talking to each other about their struc-


As you watchchildren play,write down whatchildren do orsay verbatim.Record the date,time, and setting.While watching,jot down enoughinformation toget the basicstory and mostsignificantdetails. It isimportant inanecdotal recordsto keep informa-tion factual rather than subjective.

Photography

Keep a camera loaded with film to photograph yourchildÕs thinking and learning while playing. Pho-tographs communicate to children, parents, and admin-istrators the process of how knowledge is constructed.They also let children know you value their play byproviding a sense of permanence to their creativity.Photography provides opportunities for you and yourchildren to look at and talk about play, long after blockshave been put back on the block shelves or sand toysput away in the sand box.

Audiotapes

Make audiotape recordings while children are playing.Taping your childrenÕs verbal communications will pro-vide you with information about their language skills,as well as their development as cooperative playersand problem solvers. It is useful to use audiotapeswhile taking anecdotal notes.

Videotapes

Videotaping play in the classroom and on the play-ground can be a passageway into learning about chil-drenÕs spontaneous play, their social interactions anddevelopment and physical changes. It is important thatwe ask childrenÕs permission before videotaping theirplay. Videotapes, as well as audiotapes, support ourobservations of children. It is impossible to see andrecord everything a child does and says while engagedin play! Technology assisted observations increase theaccuracy of recording childrenÕs think-ing and problem solving.

tures and verbalizing block building plans. Acts of liter-acy are incorporated when signs for buildings or mapsare created. There is evidence of mathematical thinkingas children use the blocks to create pattern and explorewhole-part relationships.

HereÕs an observation in the form of an anecdotalrecord of a child building with unit and discoveryblocks:

ÒLawrence began to build a castle. He took severalblocks and made an enclosure. He looked at the book,Castles. A First Discovery Book (Jeunesse,1993). He said, ÒThis doesnÕt look like a castle.Ó I said, ÒWhy donÕt you build up?Ó He started tostack blocks perpendicular, then vertical. He addedblock accessories and said, ÒThe animals are theguards of the castle. IÕm only going to make a sign.ÓHe drew a picture. ÒThis is the castle with animalsin it. The animals are the guards. Real monkeys,bears, rhinoceros, and a couple of whales.Ó

Lawrence used language artsskills as he researchedliterature and drew a picture(see Figure 1). There wasevidence of mathematical andscientific reasoning andproblem-solving as I watchedhim build his structure anduse animal block accessories.

Tori and ChristineÕs knowl-edge of maps and zoos wasobserved when they built apetting zoo with blocks and labeled it with signs. (SeeFigures 2 and 3). Figure 3 is a map of the zoo for

visitors to use as aguide.

Anecdotal records ofchildren playing withblocks is an exampleof one learningcenter where you can record childrenÕslearning. You can use anecdotes in thedramatic play area,art area, manipula-tive areas, andespecially while the children areplaying outdoors.


Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

You can make video prints of those special playfulmoments if you use an 8mm video camera and have anaudiovisual computer. Video prints can also be madefrom a Sony color video printer (CVPÐM3). Tape fieldtrips, story retellings, block structures, dramatic play,and outdoor play. Try videotaping the children a fewtimes; and share the tapes at parent meetings, so thatparents can observe their childrenÕs learning throughplay.

Work Samples

ChildrenÕs own work is the most authentic form of doc-umentation of play and learning. Save all signs andlabels children write and draw as they build structuresor play in the drama center. Work samples can provideconcrete information about development in literacy,creativity, problem-solving, and fine-motor skills. You can save the originals or make photocopies ofchildrenÕs writing and artwork. I often take photo-graphs of a child using woodworking tools to make amath geoboard or sorting and classifying coloredmacaroni. It is important to date each work sample and create a portfolio or folder for each child.

Documentation Panels

Many early childhood educators observe and recordchildrenÕs learning and development. Over the past sixyears interest in the preschool programs (for ages 3Ð6)of Reggio Emilia, Italy, has grown. Although earlychildhood educators have been practicing observationtechniques for decades, we are just beginning to closelyexamine Reggio EmiliaÕs use of extensive documenta-tion. ÒDocumentation in Reggio Emilia schools focuseson childrenÕs experiences, memories, thoughts, andideas in the course of their work. It typically includessamples of a childÕs work at several different stages ofcompletion, photographs showing work in progress,comments written by the teacher or other adults work-ing with the children, transcriptions of childrenÕsdiscussions, and comments made by parents (Katz andChard, 1996).

I hang presentation boards at childrenÕs eye leveloutside my room. On these boards the process andproduct of childrenÕs learning are shared with children,parents, colleagues, administrators, and visitors. Beloware some essential elements to keep in mind whencreating a documentation panel:

1. Focus on childrenÕs engagement in meaningfulexperiences (i.e., a project, a field trip,working with clay, playing withblocks).


■ References ■

Bredekamp, S. (editor). Developmentally AppropriatePractice In Early Childhood Programs Serving ChildrenFrom Birth Through Age 8. (Expanded edition) Wash-ington, DC: National Association for The Educationof Young Children, 1987.

Hendrick, Joanne (editor). First Steps Toward TeachingThe Reggio Way. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1997.

Jeunesse, Gallinard, et. al. Castles. A First DiscoveryBook. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 1993.

Katz, Lillian G. and Sylvia C. Chard. ÒThe Contribu-tion of Documentation to the Quality of Early Child-hood EducationÓ: Eric Digest, April 1996.

Seefeldt, Carolyn. Assessing Young Children. InCarolyn Seefeldt (editor) Continuing Issues In EarlyChildhood Education. New York: Merrill/Macmillan,1990.

Vygotsky, L. The Mind In Society. Cambridge, MA:Harvard University Press, 1978.

2. Select photographs that relate to the experiencebeing described.

3. Provide information related to the process as well as completed products.

4. Include samples of childrenÕs work.

5. Include a verbatim dialogue of childrenÕsdiscussions or responses by parents and/or teachers.

6. The aesthetic presentation of the panel is veryimportant. Use a computer for text and enlargephotographs with a color copier. Mount text,photographs, and work samples on constructionpaper.

The challenge of adults today for the children oftomorrow is to allow the child to be a child, to do child-like things, and to value their play at home and in child care settings. Documentation of play providesus with an understanding of how children constructknowledge. As we watch and document children making discoveries with blocks, paints, and earth-worms, we are supporting the future architect, artist,and scientist of tomorrow.

The Value of Play - ChildCareExchange.comccie.com/library_bw/8211800.pdfChild Care Information Exchange ¥ PO Box 3249, Redmond, WA 98073-3249 ¥ (800) 221-2864 ... center of a curriculum

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