Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Imaginative play and adaptive development
- 2 Play, toys, and language
- 3 Educational toys, creative toys
- 4 The war play debate
- 5 War toys and aggressive play scenes
- 6 Sex differences in toy play and use of video games
- 7 Does play prepare the future?
- 8 Play as healing
- References
- Name index
- Subject index
1 - Imaginative play and adaptive development
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Imaginative play and adaptive development
- 2 Play, toys, and language
- 3 Educational toys, creative toys
- 4 The war play debate
- 5 War toys and aggressive play scenes
- 6 Sex differences in toy play and use of video games
- 7 Does play prepare the future?
- 8 Play as healing
- References
- Name index
- Subject index
Summary
In his intriguing account of a possible way in which human consciousness may have evolved, the philosopher Daniel Dennett has written:
our ancestors, like us, took pleasure in various modes of undirected self-exploration – stimulating oneself over and over again and seeing what happened. Because of the plasticity of the brain, coupled with the innate restlessness and curiosity that lead us to explore every nook and cranny of our environment … it is not surprising that we hit upon strategies of self-stimulation or self-manipulation that led to the inculcation of habits and dispositions that radically altered the internal communicative structure of our brains, and that these discoveries became part of the culture – memes – that were then made available to all.
(Dennett, 1991, p. 209)I cite this evolutionary notion because I propose that children's play, with its repetitive and exploratory characteristics, represents not only fun but a critically important feature of their development of cognitive and emotional skills. Considering the various forms play takes, it is easy to identify the possible value of sensorimotor games for enhancing physical skills and even of games with rules for modeling early forms of orderly thought or even morality.
The value of pretending and of make-believe play seems less obvious; indeed, many parents are uncomfortable when they watch their toddlers or preschoolers pushing blocks and toy figures around while talking out loud to themselves.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Toys, Play, and Child Development , pp. 6 - 26Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994
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