Resources

What We Know About Play:
A Walk through the Selected Research

- L. S. Vygotsky, who theorized that children develop cognitive capacities through social interaction that eventually become internalized. "Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice," noted Vygotsky, "first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological).

This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals." A good summary of his theory can be found in Mind in Society, a collection of his essays published in 1978.

Studies about the developmental benefits of play
Ready to spend a couple of afternoons in a college or university library? Here are a sampling of studies that an early childhood educator or caregiver might want to consult for an understanding of the developmental benefits of play for young children:
- The role of imaginative and pretend play: look at Jerome L. Singer's chapter titled "Imaginative Play and Adaptive Development" in Toys, Play and ChildDevelopment (edited by Jeffrey H. Goldstein) and "Theory of Mind Development and Social Understanding" by Janet Wilde Astington and Jennifer Jenkins, which appeared in Cognition and Emotion.

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