Ask an Expert

Related Resources

Online Resources

• Ask Dr. Katz: What Does the Research Say about Dramatic Play Including Gun Play?
  http://illinoisearlylearning.org/ask-dr-katz/question006.htm

• Ask an Expert: Children's Play—More than Fun and Games
  http://illinoisearlylearning.org/askanexpert/mendoza/index.htm

• How Dramatic Play Promotes Development
  This chapter discusses how dramatic play is central to children’s healthy development and learning during the preschool years.
  http://www.teachingstrategies.com/content/pageDocs/CC4_Ch7_exrpt.pdf

• The Nature of Children's Play. ERIC Digest.
  This digest suggests that play is a way children develop an understanding of themselves and others, knowledge of the world around them, and communication skills. As children develop the ability to represent experience symbolically, pretend play becomes a prominent activity.
  http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9211/nature.htm

• Play: Essential for All Children
  This position paper emphasizes the crucial role of play in the optimal growth, learning, and development of children. Blocks allow imagination to flourish. Vehicles encourage dramatic play that develops concepts of distance and space.
  http://www.udel.edu/bateman/acei/playpaper.htm

• Play Activities for Children Birth to Nine Years
  This fact sheet notes that pretend play helps preschoolers learn to share, and it helps their imaginations grow.
  http://www.nncc.org/Curriculum/play.activities.html
  Spanish: Actividades Recreativas para Ninos de Hasta 9 Anos de Edad
  http://www.nncc.org/Curriculum/sp.activ.recr.html

• Creative Play Helps Children Grow!
  This resource discusses how play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength. Creative play includes games, movement, and questioning.
  http://www.nncc.org/Curriculum/create.play.grow.html

• The Role of Pretend Play in Children's Cognitive Development
  This article defines the cluster of concepts related to pretend play and cognition and briefly synthesizes the latest research on the role of such play in children's cognitive, social, and academic development.
  http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v4n1/bergen.html

Illinois Early Learning Tip Sheets

• Young Children Need to Play!
  http://illinoisearlylearning.org/tipsheets/importanceofplay.htm

• Time to Play, Time to Dream: Unscheduling Your Child
  http://illinoisearlylearning.org/tipsheets/unstructured.htm

• Make Room for Blocks!
  http://illinoisearlylearning.org/tipsheets/blocks.htm

Additional Resources

Journal Articles

• Pretend Play: Longitudinal Prediction of Creativity and Affect in Fantasy in Children
  Author(s): Russ, Sandra W.; Robins, Andrew L.; Christiano, Beth A.
  Publication Date: 1999
  Source: Creativity Research Journal; 1999, Vol. 12 Issue 2, 129-40
• The Characteristics and Correlates of Fantasy in School-Age Children:
  Imaginary Companions, Impersonation, and Social Understanding
  Author(s): Taylor, Marjorie; Carlson, Stephanie M.; Maring, Bayta L.; Gerow, Lynn; Charley, Carolyn M.
  Publication Date: 2004
  Source: Developmental Psychology; 2004, Vol. 40, No. 6, 1173–1187
• Does Creative Drama Promote Language Development in Early Childhood? A Review of the Methods and Measures Employed in the Empirical Literature
  Author(s):: Wendy Karen Mages
  Publication Date: 2008
  Source: Review of Educational Research, 2008, Vol. 78, No.1, 124-152

• Narrative, Imaginary Play, Art, and Self: Intersecting Worlds
  Author(s): Jiryung Ahn, Margot Filipenko
  Publication Date: 2007
  Source: Early Childhood Education Journal, Feb 2007, Vol. 34, No.4, 279-289

• Wanna Play?
  Author(s): Mimi Brodsky Chenfeld
  Publication Date: 2006
  Source: Young Children, Nov 2006, Vol. 61 No. 6, 34-35

Books

• Block Play: The Complete Guide to Learning and Playing with Blocks
  Author(s): MacDonald, Sharon
  Publication Date: 2001
  Availability: Beltsville , MD : Gryphon House
• Boys & Girls: Superheroes in the Doll Corner
  Author(s): Paley, Vivian Gussin
  Publication Date: 1984
  Availability: Chicago : University of Chicago Press
• A Child's Work: The Importance of Fantasy Play
  Author(s): Paley, Vivian Gussin
  Publication Date: 2004
  Availability: Chicago : University of Chicago Press
• Children's Play: The Roots of Reading
  Author(s): Zigler, Edward F.; Singer, Dorothy G.; & Bishop-Josef, Sandra J.
  Publication Date: 2005
  Availability: Washington , DC : Zero to Three Press
• Emergent Literacy and Dramatic Play in Early Education
  Author(s): Davidson, Jane
  Publication Date: 1996
  Availability: Albany , NY : Delmar
• Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them
  Author(s): Taylor , Marjorie
  Publication Date: 1999
  Availability: New York : Oxford University Press
• Learning through Dramatic Play: A Practical Guide for Teaching Young Children
  Author(s): Hereford , Nancy Jo, & Schall, Jane (Eds.)
  Publication Date: 1991
  Availability: New York : Scholastic
• Magic Capes , Amazing Powers: Transforming Superhero Play in the Classroom
  Author(s): Hoffman, Eric
  Publication Date: 2004
  Availability: St. Paul , MN : Redleaf Press
• The Power of Play: How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier, Healthier Children
  Author(s): Elkind, David
  Publication Date: 2007
  Availability: Cambridge , MA : DaCapo Press

Video or DVD

• Play: A Vygotskian Approach
  Author(s): Bodrova, Elena, & Leong, Deborah
  Publication Date: 1996
  Availability: San Luis Obispo , CA : Davidson Films