Long-term peer play and child development

Abstract

A self-evident opinion in the industrial world is that children’s pretend play promotes psychological child development. A survey of recent research found only weak indications about effective causality between them. A big problem was disagreement about understanding basic elements of research: What is play? What is development? What are appropriate research methods? What kind of causality should be searched for? The long-term peer play reported in this chapter may give alternative answers compared to revised classic experimental method recommended in the survey. At this stage described peer play and cultural-historical framework offer some ideas about what kind of causality might be appropriate in explanation of relations between play and development and what kind of methods could reveal causal mechanisms. The developmental trajectory of long-term peer play followed stages of cultural-historical play theory: preparatory pretend play – play activity with role positions – director’s play with rule focus – director’s play with joint storyline crafting. Children’s initiatives and joint play actions are explanations for flow experience often observed in ‘bunny world’ peer play over a six-year period.