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Childhood Studies Play
by
Anna Beresin

Introduction

Play is the language of childhood, a complex, social, and multimodal process. Definitions abound but are often found lacking. The selections here are introduced first by general classics, each a mini encyclopedia of play, followed by a section on philosophical antecedents that emphasize the multisided essence of play. Play is multimodal, multidisciplinary, and multifaceted, and so these introductory sections address play in a literature that goes beyond childhood study. The next categories are broken down by discipline and are increasingly focused on the play of childhood itself. Ethology, the study of animal behavior, comes first and addresses the commonalities we share in play with other mammals. Ethology can be considered the root discipline of play observation. The subcategory of animal and human play fighting, also known as rough-and-tumble play, emerges as its own mini section. Classics in the examination of play across time in the study of history come next. Psychology, with its psychodynamic and cognitive emphases, introduces the subcategory of play therapy. Although new attention is being paid to the significance of play in neurology and medicine, it is not addressed here. Sociology books that address play and its relationship to power are followed by books in the hybrid field of education, followed by a special subsection on Early Childhood education and play. The anthropological studies address play and culture more directly. These are distinct from the section on play and folklore, although there is much potential overlap. The folklore studies section emphasizes play genres and offers comparative collections of games, songs, and playful forms, Folklore Monographs, and studies of Children’s Verbal Art. The final sections address playthings, toys, and technology. Historically, the use of objects is a newer topic in the examination of play, as children now spend increasing amounts of their time with things rather than with face-to-face playmates. Video game play and play with computers are the latest arenas for research. They remind us of the basic paradox of play study—that it is both observable and hidden inside the heads of the players.

General Overviews

The books in this section are broad in vision, addressing play across time and space. Huizinga (Huizinga 2008), perhaps the most famous writer about play, did not focus on children’s play, but no discussion of the topic would be complete without him. He argues that play is at the essence of our humanity, that we may not simply be Homo sapiens (knowing man), but also Homo ludens (“playing man”). The folklorist Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1976) focuses on speech genres, offering a wide-angle view of a specific topic, with many bibliographic references. The most prolific writers and collectors of British children’s lore, Iona and Peter Opie, demonstrate the connection between verbal arts and their historical cultural roots. A general introduction to play surely must include some aspect of the Opies’ work (see Opie and Opie 2001). Schwartzman 1978 is a multidisciplinary sourcebook of ethnographic references to children’s play. Pellegrini and Smith 2005 is a solid volume on the biological parallels between the play of the great apes and humans, a counterbalance to the cultural offerings. Piaget 1962, a classic in developmental psychology, makes a case for the dreaminess of play, and Sutton-Smith 1997 links all these disciplines—ethology, history, sociology, folklore, anthropology, psychology—and masterfully frames them through the lens of ambiguity. The author argues that our academic lenses limit our vision, because we tend to see what we look for. Two experts in the field of video game design offer their own collection, Salen and Zimmerman 2006, a large textbook of classic essays, many of them cited in this bibliography.

  • Huizinga, J. Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture. London: Routledge, 2008.

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    The most famous text on the significance of play, Huizinga’s controversial work is a historical revisioning of history. Play is the essence of our adult civilization. Originally published in 1955 (Boston: Beacon).

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  • Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara, ed. Speech Play: Research and Resources for Studying Linguistic Creativity. University of Pennsylvania Publications in Conduct and Communication. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1976.

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    One of the most complete research guides for the study of language play and speech genres, this book focuses on children’s play and traditional adult forms.

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  • Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie. The Lore and Language of School-Children. New York: New York Review of Books, 2001.

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    This classic text, one of several by the husband-and-wife team, emphasizes the historical significance and poetry of British children’s oral lore and games. Originally published in 1959 (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

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  • Pellegrini, Anthony D., and Peter K. Smith. The Nature of Play: Great Apes and Humans. New York: Guilford, 2005.

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    A mini encyclopedia of mammalian play styles and commonalities, this work address what is known among specific species. A technical collection of comparative psychology monographs.

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  • Piaget, Jean. Play, Dreams and Imitation in Childhood. Translated by G. Gattegno and F. M. Hodgson. The Norton Library. New York: Norton, 1962.

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    Written by the prolific developmental psychologist, this work links the play life and dream life of children and seeks to uncover the relationship between what goes on inside the child’s mind and what occurs outside, in culture.

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  • Salen, Katie, and Eric Zimmerman, eds. The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006.

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    Although written as an accompaniment to the authors’ design textbook, this anthology contains excerpted classics in play theory as well as more recent discussions written by game designers.

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  • Schwartzman, Helen B. Transformations: The Anthropology of Children’s Play. New York: Plenum, 1978.

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    This has been the most comprehensive collection of ethnographic research on play, worldwide. The book also places psychological research in its frame and takes the reader on an Alice in Wonderland–inspired journey into the transformative qualities of play and its cultural analysis.

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  • Sutton-Smith, Brian. The Ambiguity of Play. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997.

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    The ultimate guide to the field, this book questions academic assumptions about what play is and calls for a broad definition. Contains one of the largest and most diverse bibliographies on play.

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Associations

There are an increasing number of associations emerging that deal with play, each typically with its own journal. There are associations that deal with specific professional roles, such as the Association for Play Therapy and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Sports-related education groups are also plentiful on the web, as are game design groups. The Children’s Folklore Section of the American Folklore Society focuses on children’s play and literature. The main scholarly organization is The Association for the Study of Play (TASP), formerly known as the Association for the Anthropological Study of Play and now affiliated with the Strong National Museum of Play, in Rochester, New York. International organizations include the International Council for Children’s Play and the International Play Association (IPA).

Play as Multilayered Communication

Writers in a variety of fields, from literature to math to anthropology, have wrestled with play’s multifaceted qualities. Whether describing ambiguity, multivocality, or paradox, these important scholars have changed the way we think about play. These are the antecedents of some of the introductory texts cited under General Overviews. The Russian writer M. M. Bakhtin addresses the interactivity of all play processes (Bakhtin 1981), whereas the American anthropologist Gregory Bateson focuses on play as metacommunication. (Bateson 2000) For both of these writers, and for the sociologist Erving Goffman (Goffman 1974), play is both frame and antiframe. Handelman 1990 concretizes these ideas is his notion of play both as “model” and “mirror” of reality, suggesting that what we see in play is both real and a distorted view of reality. Hofstadter 1999 and Stewart 1979 offer examples of playfulness in the authors’ respective fields, math and literature, and both address the logic of nonsense in a variety of playful disciplines. Brian Sutton-Smith’s masterwork, The Ambiguity of Play (Sutton-Smith 1997), expands on all these writers and links them. Although none of these texts are about children’s play per se, they expand our thinking about what children’s play can possibly mean; rooted in all is the sentiment of the anthropologist Victor Turner, an appreciation for the “human seriousness of play”(Turner 1982).

  • Bakhtin, M. M. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Edited by Michael Holquist. Translated by Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. University of Texas Press Slavic Series 1. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981.

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    Although writing about literature, Bakhtin invites us to think about multivocality as the norm in imaginative undertakings. Increasingly referenced in the study of adult festive play, Bakhtin offers much to the scholar of children’s play.

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  • Bateson, Gregory. Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

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    Bateson’s writing on paradox and play as a metamessage has been quoted often. A key thinker on the subject of ambiguity, he reminds us that play references the real world, but not exactly. Bateson straddled anthropology and psychology and made films of play. Originally published in 1972 (New York: Ballantine).

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  • Goffman, Erving. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974.

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    This social-psychological text examines the everyday frames of adult communication and is a classic in the discussion of play as a shifting framework. Goffman writes about the micromoments of everyday playfulness and deception.

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  • Handelman, Don. Models and Mirrors: Towards an Anthropology of Public Events. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

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    Addressing adult festivals as well as child’s play, Handelman expands on the paradoxical nature of play as an exaggerated, sometimes mocking, copy of reality.

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  • Hofstadter, Douglas R. Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. New York: Basic Books, 1999.

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    Another classic in the study of paradox, the mathematician playfully presents classical logic problems, weaving together art, music, and science. Although not about play directly, this book contributes much to the discussion of playful thinking as paradoxical. Originally published in 1979 (Hassocks, UK: Harvester).

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  • Stewart, Susan. Nonsense: Aspects of Intertextuality in Folklore and Literature. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979.

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    A serious work on silliness, Stewart plays off the idea of play as out of frame, or disorderly. Although not about childhood per se, it is a useful philosophical foundation, suggesting similar processes in the play of speech and the arts.

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  • Sutton-Smith, Brian. The Ambiguity of Play. Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard University Press, 1997.

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    The name of this book hides its secondary agenda: to challenge the way writers examine play itself. This is a mini encyclopedia about play and its academic lenses and is considered a foundation in the study of play.

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  • Turner, Victor. From Ritual to Theatre: The Human Seriousness of Play. Performance Studies Series. New York: Performing Arts Journal, 1982.

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    This anthropology book, written by a scholar of transitions, addresses the paradoxes of play and adult culture. A much-referenced name, Turner claims a cultural, humanistic place for play’s contradictions.

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Animal Ethology

Ethology, the study of animal behavior, is the root discipline for the observation of play among children. Early editions were quick to note parallels between the play of other mammals and the play of children, with special attention given to the movements of the great apes. These writers argue for the evolutionary function of play and for play as a signaling system. Groos 1898 is among the earliest works, and most focus on the Darwinian utility of play for the young of a species, especially Bekoff and Byers 1998, Burghardt 2005, Pellegrini and Smith 2005, and Suomi and Harlow 1976. Books that address the evolutionary value of play for children include Bruner, et al. 1976 and Konner 2010. Fagen 1981 offers clarity in the description of the movement qualities of play.

Play Fighting

A subset of ethology has dealt with rough-and-tumble play, also known as play fighting. A much-misunderstood activity, play fighting looks like aggression but is play. The key distinction is whether the players separate after the bout is over or stay together for more play. The literature tends to focus on animal fighting (e.g., Aldis 1975, Bertrand 1976, Lorenz 1966) or early childhood and aggression (see Blurton-Jones 1976; Humphreys and Smith 1984; Tremblay, et al. 2005). Beresin 2004 examines adult misperceptions of children’s play fighting, and Boulton and Smith 1989 discusses the complexity of its study. All these works focus on the distinction between play fighting and aggression and the misperception of play as dangerous.

  • Aldis, Owen. Play-Fighting. New York: Academic Press, 1975.

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    One of the earliest texts to address play fighting directly, describing play signals and their misinterpretations.

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  • Beresin, Anna Richman. “School Power, Children’s Play, and the Timing of Recess Violence.” In The Cultural Shaping of Violence: Victimization, Escalation, Response. Edited by Myrdene Anderson, 18–23. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2004.

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    A longitudinal ethnographic study of one urban playground, this essay addresses adult perceptions of the schoolyard as dangerous and violent and uses microethnographic video analysis to distinguish actual violence from play fighting and other playful genres.

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  • Bertrand, M. Gabriel. “Rough-and-Tumble in Stumptails.” In Play: Its Role in Development and Evolution. Edited by Jerome S. Bruner, Alison Jolly, and Kathy Sylva, 320–327. New York: Basic Books, 1976.

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    This essay describes the qualities of rough-and-tumble play fighting in animals as a way of setting up the argument about its parameters.

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  • Blurton-Jones, Nicholas G. “Rough-and-Tumble among Nursery School Children.” In Play: Its Role in Development and Evolution. Edited by Jerome S. Bruner, Alison Jolly, and Kathy Sylva, 352–363. New York: Basic Books, 1976.

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    After addressing rough-and-tumble in other species, this chapter examines play fighting among young children.

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  • Boulton, Michael, and Peter K. Smith. “Issues in the Study of Children’s Rough-and-Tumble Play.” In The Ecological Context of Children’s Play. Edited by Maryann N. Bloch and Anthony D. Pellegrini, 57–83. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1989.

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    Describes challenges faced when dealing with the observation and analysis of children’s play fighting.

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  • Humphreys, Anne P., and Peter K. Smith. “Rough-and-Tumble in Preschool and Playground.” In Play in Animals and Humans. Edited by Peter K. Smith, 241–270. Oxford and New York: Blackwell, 1984.

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    This essay extends the description of rough-and-tumble to humans outside of the early-childhood domain.

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  • Lorenz, Konrad. On Aggression. Translated by Marjorie Kerr Wilson. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1966.

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    Written by a key writer in the study of ethology, the study of animal attachment made its author famous. This volume is particularly clear in its discussion of aggressive signaling.

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  • Tremblay, Richard E., William W. Hartup, and John Archer, eds. Developmental Origins of Aggression. New York: Gilford, 2005.

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    This edited volume examines both play fighting and play as a regulator of aggression, making it clear why scholars of play also must examine the larger literature on emotion and behavior.

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History

These books look at our changing views of play and play as an attitude of culture. Some address play and adult culture; some, the history of childhood through play. In the latter, we see how play serves as a window into changing views of childhood itself. Cavallo 1981 and Frost 2010 focus on the history of the playground movement, whereas Chudacoff 2007, Formanek-Brunell 1993, Jenkins 1998, and Mergen 1982 address changing views of children’s playthings. Sutton-Smith 1981 is a collection of interviews across generations about play activities and games. Huizinga 2008 remains the classic historical account of play in cultural history writ large.

Psychology

Classics in psychodynamic, developmental, and cognitive psychology, these books emphasize the value of play for the individual child. Play is viewed as a window into the child’s mind, and through it, the child’s health. Ariel 2002 and Singer and Singer 1990 focus on the imagination, whereas Pitcher and Prelinger 1969 uses Piaget’s developmental frame to explain children’s imaginative storytelling. Two of Piaget’s own works, Piaget 1962 and Piaget 1997, illuminate the cognitive developmentalist’s stage theories, utilizing play as a window into the growing mind. Contrastingly, Erikson 1975 is a psychodynamic, neo-Freudian developmental study, whereas Vygotsky 2002 and Vygotsky 1978 offer a developmental lens in a cultural frame.

Therapy

Emerging from the field of psychology is the use of play as therapy. Because young children typically cannot verbalize their complex thoughts and feelings, it is through play that children most dramatically express themselves. Emerging from neo-Freudian psychoanalysis and the work of Klein (Klein 1975) and Erikson (Erikson 1993), play therapy was championed in Ginnot 1961 as well as in Axline 1964 and Axline 1969. Winnicott 2005, like the works before it, focused on case studies and attempted to bring the view of play as therapeutic to the study of all children’s development. Schaefer 2011 and Yawkey and Pellegrini 1984 offer a more historical overview and link play therapy to other disciplines.

  • Axline, Virginia M. Dibs: In Search of Self; Personality Development in Play Therapy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1964.

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    A classic monograph, this is the tape-recorded journey of a small boy who is healed through play therapy.

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  • Axline, Virginia Mae. Play Therapy: The Inner Dynamics of Childhood. New York: Ballantine, 1969.

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    Written by a leading practitioner, this text not only describes play therapy but also makes the case that it reflects the deepest thoughts of childhood. Originally published in 1947 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin).

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  • Erikson, Erik H. Childhood and Society. New York: Norton, 1993.

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    A classic collection of psychoanalytic essays. Erikson describes his own model of child development, with the unique role of play. Originally published in 1950 (New York: Norton).

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  • Ginnot, Haim G. Group Psychotherapy with Children: The Theory and Practice of Play-Therapy. McGraw-Hill Series in Education: Psychology and Human Development. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961.

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    Written by a famous practitioner, this is a pragmatic guide to play therapy in a group setting.

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  • Klein, Melanie. The Psycho-Analysis of Children. Rev. ed. Translated by Alix Strachey. New York: Delacorte/S. Lawrence, 1975.

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    One of the earliest treatises on the use of play in traditional analysis to understand the inner workings of children’s emotions. Originally published in 1932 (London: Hogarth).

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  • Schaefer, Charles E., ed. Foundations of Play Therapy. 2d ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011.

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    A descriptive guide to the many variants of play therapy, from its psychoanalytic origins, to cognitive play therapy, to family play therapy, to prescriptive play therapy.

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  • Winnicott, D. W. Playing and Reality. 2d ed. New York: Routledge, 2005.

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    From the writer who focused most on transitional objects and attachment comes this volume on play and its relationship to the child’s image of the real world. Originally published in 1971 (London: Tavistock).

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  • Yawkey, Thomas D., and Anthony D. Pellegrini, eds. Child’s Play and Play Therapy. Lancaster, PA: Technomic, 1984.

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    Examines the connections among the fields of play study, emotional health, and play therapy.

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Sociology

These collections emphasize the child’s social world and the use of play to develop friendship or reflect group power. They move beyond the view of play as belonging to the individual child or emerging from the mind of the child. Corsaro 2011 and Damon 1977 focus on children’s social worlds, whereas Sutton-Smith 1989, Hartup and Laursen 1993, and Thorne 1993 emphasize the study of power within children’s peer culture. Gaunt 2006 and Willis 1990 discuss popular culture as a source of power for youth and over youth. Henricks 2006 searches for play in the classic writings of sociologists, in an interesting inverse of the application of social theory to play.

  • Corsaro, William A. The Sociology of Childhood. 3d ed. Sociology for a New Century. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge, 2011.

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    A writer specializing in observations of early childhood, this book’s author pays special attention to the role of play in the socialization process.

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  • Damon, William. The Social World of the Child. Jossey-Bass Behavioral Science Series. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1977.

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    Written by a leader in the study of moral development, this book addresses play and socialization as dynamic processes.

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  • Gaunt, Kyra D. The Games Black Girls Play: Learning the Ropes from Double-Dutch to Hip-Hop. New York: New York University Press, 2006.

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    Connecting the realms of gender, ethnicity, and popular culture, this book integrates sport, play, and the power of language.

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  • Hartup, Willard W., and Brett Laursen. “Conflict and Context in Peer Relations.” In Children on Playgrounds: Research Perspectives and Applications. Edited by Craig H. Hart, 44–84. SUNY Series: Children’s Play in Society. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993.

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    The conflicts of the social world of children are addressed in this ethnographic description, as part of a larger collection on playground research.

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  • Henricks, Thomas S. Play Reconsidered: Sociological Perspectives on Human Expression. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006.

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    An interesting treasure hunt for play among social thinkers: Huizinga, Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel, and Goffman.

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  • Sutton-Smith, Brian. “Games as Models of Power.” In The Content of Culture—Constants and Variants: Studies in Honor of John M. Roberts. Edited by Ralph Bolton. New Haven, CT: Human Relations Area Files Press, 1989.

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    One of the author’s early, short papers addressing the drama of power in game play. The essay appears in a book honoring the comparative game scholar John Roberts and was a paper presented at a conference held at Pomona College, Claremont, CA, 1981.

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  • Thorne, Barrie. Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1993.

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    A seminal ethnographic work in the study of gender differences that appear in American school yards.

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  • Willis, Paul. Common Culture: Symbolic Work at Play in the Everyday Cultures of Young. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1990.

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    A most sophisticated examination of the dynamics of everyday artistic and playful activity.

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Education

The school playground is an emerging source for the study of play. These studies often are multidisciplinary, linking psychology, sociology, and sometimes folklore study. They emphasize the social aspects of play in a school environment. The sociologist Mead (Mead 1999) looks at the school as a site of playful socialization, whereas King 1987 examines sneaky play at school, and Eifermann 1971 studies the socialization of different populations at play in school settings. Beresin 2010, Blatchford 1998, and Pellegrini 2005 discuss recess as a site of socialization, and Olweus 1993 is written by an internationally known expert on bullying. Like the recess studies, Clements and Fiorentino 2004 calls for the safeguarding of children’s play. Brown (Brown 2002), one of the United Kingdom’s advocates for play work as alternative education, offers a fine introduction to this European model.

  • Beresin, Anna R. Recess Battles: Playing, Fighting, and Storytelling. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2010.

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    Based on dozens of interviews and the observation of over a thousand children in a racially integrated, working-class public school, the book reflects the battles in play and over play at the turn of the millennium.

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  • Blatchford, Peter. Social Life in School Pupils’ Experience of Breaktime and Recess from 7 to 16 Years. London and Bristol, PA: Falmer, 1998.

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    A careful analysis of English school yard dynamics and activities.

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  • Brown, Fraser, ed. Playwork: Theory and Practice. Philadelphia: Open University Press, 2002.

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    Play work emerged with the adventure playground movement and offers a play-based model of supported risk, physical challenge, and play for children of all ages.

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  • Clements, Rhonda L., and Leah Fiorentino, eds. The Child’s Right to Play: A Global Approach. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

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    This text focuses on the psychological aspects of play and calls for global advocacy on behalf of children.

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  • Eifermann, Rivka R. Determinants of Children’s Game Styles: On Free Play in a “Disadvantaged” and in an “Advantaged” School. Publications of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1971.

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    A comparative study of urban and rural, Jewish and Arab school yards in Israel. This large-scale study attempts to debunk some psychological assumptions about play.

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  • King, Nancy R. “Elementary School Play: Theory and Research.” In School Play: A Source Book. Edited by James H. Block and Nancy R. King, 143–166. Garland Reference Library of Social Science 331. New York: Garland, 1987.

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    Written by education researchers, this chapter addresses basics in the study of play in a school setting.

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  • Mead, George Herbert. Play, School, and Society. Edited by Mary Jo Deegan. American University Studies: Anthropology and Sociology 71. New York: Peter Lang, 1999.

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    An early book on children’s socialization. Mead makes the case that games socialize and that it is through playful role playing that children practice different behavior.

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  • Olweus, Dan. “Bullies on the Playground: The Role of Victimization.” In Children on Playgrounds: Research Perspectives and Applications. Edited by Craig H. Hart, 85–128. SUNY Series: Children’s Play in Society. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993.

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    Written by the world authority on bullying. Olweus makes a case for the importance of play and stimulation.

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  • Pellegrini, Anthony D. Recess: Its Role in Education and Development. Developing Mind Series. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005.

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    One of the first authors to address recess as a serious subject, Pellegrini examines the cognitive benefits of play breaks at school.

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Early Childhood

There is a huge new literature on early childhood and play, with many new excellent volumes that address play cross-culturally (Pramling-Samuelsson and Fleer 2009, Rogers 2011, and Smidt 2011). Several textbooks also address early childhood and play, building on older theoretical frames (e.g., Johnson, et al. 2005; Lytle 2003). Paley (Paley 1988) is a prolific writer, with many volumes containing anecdotes concerning children in her childcare center. Reynolds and Jones 1997 focuses on resiliency and master players, and Grieshaber and McArdle 2010 is the most playful of all, asking questions about play itself, its utility, and our romantic associations with it. Ironically, the authors note the absence of play training available for educators of young children.

  • Grieshaber, Susan, and Felicity McArdle. The Trouble with Play. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press, 2010.

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    An unlikely title for a book about the importance of play, this theoretically challenging yet readable book asks us to examine our widely held views of play’s definitions and functions.

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  • Johnson, James E., James F. Christie, and Francis Wardle. Play, Development, and Early Education. Boston and London: Pearson, 2005.

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    A sophisticated introductory text, this book is wide reaching in its resources. It addresses beliefs about play, theories of play, contexts, education, and curriculum.

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  • Lytle, Donald E., ed. Play and Educational Theory and Practice. Play and Culture Studies 5. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003.

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    An excellent edited textbook, this one addresses play both in early childhood and older children’s contexts. The book’s strength is its wide inclusion of important thinkers, from Sutton-Smith to Simmel to Vygotsky.

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  • Paley, Vivian Gussin. Bad Guys Don’t Have Birthdays: Fantasy Play at Four. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988.

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    Paley is a longtime nursery school director and writes down what she hears. In this volume, one of many, she examines the motifs that emerge in children’s play: birth, death, celebrations, and bad guys.

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  • Pramling-Samuelsson, Ingrid, and Marilyn Fleer, eds. Play and Learning in Early Childhood Settings: International Perspectives. International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development 1. New York: Springer, 2009.

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    This volume describes play studies in New Zealand, Australia, Chile, China, Japan, Sweden, and Wisconsin. Its conclusion looks at commonalities and uniquenesses across countries.

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  • Reynolds, Gretchen, and Elizabeth Jones. Master Players: Learning from Children at Play. Early Childhood Education Series. New York: Teachers College Press, 1997.

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    This highly readable volume looks at the resiliency of play and players, guiding early-childhood educators in when to intervene and when not to.

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  • Rogers, Sue, ed. Rethinking Play and Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education: Concepts, Contexts and Cultures. London and New York: Routledge, 2011.

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    An edited, international collection of early-childhood play studies, including chapters on play in Africa, India, and Hong Kong. The volume raises the question of whether play and pedagogy are fundamentally in conflict.

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  • Smidt, Sandra. Playing to Learn: The Role of Play in the Early Years. London and New York: Routledge, 2011.

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    This book offers many classic quotes on the utility of play and is rooted in the culturally focused writings of Vygotsky and Rogoff.

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Anthropology

Anthropology as the study of culture typically reflects play as a window into the values of a particular people. In classic ethnographic research, the children themselves are asked to explain their play. In each example, play is highly contextualized, shaped by the environment. The classics listed here include Blacking 1995, a study of South African children’s music; Sutton-Smith 1976, a collection of the traditional games of the Americas; and Olwig and Gulløv 2003, a cross-cultural collection about children’s use of space. Lancy 1996 and Lancy 2001 are monographs about play that suggest generalizations about play’s utility. And Whiting and Edwards 1988 continues the tradition of the culture and personality school, with its emphasis on comparative ethnography. Schwartzman 1978 is the classic anthropological text on play, offering a mini encyclopedia of monographs, and is itself playfully framed.

  • Blacking, John. Venda Children’s Songs: A Study in Ethnomusicological Analysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.

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    A classic study in ethnomusicology, this book presents South African children’s songs, with musical notation. Originally published in 1967 (Johannesburg, South Africa: Witwatersrand University Press).

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  • Lancy, David F. Playing on the Mother-Ground: Cultural Routines for Children’s Development. Culture and Human Development. New York: Guilford, 1996.

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    A sophisticated psychological assessment of the games of the Kpelle children of Liberia and of how the games serve as routines for socialization.

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  • Lancy, David F.. “Cultural Constraints on Children’s Play.” In Play and Culture Studies. Vol. 4, Conceptual, Social-Cognitive, and Contextual Issues in the Field of Play. Edited by Jaipaul R. Roopnarine, 53–62. Greenwich, CT: Ablex, 2001.

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    In one of the few edited volumes to address friendship, play, and social cognition, this chapter looks at the cultural framing of children’s play.

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  • Olwig, Karen Fog, and Eva Gulløv, eds. Children’s Places: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. London and New York: Routledge, 2003.

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    Examines the role of children’s spaces in their adult cultures and what that implies about the importance of children in that context. A fine cross-cultural collection.

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  • Schwartzman, Helen B. Transformations: The Anthropology of Children’s Play. New York: Plenum, 1978.

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    This has been the most comprehensive collection of ethnographic research on play, worldwide. The bibliography and filmography help to place Western psychological theory in its place as one of many views of childhood.

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  • Sutton-Smith, Brian, ed. Games of the Americas: A Book of Readings. Studies in Play and Games. New York: Arno, 1976.

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    A collection of essays on Native American games.

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  • Whiting, Beatrice Blyth, and Carolyn Pope Edwards. Children of Different Worlds: The Formation of Social Behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988.

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    An addition to the classics of culture and personality studies, this comparative book of mother–child interaction pays special attention to socialization and the cross-cultural examination of childhood friendship.

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Comparative Studies of Folklore

Folklorists also study culture but typically focus on play genres rather than region. Children’s folklore examines games, songs, and specific activities. These are traditions passed from child to child as a study of peer culture. This section offers larger, comparative studies that look with a wider lens at children’s cultural forms. Factor 2001 discusses the myths common to the study of children’s folklore, and in the same volume, Arleo 2001 traces the international variations of one singing game. Opie and Opie 1984 and Opie and Opie 1988 follow the path of game and song variants geographically and across time in the United Kingdom, whereas Jemie 2003 shows the path of similar variations of African American play from Africa to America. The predecessor of these works, Gomme 1894–1898, looked at the variations of games across England, Scotland, and Ireland. Sutton-Smith 1972 examines variations in New Zealand and America, whereas Sutton-Smith, et al. 1995, an edited collection, shows the variety of subject and method used in the collection of children’s folklore as process.

  • Arleo, Andy. “The Saga of Susie: The Dynamics of an International Handclapping Game.” In Play Today in the Primary School Playground: Life, Learning, and Creativity. Edited by Julia C. Bishop and Mavis Curtis, 115–132. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press, 2001.

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    This study follows one children’s singing game and its variants across national boundaries.

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  • Factor, June. “Three Myths about Children’s Folklore.” In Play Today in the Primary School Playground: Life, Learning, and Creativity. Edited by Julia C. Bishop and Mavis Curtis, 24–36. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press, 2001.

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    A most useful essay on false generalizations about the decline of children’s play culture.

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  • Gomme, Alice Bertha, ed. The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, with Tunes, Singing-Rhymes, and Methods of Playing according to the Variants Extant and Recorded in Different Parts of the Kingdom. 2 vols. London: D. Nutt, 1894–1898.

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    One of the earliest books of children’s games, this is still a model of recording and regional documentation.

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  • Jemie, Onwuchekwa, ed. Yo’ Mama! New Raps, Toasts, Dozens, Jokes and Children’s Rhymes from Urban Black America. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2003.

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    This collection of oral lore re-created through memory is a treasure trove of American games. The author presents the continuities in form and humor between African and African American play.

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  • Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie. Children’s Games in Street and Playground: Chasing, Catching, Seeking, Hunting, Racing, Duelling, Exerting, Daring, Guessing, Acting, Pretending. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1984.

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    The subtitle is a fine summary of this classic history of British children’s games. Originally published in 1969 (Oxford: Clarendon).

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  • Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie. The Singing Game. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

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    A useful, broad collection of one specific play genre.

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  • Sutton-Smith, Brian. The Folkgames of Children. Publications of the American Folklore Society: Bibliographical and Special Series 24. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1972.

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    This book presents collections of games and their analysis both in the United States and New Zealand.

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  • Sutton-Smith, Brian, Jay Mechling, Thomas W. Johnson, and Felicia R. McMahon. Children’s Folklore: A Source Book. Garland Reference Library of Social Science 647. New York: Garland, 1995.

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    A collection of essays on the process, challenges, and insights gained when collecting folklore from children. A variety of genres and documentation styles are presented.

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Folklore Monographs

All the books that follow are singular studies with some historical documentation. These English-language collections tend to show the uniqueness of a particular subculture. Brewster 1953, Bronner 1988, Newell 1963, Jones and Hawes 1987, and Knapp and Knapp 1976 all are studies of American lore. Factor 1988 and Darian-Smith and Factor 2005 were collected in Australia, and Lanclos 2003 documents play in Northern Ireland.

  • Brewster, Paul G. American Nonsinging Games. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1953.

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    This book offers rules to rare American games and sports, tracing their histories.

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  • Bronner, Simon J. American Children’s Folklore. American Folklore Series. Little Rock, AR: August House, 1988.

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    A large collection of American children’s games in a variety of genres. Focuses on children’s social life and customs from the 1940s to the 1970s.

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  • Darian-Smith, Kate, and June Factor, eds. Child’s Play: Dorothy Howard and the Folklore of Australian Children. Carlton, Australia: Museum Victoria, 2005.

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    A collection of Dorothy Howard’s essays on the folklore and folk games of Australian children, including ball bouncing, string games, and knucklebones.

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  • Factor, June. Captain Cook Chased a Chook: Children’s Folklore in Australia. New York: Viking Penguin, 1988.

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    From one of the most famous collectors of children’s play genres in Australia comes this description of play, social life, and customs.

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  • Jones, Bessie, and Bess Lomax Hawes. Step It Down: Games, Plays, Songs, and Stories from the Afro-American Heritage. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1987.

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    A combination of interview stories, game history, and game how-to’s, this is a classic collection of African American singing games in the South. Originally published in 1972.

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  • Knapp, Mary, and Herbert Knapp. One Potato, Two Potato: The Secret Education of American Children. New York: Norton, 1976.

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    With an introduction about the functions games serve, this volume focuses on game genres and subversion of singing games and jokes.

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  • Lanclos, Donna M. At Play in Belfast: Children’s Folklore and Identities in Northern Ireland. Rutgers Series in Childhood Studies. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2003.

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    An ethnographic collection of honest children’s speech and oral lore in the playgrounds of Northern Ireland.

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  • Newell, William Wells. Games and Songs of American Children. New York: Dover, 1963.

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    A mix of documentation and philosophy, this fine collection unfortunately has some comparatively racist tones. Its main contribution, besides its being a period piece, is its observation that children’s culture is simultaneously inventive and conservative. Originally published in 1883 (New York: Harper & Brothers).

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Children’s Verbal Art

Although many folklore comparative collections and monographs include singing games, some focus specifically on verbal play. The classic is Opie and Opie 2001, on lore and language. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1976 is a useful overall guide, McDowell 1979 is authoritative on children’s riddling, and both can be seen as a folkloric collection. Sutton-Smith 1981 is a collection of what the author calls folkstories of children and applies a structural developmental psychological frame. Zigler, et al. 2004 documents the connection between literacy and early play. Abrahams 1969 and Abrahams and Rankin 1980 offer simple dictionaries cross-referencing English-language jump rope rhymes and counting-out rhymes. Marsh 2008 expands verbal art to musical art and the expressivity of the moving body.

  • Abrahams, Roger D., ed. Jump-Rope Rhymes: A Dictionary. Publications of the American Folklore Society: Bibliographical and Special Series 20. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1969.

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    An alphabetical dictionary of hundreds of classic English-language jump rope rhymes in digest form.

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  • Abrahams, Roger D., and Lois Rankin, eds. Counting Out Rhymes: A Dictionary. Publications of the American Folklore Society: Bibliographical and Special Series 31. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980.

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    An alphabetical dictionary of hundreds of classic English-language counting-out rhymes in digest form.

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  • Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara, ed. Speech Play: Research and Resources for Studying Linguistic Creativity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1976.

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    One of the most complete research guides for the study of language play and speech genres, this includes many fine examples from a variety of playful speech genres.

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  • Marsh, Kathryn. The Musical Playground: Global Tradition and Change in Children’s Songs and Games. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.

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    More than a monograph, this fine collection examines the changing tradition of singing games in diverse Australia.

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  • McDowell, John Holmes. Children’s Riddling. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1979.

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    This is a collection and structural analysis of children’s riddles collected in Texas.

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  • Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie. The Lore and Language of School-Children. New York: New York Review of Books Classics, 2001.

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    In this classic text, one of several by the husband-and-wife team, variants of singing games and storytelling are framed by historical references. Originally published in 1967 (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

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  • Sutton-Smith, Brian. The Folkstories of Children. Publications of the American Folklore Society: New Series 3. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981.

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    Collected spontaneous tales of children are analyzed by motif and form, using structural functional theories both from linguistics and psychology.

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  • Zigler, Edward F., Dorothy G. Singer, and Sandra J. Bishop-Joseph, eds. Children’s Play: The Roots of Reading. Washington, DC: Zero to Three, 2004.

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    The authors make a strong case that children’s narrations and social play are important steps in emergent literacy, linking skills in pretend play and school readiness.

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Toys and Objects

Play materials serve as windows into psychology and culture. These texts are classics in a variety of disciplines, from psychology to design to anthropology. As more and more children play with objects, no study of play would be complete without them. Erikson 1977 and Goldstein 1994 offer the psychological study of toys, whereas Moore 1986 focuses on the qualitative role of place in the developing child. Sutton-Smith 1986; Opie, et al. 1989; and Rossie 2005 focus on the cultural analysis of toys. Both Kline 1993 and Pugh 2009 provide a critique of the market forces that shape children’s toy choice.

Video and Computer Games

The latest research in toy and object analysis comes from the world of video game analysis and design. Although typically reflecting the play of older children, video and computer games are now played by the very young. Kline, et al. 2005 offers a critical view of video and computer games, echoing the earlier critiques given by the Frankfort school of sociology. Flanagan 2009 links game design to art history and the history of illusion in play. Somewhat tongue-in-cheek, Johnson 2005 offers a take on video games, suggesting that “everything bad is good for you.” Bogost 2007 and Juul 2005 invite us on a philosophical journey about the uniqueness of video games, from a design perspective. Plowman, et al. 2010 and Salen 2008 examine how children actually interact with technology as playful learning tools. Finally, Salen and Zimmerman 2003 is an engaging book, with original games and visual playfulness that entice the reader into thinking about how games are designed and how they in turn reflect our thinking.

LAST MODIFIED: 03/23/2012

DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199791231-0017

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