SUMMARY The free play of 109 children aged 3–4 was observed in 12 pre‐school centres, and assessed mi a number of scales. Most of the play measures were found to be age‐related; the major sex differences in play were in the choice of play material and fantasy theme. There were correlations between some of the play measures and the children's unstandardised verbal and non‐verbal test scores. The findings are discussed in relation to pre‐school educational practice.

Summary Staff were observed in pre‐school centres with three different kinds of educational orientation, traditional free‐play nursery schools, nursery schools which used a language teaching session and nurseries run on free‐play lines but not staffed by teachers. Half of the centres selected contained predominantly working‐class children, half predominantly middle‐class. Significantly more “cognitive” staff behaviour was observed in middle‐class than working‐class centres, and the amount of “cognitive” staff behaviour was also significantly influenced by the educational orientation of the centre. The working‐class children in schools with a language programme had significantly higher language test scares than other working‐class children.

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