Using the Transformative Power of Play to Educate Hearts and Minds: From Vygotsky to Vivian Paley and Beyond

Grade 1 Students’ Out-of-School Play and Its Relationship to School-Based Academic, Behavior, and Creativity Outcomes

“…These results suggest that out-of-school play may not influence school grades the same way for every child. The results of this study suggest, however, that allowing children the freedom to make choices about how they spend their out-of-school time may benefit their school achievement; perhaps children with the ability to make choices in out-of-school play activities were also better able to make their own decisions during academic tasks, as previous research has identified a link between selfregulation and play at the preschool level (Bodrova, Leong, & Akhutina, 2011;Elias & Berk, 2002;Nicolopoulou, Barbosa De Sa, Ilgaz, & Brockmeyer, 2010). An alternative explanation with regard to the association between how children spent their free time in the morning and math grades could be that early risers may have had more time to get ready for school, and their early morning play or television viewing may have been indicative of a better ability to concentrate during morning tasks in school, such as math lessons.…”

“Everything's Upside Down. We'll Call It Upside Down Valley!”: Siblings’ Creative Play Themes, Object Use, and Language During Pretend Play

“…Following a Vygotskian perspective, Nicolopoulou (1997;Nicolopoulou et al, 2010) argued that through the coconstruction of pretend narratives, children communicate a range of scenario possibilities as they develop realistic or imaginative ideas. By middle childhood, children construct chronological narratives with logical and temporal sequences that entail a sense of crisis or a high point culminating in a 382 HOWE, ABUHATOUM, AND CHANG-KREDL resolution, and they enrich their narratives by including more information (e.g., connectives, descriptions, temporal clues; Bliss, McCabe, & Miranda, 1998;Ely, 2005;Peterson & McCabe, 1983).…”

“…Although pretend play may be an important context in which children develop flexible and creative thinking skills (Fein, 1987;Nicolopoulou, Barbosa de Sá, Ilgaz, & Brockmeyer, 2010;Saracho, 2002), associations between pretend play and indices of creativity (e.g., play themes and creative object transformations) have rarely been investigated. Descriptive language (e.g., adjectives, adverbs) may be another means by which children construct creative pretend scenarios (Carter, 2007).…”

The dialectic between ideal and real forms of ‘sharing’: a cultural-historical study of story acting through imaginary play at home

“…Ferholt & Lecusay, 2009;Nicolopoulou, de Sá, Ilgaz, & Brockmeyer, 2009). Many researchers highlight the valuable pedagogical features of the play-world, such as the creative and formative aspects of role playing, the immersive and pervasive character of play engagement, the vague boundaries between fantasy and reality, nonguaranteed consensus, unpredictable and challenging ways of interactions, and collaborative story making.…”