Pretend Play in Childhood

Download or read book Pretend Play in Childhood written by Sandra Walker Russ and published by Amer Psychological Assn. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Converging evidence suggests that pretend play in childhood has an important role in providing a foundation for adult creativity. In this book, Russ reviews the theory and research on pretend play and creativity, including cognitive and affective processes involved in play and creativity, possible evolutionary purposes of play, and its cultural variations. She highlights the importance of pretend play in helping children to access emotional memories and fantasies and explains how creative processes in play can be measured using the Affect in Play Scale. Russ describes play interventions designed to encourage creativity in children, using transcripts of sessions from a pilot intervention. Brief case studies of creative adult scientists and artists are also presented, illustrating similarities in play processes and creative processes in adulthood. Given that creativity drives accomplishment in science, engineering, and the arts, the link between pretend play and creativity is important to explore. This thought-provoking book summarizes what we know and points the way toward future research. Book jacket.