★Patterns in Specific Play Activities.
Studies of childhood play have revealed that the various kinds of play occur in a more or less regular order and at predictable times in the child's pattern of development. Block building, for example, passes through four distinct stages. In the first stage, the child merely handles and carries blocks and piles them in irregular masses; in the second, he constructs rows and towers; in the third, he develops patterns and techniques for building more complicated designs, and in the fourth, he dramatizes and reproduces actual structures. At three years of age -in the first stage—the child is primarily concerned with problems of balance and size and methods of combining blocks; by four, he begins to make crude and sprawling structures, loosely hung together; at five, he can build highly integrated, carefully balanced structures, and at six, he uses these intricate structures as settings for dramatic play. Definite patterns appear like wise in drawing, starting with scratching and dotting with a crayon in the one-year-old and developing into drawing pictures against backgrounds by the time the child is eight. Similarly, reading interests and interest in movies, collecting, television, radio, and singing all occur in a more or less regular order and at predictable times.
★Play Is Influenced by Tradition.
Many of the play activities of young children are imitations of adult activities. Because the activities in any culture are more or less stereotyped, the play of little children in a particular culture changes little from generation to generation, regardless of the specific neighborhood environment. Young children imitate the play of older children, who have imitated the play of the generation of children preceding them. Thus, in every culture, one generation passes down to the next the forms of play which it finds most satisfactory.
The type of play that becomes traditional within a culture, however, depends upon the values of that culture. A comparative study of the play of children in America and in Japan has revealed that the Japanese engage in informal group activities, while the Americans emphasize team play and competitive games. American children put strong em phasis on dramatic play only during early childhood, while Japanese children show an interest in dramatic play much longer. Furthermore, there is a greater variety in the traditional play patterns of American children than in those of Japanese children.
Studies of art have revealed that pictures of children in different cultures and at different times in history show them playing with balls and other toys not unlike those used by American children today. For ex ample, when babies are just beginning to walk, a walking toy, used as a prop to help them maintain their balance, has been recognized for centuries as a favorite toy. A walking toy represented on a Greek vase.
