Toddlers' emerging symbolic play: a first-born advantage?

The influence of older peers on younger children's emerging symbolic play was examined for 24 young children in eight participating long-day child-care centres. Toddler participants (aged from 17 to 31 months) were observed and video-taped in three conditions in free play in the outdoor environ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Early child development and care 2004-05, Vol.174 (4), p.389-400
Main Authors: Kowalski, Helen S., Wyver, Shirley R., Masselos, Grace, De Lacey, Philip
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Differences
Birth Order
Child Care Centers
Child psychology
Childhood
Daycare' Mixed-age groups
Developmental psychology
Early childhood
Family studies
Older peers
Peer Groups
Peer Relationship
Pretend play
Research trends
Symbolic play
Toddlers
Videotape Recordings
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Summary:The influence of older peers on younger children's emerging symbolic play was examined for 24 young children in eight participating long-day child-care centres. Toddler participants (aged from 17 to 31 months) were observed and video-taped in three conditions in free play in the outdoor environment as follows: condition one, with their same-age peers; condition two, with their older, preschool-aged peers; and condition three, in a dyad situation with a familiar often 'self-chosen' preschool-aged peer. Fourteen of the participants were first-borns and 10 were later-borns. The toddlers' symbolic play was coded in the four dimensions of symbolic play ('decontextualization', 'thematic content', 'organization of themes', and 'self-other relationships') in accordance with Westby's ( 1991 ) 'Symbolic play scale'. First-born participants exhibited higher levels of symbolic play in all four dimensions as identified by Westby ( 1991 ) in mixed-age free play sessions. Additionally, in mixed-age free play, first-borns scored significantly higher in three dimensions in the most frequently occurring levels of symbolic play than did later-born participants.
ISSN:0300-4430
1476-8275
DOI:10.1080/0300443032000153435