Let us play together! Can play tutoring stimulate children’s social pretend play level?

Abstract

Social pretend play may have a positive impact on children’s social development because it involves positive peer interactions and challenges their social-cognitive abilities. The current study aimed to investigate whether variations in play tutors’ active support and play management are associated with variations in children’s social pretend play level in the context of a pretend play tutoring intervention. Moreover, the moderating role of children’s social skills (cooperative behaviour and sociability) was examined. In total, 50 children from eight playgroups participated in the study (50% females, mean age at T1 = 46.6 months, SD = 4.3). Six play tutoring sessions took place during normal playgroup sessions (30–40 minutes each). Both the play tutors’ active support and play management and the children’s social pretend play were videotaped and rated for each 10-minute interval. Furthermore, teachers rated children’s social skills before the intervention. The study showed that active support – but not play management – was positively associated with children’s social pretend play level. Furthermore, children’s sociability positively predicted children’s social pretend play level during the intervention and also intensified the positive effect of active support on children’s social pretend play level. In contrast, children’s cooperative behaviour was not significantly associated with their social pretend play level. These results suggest that play tutoring in a group setting needs to be tailored to children’s needs and should actively aim to include withdrawn children, so that they can also profit more strongly from the intervention.

The emergence of dyadic pretend play quality during peer play: The role of child competence, play partner competence and dyadic constellation

“…The positive association with age corresponds with previous research findings and confirms the developmental pattern of social pretend play (Howes & Matheson, 1992). Furthermore, the results showed that more sociable children showed a higher quality social pretend play in general, which again is in line with the previous findings of Perren et al (2019). Children who enjoy social interaction may spend more time in social play and therefore may have more practice or experience, which could lead to higher play competence during social pretend play (Bodrova et al, 2013; Howes & Matheson, 1992).…”

“…Four playgroups were randomly selected to participate in a play tutoring intervention for six consecutive weeks. The intervention was similar to that described in Perren, Sticca, Weiss‐Hanselmann, and Burkhardt Bossi (2019). The play tutor brought a standardized set of role‐play materials, and both encouraged and guided the children in their play for 30 min per week.…”

Promoting Social Pretend Play in Preschool Age: Is Providing Roleplay Material Enough?

“…To evaluate the promotional potential of providing roleplay material it is necessary to take adult behavior into account. Perren et al (2019) have shown that play tutoring -providing roleplay material and a high level of active play support -is an effective strategy for promoting children's social pretend play quality (within-person design). Accordingly, we hypothesized that children in the material condition would show higher levels of social pretend play quality than in the control condition, but lower levels than children in the play tutoring condition.…”

“…In the play phase the tutors used specific play supportive strategies (e.g., Prompting, Modeling), the promotional effect of which is supported by the results of Perren et al (2019). The tutoring followed a standardized schedule.…”

“…However, some authors (e.g., Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990) argue that providing roleplay material only promotes pretend play if it is accompanied by active play support from adults. Empirical findings (e.g., Perren et al, 2019) show that adults' active play support is an effective strategy to foster social pretend play quality.…”