Children’s preference for real activities: Even stronger in the Montessori Children’s House
Abstract
In the United States, children are often given the opportunity to engage in pretend activities; many believe this kind of play benefits children’s development. Recent research has shown, though, that when children ages 4 to 6 are given a choice to do the pretend or the real version of 9 different activities, they would prefer the real one. The reasons children gave for preferring real activities often concerned their appreciation of the functionality; when children did prefer pretend activities, their reasons often cited being afraid of, not allowed to, or unable to do the real activity. Given that children in Montessori classrooms have more experience performing real, functional activities, in this study we asked if this preference for real activities is even stronger among children in Montessori schools. We also asked children to explain their preferences. The data are from 116 3- to 6-year-old children (M = 59.63 months, SD = 12.08 months; 68 female): 62 not in Montessori schools and 54 in Montessori schools. Children explained their preferences for pretendand real versions of 9 different activities. Children in Montessori schools preferred real activities even more than did children in other preschools, but all children explained their choices in similar ways. The implications of these results are discussed with regard to play in preschool classrooms.
References
Bassok, D., Latham, S., & Rorem, A. (2016). Is kindergarten the new first grade? AERA Open, 1, 1-31. doi: 10.1177/2332858415616358
Bennett, N., Wood, E., & Rogers, S. (1997). Teaching through play: Teachers’ thinking and classroom practice. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
Bodrova, E. (2008). Make-believe play versus academic skills: A Vygotskian approach to today’s dilemma of early childhood education. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 16(3), 357-369. doi: 10.1080/13502930802291777
Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Dunn, J., & Dale, N. (1984). I a daddy: 2-year-olds’ collaboration in joint pretend with sibling and with mother. In I. Bretherton (Ed.), Symbolic play, 131-158. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-132680-7.50009-0
Engel, M. (2015). The importance of free play in the early childhood classroom: Perspectives from a teacher. Childhood Education, 91(5), 323-324. doi: 10.1080/00094056.2015.1090842
Ginsburg, K. (2007). The importance of play in promoting healthy child development and maintaining strong parent–child bonds. Pediatrics, 119, 182-191. doi: 10.1542/peds.2011-2953
Haight, W. L., & Miller, P. J. (1993). Pretending at home: Early development in a sociocultural context. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Haight, W., Masiello, T., Dickson, K., Huckeby, E., & Black, J. (1994). The everyday contexts and social functions of spontaneous mother-child pretend play in the home. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 40(4), 509-522.
Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R., Berk, L., & Singer, D. (2009). A mandate for playful learning in preschool: Presenting the evidence. New York: Oxford University Press.
Isenberg, J. P., & Quisenberry, N. (2002). Play: Essential for all children. A position paper of the Association for Childhood Education International. Childhood Education, 79(1), 33-39. doi: 10.1080/00094056.2002.10522763
Kemple, K. M., Oh, J. H., & Porter, D. (2015). Playing at school: An inquiry approach to using an experiential play lab in an early childhood teacher education course. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 36(3), 250-265. doi:10.1080/10901027.2015.1062830
Lillard, A. S. (2012). Preschool children’s development in classic Montessori, supplemented Montessori, and conventional programs. Journal of School Psychology, 50(3), 379-401. doi: 10.1016/j.jsp.2012.01.001
Lillard, A. S. (2013). Playful learning and Montessori education. American Journal of Play, 5(2), 157-186.
Lillard, A. S. (2017). Montessori: The science behind the genius (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Lillard, A. S., & Heise, M. J. (2016). Removing supplementary materials from Montessori classrooms changed child outcomes. Journal of Montessori Research, 2(1), 16-26. doi: 10.17161/jomr.v2i1.5678
Montessori, M. (1949). The absorbent mind. Adyar, Madras, India: The Theosophical Publishing House.
Montessori, M. (1966). The secret of childhood (M. J. Costello, Trans.). New York: Ballantine.
National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2018). Good toys for young children by age and stage. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/resources/topics/play/toys
NPD Group. (2018). Toy sales globally and in the U.S. both grow by 1 percent in 2017, reports the NPD Group. Retrieved from https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/press-releases/2018/toy-sales-globally-and-in-the-us-both-grow-by-1-percent-in-2017-reports-the-npd-group/
Parmar, P., Harkness, S., & Super, C. M. (2004). Asian and Euro-American parents’ ethnotheories of play and learning: Effects on preschool children’s home routines and school behaviour. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 28, 97-104. doi: 10.1080/01650250344000307
Roopnarine, J. L. (2010). Cultural variations in beliefs about play, parent–child play, and children’s play: Meaning for child development. In P. Nathan & A. Peligrini (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of the development of play (pp. 19-37). New York: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195393002.013.0003
Rubin, K. H. (1977). The social and cognitive value of preschool toys and activities. Behavioral Science, 9(4), 382-385. doi: 10.1037/h0081643
Sandberg, A., & Samuelsson, I. P. (2003). Preschool teachers’ play experiences then and now. Early Childhood Research & Practice, 5(1).
Sherwood, S. A., & Reifel, S. (2010). The multiple meanings of play: Exploring preservice teachers’ beliefs about a central element of early childhood education. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 31(4), 322-343. doi: 10.1080/10901027.2010.524065
Singer, D. G., & Singer, J. L. (1990). The house of make-believe: Children’s play and the developing imagination. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Singer, D., Singer, J., DiAgostino, H., & DeLong, R. (2009). Children’s pastimes and play in sixteen nations: Is free play declining? American Journal of Play, 1, 283-312.
Soundy, C. S. (2009). Young children’s imaginative play: Is it valued in Montessori classrooms? Early Childhood Education Journal, 36, 381-383. doi: 10.1007/s10643-008-0282-z
Taggart, J., Heise, M. J. & Lillard, A. S. (2017). The real thing: Preschoolers prefer actual activities to pretend ones. Developmental Science. doi: 10.1111/desc.12582
Copyright (c) 2018 Jessica Taggart, Eren Fukuda, Angeline Stoll Lillard
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Authors can view article download statistics for published articles within their accounts.
Journal of Montessori Research
Author Agreement
The following is an agreement between the Author (the “Corresponding Author”) acting on behalf of all authors of the work (“Authors”) and the Journal of Montessori Research (the “Journal”) regarding your article (the “Work”) that is being submitted for consideration.
Whereas the parties desire to promote effective scholarly communication that promotes local control of intellectual assets, the parties for valuable consideration agree as follows.
A. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR’S GRANT OF RIGHTS
After being accepted for publication, the Corresponding Author grants to the Journal, during the full term of copyright and any extensions or renewals of that term, the following:
1. An irrevocable non-exclusive right to reproduce, republish, transmit, sell, distribute, and otherwise use the Work in electronic and print editions of the Journal and in derivative works throughout the world, in all languages, and in all media now known or later developed.
2. An irrevocable non-exclusive right to create and store electronic archival copies of theWork, including the right to deposit the Work in open access digital repositories.
3. An irrevocable non-exclusive right to license others to reproduce, republish, transmit,and distribute the Work under the condition that the Authors are attributed. (Currently this is carried out by publishing the content under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY-NC.)
4. Copyright in the Work remains with the Authors.
B. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR’S DUTIES
1. When distributing or re-publishing the Work, the Corresponding Author agrees to credit the Journal as the place of first publication.
2. The Corresponding Author agrees to inform the Journal of any changes in contact information.
C. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR’S WARRANTY
The Corresponding Author represents and warrants that the Work is the Authors’ original work and that it does not violate or infringe the law or the rights of any third party and, specifically, that the Work contains no matter that is defamatory or that infringes literary or proprietary rights, intellectual property rights, or any rights of privacy. The Corresponding Author also warrants that he or she has the full power to make this agreement, and if the Work was prepared jointly, the Corresponding Author agrees to inform the Authors of the terms of this Agreement and to obtain their written permission to sign on their behalf. The Corresponding Author agrees to hold the Journal harmless from any breach of the aforestated representations.
D. JOURNAL’S DUTIES
In consideration of the Author’s grant of rights, the Journal agrees to publish the Work, attributing the Work to the Authors.
E. ENTIRE AGREEMENT
This agreement reflects the entire understanding of the parties. This agreement may be amended only in writing by an addendum signed by the parties. Amendments are incorporated by reference to this agreement.
ACCEPTED AND AGREED BY THE CORRESPONDING AUTHOR ON BEHALF OF ALL AUTHORS CONTRIBUTING TO THIS WORK
