The Effects of Varying Structure within a Prototypical Play Object on the Solitary Pretend Play of Preschool Children.

Claims about the relative holding-power and play-versatility of toys either low or high in amount of realistic detail, such as miniature metal cars, were tested in a solitary play environment with and without the use of props. Subjects were 36 middle-class preschool children. Results suggest that, when structure is varied within the toy prototype, high-detailed cars had a greater holding power than low-detailed cars on children's pretend play, a finding contrary to prevalent claims. Significantly less distracted behavior occurred with high-detailed cars. Contrary to claims about the versatility of play, no significant differences were found between children exposed to high- and low-detailed cars in the number of play categories they engaged in. While props, such as roads, had little impact upon the length of time children spent in pretend play, they did focus the children's play upon prototypic-theme behaviors. It is concluded that a prototypic toy seems to elicit a somewhat fixed repertoire of play behaviors in preschool children playing alone. Increasing the amount of realistic detail on the prototypic toy does not appear to enhance the versatility of toy-manipulation behaviors, but it does appear to influence the duration of play. (Author/RH)