Free-Play Fantasy Behavior in Preschool children: Relations among Gender, age, Season, and Location

Abstract

SANDERS, KAREN M., and HARPER, LAWRENCE V. Free-Play Fantasy Behavior in Preschool Children: Relations among Gender, Age, Season, and Location. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1976, 47, 1182-1185. Timesampled observations were made of the free-play fantasy behavior of groups of 3-5-year-old children in a preschool setting. Boys displayed more, and more active, fantasy play than girls; older children engaged in more make-believe than younger ones. Increases in fantasy play over the year depended on age, sex, and the nature of the activity. Boys and older children performed more make-believe play outdoors than girls and younger children. Whereas interactive fantasy play was shown more often by boys and older children, cooperative role taking was more common among girls. The greater role-taking fantasy play of girls as compared with boys was not simply a function of the girls' greater use of a homemaking play area. The opportunity for outdoor play may be related to the greater overall fantasy play of boys.