Social Pretend Play Among Friends and Familiar Preschoolers

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to assess the role of partner familiarity in the organisation, duration, and content of spontaneous social pretend play in a triadic situation where two friends are in the presence of a third familiar child. Children were observed in a familiar room of their school, provided with two sets of matching objects. The sample comprised 120 children (60 girls and 60 boys) aged 3;0 to 5;0 years, forming 40 same-sex triads (20 female and 20 male). Each triad of classmates was made up of a dyad of friends, plus a familiar partner (not a friend). The findings showed that friends prefer each other as a partner in fantasy play: Play between friends is longer and richer than play with the third partner. The most important sexrelated differences involve the amount of time spent in pretend play. Girls spent nearly twice as much time in fantasy as boys. The use of two sets of identical objects for three children, without adult presence, constituted a powerful paradigm to evidence the effect of the degree of familiarity in children's interaction in general, and in pretend play in particular.