Toys, Play, and Child Development [Hardcover]

Examines the role of toys and play in child development.Why do boys prefer war toys and girls Barbie dolls? Are video games addictive? What, if anything, do children learn while playing? This book examines how toys and play contribute to the development of language, imagination and intellectual achievement and are effective in child psychotherapy.Why do boys prefer war toys and girls Barbie dolls? Are video games addictive? What, if anything, do children learn while playing? This book examines how toys and play contribute to the development of language, imagination and intellectual achievement and are effective in child psychotherapy.There are pronounced differences in the play of boys and girls. Why do boys prefer war toys, and girls Barbie dolls? Are video games addictive? What, if anything, do children learn while playing? Toys, Play and Child Development explores these and other questions. Parental attitudes and reactions toward war toys are described, as are the children's views themselves. The book examines how toys and play contribute to the development of language, imagination, and intellectual achievement and how they can effectively be used in child psychotherapy.1. Introduction; 2. Imaginative play and adaptive development; 3. Play, toys, and language; 4. Educational toys, creative toys; 5. The war play debate: current issues; 6. War toys and aggressive play scenes: balanced aggression; 7. Sex differences in toy play and use of videogames; 8. Does play prepare the future?; 9. Play as healing. ...this comprehensive book leaves the reader informed, satisfied and keen for more... Julie Apfel, Times Higher Education Supplement