Referring to Pellegrini and Hou (2011) Joshua and Joey are exhibiting normal play behavior. This is mainly because the article supports with evidence that children often use objects when playing. This according to the authors is referred to as noninstrumental play whereby children pretend with objects during play. In addition to this noninstrumental play will involve children using exaggerated sounds or movements while playing games. Both Joey and Joshua exhibit noninstrumental play since they use square blocks and pipe cleaners as bombs to kill the ‘Zombies’ They also use cones as guns and cannons. Citing Pellegrini and Hou (2011) Joshua and Joey are pretending with the objects and using them in novel ways during play time.
The article also suggests that construction is a part of noninstrumental play. This explains why Joshua and Joey construct the loft as their ‘safety house’ during their ‘Zombies’ game. In addition, the two children construct an alien motorcycle for their final game. This according to the article is normal child’s play. In addition, according to the article there is a difference between the objects and games that boys and girls will play. This explains why the two boys selected to play games that involved Zombies, Armies and Aliens.
According to Sobel (2006) Joshua and Joey are exhibiting normal childhood behavior. This is mainly because acceding to the article and the research carried out by the author indicates that children who are 4 years old understand pretence games. From the games that the children are playing fantasy and pretence plays a big role. Therefore, the behavior that has been exhibited by Joshua and Joey is normal for their age. In this context the two children understand pretence based on the creation of fantasy characters such as Zombies and Aliens. The author carried out a research that indicated that children who have fantasies had a better and improved syllogistic reasoning capability.
In addition, the author also carried out a research that indicated that children with imaginary friends had higher scores in mind measurement theories as compared to children of the same age. This has been attributed to the fact that fantasy play provides a better development to a child’s ability to reason. This can clearly be seen in Joey and Joshua since they exhibit excellent problem solving skills in their game play. For example, the use cones as guns and cannons shows that the children are being able to reason as they play their game.
According to Casby (2003) Joshua and Joey are exhibiting normal play behavior since they are showing the Piaget’s stages of play. The article presents the Piaget’s stages of development of play, which is composed of two stages (Casby, 2003). The research carried out in the article indicates that children evolve from the sensory motor stage of play to the symbolic or imaginary play Both Joey and Joshua are exhibiting the first and second stages of play development. The first stage is the practice stage where children incorporate pretend and rules in their games. Both Joey and Joshua have incorporated pretend within their play. The article estimates that children between 2- 10 years exhibit this stage of development (Casby, 2003). Therefore, the two boys are games are perfectly normal. For the second stage of development the children are using symbols as well as imagining their own world of play.
References:
Casby, M. (2003) The Development of Play in Infants, Toddlers, and Young Children: Communication Disorders Quarterly vol. 24, no. 4
Pellegrini, A. & Hou, Y. (2011) The Development of Preschool Children’s (Homo sapiens) Uses of Objects and Their Role in Peer Group Centrality Journal of Comparative Psychology, Vol. 125, No. 2, 239–245
Sobel, D. (2006), How fantasy benefits young children’s understanding of pretense: Developmental Science 9:1 pp 63–75
