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In the video clips that follow, we observe three children, each about 18-months old, pretending to stir food using spoons and pans. Two adults, George (consultant) and the classroom teacher (off camera), tentatively begin an interaction with the children by asking a few questions; however their questions yield no responses from the children. Based on his observations, George shifts to a completely non-verbal strategy, engaging in parallel play beside the children. George’s goal is to enter the children’s play by offering some actions that are new to the children as provocations.

Have you ever watched children having a pretend conversation on a toy telephone? They exhibit amazing finesse, using the pauses, cues, and descriptions necessary for the invisible listener on the other end. In this Thinkprint, we observe children from one to five years old deal with the language requirements of this modern device, the telephone. We see them hold the phone to their chest to mute the reception on the other end. We see them calculate how long it should take a pretend conversant to answer a question.

During the earliest months of life infants are mostly the recipients of adults' efforts to engage them socially. A shift occurs around twelve months. Infants begin to actively capture and maintain the attention of others. Objects often afford infants the opportunity to create a sense of shared meaning and to build early social exchanges with others.

In this Thinkprint, eight 15-month-old toddlers explore clay together while seated at a large table. They occasionally pick up an idea for what to do by watching a friend across the table. After a while they make singsong noises together which acknowledges that they have formed a group. Listen to the initial call of one child and the response of a few, followed by a pause. Then the call changes to a new sound and more of the children answer including the teacher. Then yet a third sound, more intense, and the call blends with a group chorus.

As caregivers, we know that young infants are sensitive to the ways in which their social partners relate to them. For example, research has shown that during face-to-face interactions, infants respond differently to a caregiver’s smiling face than to a still face (a neutral, non-reciprocating facial expression). Increasingly, young infants are participating in settings outside of the home, with same aged peers.

Have you ever wondered why young children sometimes seem determined to have the toy their peer or sibling is contently playing with, even when a second toy of the exact same kind is offered, or available nearby? What makes this behavior reasonable to the young child?

During pretend play children often make careful efforts to approximate the adult social world as nearly as possible. To achieve this goal, children will sometimes incorporate tools they have seen adults use into their pretend play. In this Thinkprint , Anya and Riley, are about to bake a pretend cake for Anya’s pretend birthday.

In this Thinkprint, the video clips zoom in on three different children drawing flowers and people’s heads. One child wants the hair on her person’s head to have a "part" so it will look like hair instead of a hat. Another child wants to represent the density of grass, so she shifts from rounded to spiky waves. A third child wants to represent the diversity of flowers in color and size.

Teachers often struggle to explain the value of play for young children’s learning and development. Play provides an important opportunity for the teacher to learn about the interests of the children. The teacher is then better able to become an effective play partner, building on the children’s prior knowledge in order to extend learning. In addition, play provides an opportunity for children to experience a sense of competence and control as they make decisions and work to coordinate their play with peers.

Dramatic play allows children to separate from the here and now by transforming place and time. The act of pretending as if requires children to think about props and play partners in two ways at the same time. Pretense permits children to invent uses for objects that go beyond what the objects can actually do. Additionally, socio-dramatic play challenges children to coordinate the meanings of shared symbols with co-players. Learning to lead and follow, and to negotiate and compromise, helps children develop the social and emotional skills needed to successfully play together.