[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-591599-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-591599-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","developing-a-dramatic-pretend-play-game-intervention-a-case-study","Developing a Dramatic Pretend Play Game Intervention - A Case Study","","The article examines whether sociodramatic and theatrical pretend play directly supports children’s social and emotional development and argues that existing findings need more rigorous testing. It presents the development of a cohesive dramatic pretend play intervention and contrasts it with active dismantling control play conditions, including block construction and group reading. The discussion covers why guided-play elements were selected, how interventionists are trained, and how controls are paired to isolate which components drive measurable gains.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/developing-a-dramatic-pretend-play-game-intervention-a-case-study/591599/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/developing-a-dramatic-pretend-play-game-intervention-a-case-study/591599.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"supergirl","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-31","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",9,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What question does the article address about pretend play?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Whether pretend play, particularly dramatic sociodramatic or theatrical play, directly relates to positive social and emotional outcomes in children, requiring more rigorous testing than earlier work.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How does the intervention distinguish dramatic pretend play from other activities?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The article uses a cohesive dramatic pretend play intervention with active dismantling control play conditions, such as block play and story or group reading, to isolate elements uniquely useful about pretense.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What guidance and training are described for implementing the intervention?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"It outlines how particular activities were chosen and explains how play leaders/interventionists are taught to lead sessions and manage implementation issues.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},591599,1792191750,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,111,115,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":112,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,30,"research-report",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":112,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":127,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},962088121634,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","Developing a Dramatic Pretend Play Game Intervention  \n•  \nThalia R. Goldstein  \nChildren have a natural inclination to play and imagine themselves as characters. Research has supported theories that connect this pretend play and related theatrical play to the development of children’s social and emotional skills, but the author contends we need further, more rigorous research on whether such play directly relates to such positive outcomes. The author developed a cohesive pretend play intervention to conduct such research, using block play and story time as controls to distinguish what may be uniquely useful about pretense. She seeks to provide researchers and practitioners who work with children a model for creating guided-play activities. She also discusses how to train play leaders and handle the issues that arise in the implementation of these pretend play interventions. Keywords:  \ninterventions, pretend play, sociodramatic play, theatrical play  \nPretend play is a central part of early childhood development. Although defining pretense can be difficult, generally we consider it any kind of nonliteral action done for enjoyment (Weisberg 2015). This definition encompasses the kind of sociodramatic or theatrical play in which very young children engage by embodying characters and pretending to experience their emotions and personalities (Goldstein and Bloom 2011) .  \nTheorists and researchers have long held that pretend play fosters important social, cognitive, and emotional outcomes for children. Recent work has theorized pretend play’s connections to counterfactual thinking (Gopnik and Walker 2013), language development (Weisberg et al. 2013), and creativity (Russand Wallace 2013) . However, research that considers such connections has also recently come under criticism for a lack of rigor. These criticisms accuse such studies of failing to control for how experimenter expectations might affect results, for considering children’s natural inclinations to play that can only produce correlational findings, and for not focusing closely enough on how chil-  \n290  \nAmerican Journal of Play, volume 10, number 3 © The Strong [Contact Thalia R. Goldstein at tgoldste@gmu.edu](Contact Thalia R. Goldstein at tgoldste@gmu.edu)  \ndren’s preexisting skills may affect the type of play they engage in and its effects (Lillard et al. 2013; Lillard et al. 2015) .  \nThe careful and considered study of play is critical for determining not only its effects on children’s development but also for finding the best way to harness children’s natural inclinations and desires to produce positive change and outcomes. To study pretend play and its effects in the most rigorous, scientific way possible, strongly tested, well-controlled, and exact interventions must be developed. In this article, I outline a case study of the development of such an intervention, focusing on dramatic pretend play and the development of two active dismantling control play interventions—one, building with plastic, interlocking blocks and the other, reading in a group. I describe how and why particular activities were used and how interventionists were taught to lead such activities. I layout how these particular interventions were paired to ensure the closest control possible for the elements of dramatic pretend play held to cause gains in social and emotional functioning. I discuss the implementation of the dramatic pretend play intervention, training play group leaders, and other issues that arose in developing it. Finally, I suggest ways for researchers and teachers to identify the elements in play interventions they may need to control for to test rigorously theories about the effects of play and its applications across populations.  \nWhy Develop a New Dramatic Pretend Play Game Intervention?  \nPretend play research has focused almost entirely on preschool-aged children, with good reason. Kids of this age are at the height of their imaginative and fantasy orientations (Sin","cbCaiu8lBmpnc4OA","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiu8lBmpnc4OA","pdf",150885,"English","# Developing a Dramatic Pretend Play Game Intervention\n## Why Develop a New Dramatic Pretend Play Game Intervention?","[{\"question\":\"What question does the article address about pretend play?\",\"answer\":\"Whether pretend play, particularly dramatic sociodramatic or theatrical play, directly relates to positive social and emotional outcomes in children, requiring more rigorous testing than earlier work.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the intervention distinguish dramatic pretend play from other activities?\",\"answer\":\"The article uses a cohesive dramatic pretend play intervention with active dismantling control play conditions, such as block play and story or group reading, to isolate elements uniquely useful about pretense.\"},{\"question\":\"What guidance and training are described for implementing the intervention?\",\"answer\":\"It outlines how particular activities were chosen and explains how play leaders/interventionists are taught to lead sessions and manage implementation issues.\"}]","Developing a Dramatic Pretend Play Game Intervention - A Case Study | PDF",1792072808,48]