Play it High, Play it Low - Examining the Reliability and Validity of a New Observation Tool to Measure Children’s Make-Believe Play

Oct 15, 2026

The article investigates how to reliably and validly measure children’s mature make-believe play, addressing limitations that have constrained evaluation of play-based claims. It reviews the psychometric properties of existing assessment approaches and presents results from a new assessment using the Mature Play Observation Tool (MPOT) administered across a multiyear longitudinal study of twenty-six early-childhood classrooms. Findings show higher MPOT-scoring classrooms are associated with stronger self-regulation, literacy, and numeracy.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages39

Reading Time1 h 38 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Defining Mature Make-Believe Play

Play it High, Play it Low Examining the Reliability and Validity of a New Observation Tool to Measure Children’s Make-Believe Play • Carrie Germeroth, Elena Bodrova, Crystal Day-Hess, Jane Barker, Julie Sarama, Douglas H. Clements, and Carolyn Layzer The authors consider mature make-believe play a critical component of childhood that helps children develop new skills and learn to communicate. They argue that, although theoretical accounts of play have emphasized the importance of make-believe play for children to achieve social and academic competence, the absence of a reliable and valid measure of children’s mature make-believe play has hampered the evaluation of such claims. They seek to address this shortcoming with a review of the psychometric characteristics of existing assessments and with their findings from a new assessment using the Mature Play Observation Tool (MPOT), which they administered during a multiyear longitudinal study of twenty-six early-childhood classrooms. They found that children in classrooms scoring well on the MPOT better perform such skills as self-regulation, literacy, and numeracy. Key words: make-believe play; Mature Play Observation Tool (MPOT); scaffolding; skills assessment Introduction Educators vigorously debate how to balance play with formal classroom instruction in early-childhood education. For many years, play received minimal attention in child development books (Pellegrini 2010) and diminished attention in educational settings (Hirsh-Pasek et al. 2009). A renewed interest in play has led educators to develop a number of play-based preschool interventions intended to support self-regulation and learning, and subsequent research has begun to investigate the relationship between play and the classroom. 183 American Journal of Play, volume 11, number 2 © The Strong [Contact Carrie Germeroth at carrie.germeroth@MarzanoResearch.com](Contact Carrie Germeroth at carrie.germeroth@MarzanoResearch.com) Following the seminal work of Vygotsky (1967), developmental theorists and classroom-based practitioners frequently posited that make-believe play supports children’s acquisition of social and self-regulatory skills in early childhood (e.g., Bateson 2000; Bodrova and Leong 2007; Brown 2009; Bruner 1976; Diamond 2007; Erikson,1972; Freud 2003; Leslie 1987; Piaget 1962; Saifer 2009). According to Vygotskians, make-believe play, when it reaches its mature state, fosters self-regulation and provides the basis for other activities or interactions that in turn foster the learning of symbolic and emotional thinking, spoken language, and the beginnings of literacy. From this theoretical perspective, mature make-believe play becomes a critical driver of learning in childhood that provides an opportunity for children to push their individual “developmental edge”(Elkonin 1978) . During mature make-believe play, children create imaginary situations, take on explicit roles (using the language and rules of the roles), and use objects symbolically (Bodrova and Leong 2011; Elkonin 1978). Thus, play affords children opportunities to project an internal, mental representation on the external environment (Leslie 1987; Lillard 1993) and to adopt roles and responsibilities that extend beyond their typical daily activities and represent everyday objects or environments in nonconventional ways. For example, when pretending tobe a shopkeeper, a child might engage in new forms of cognitive and social interaction (counting money, for example, or interacting with a pretend patron); develop and maintain internal goals in the presence of conflicting environmental signals (inhibiting the use of a playmates’ given name and instead using a pretend name, for example, or using playing cards as money and ignoring their typical use); and practice perspective taking (considering, for example, what another child might do in an imagined scenario) . Several interventions have attempted to support self-regu

FAQs

What problem does the paper address about measuring children’s make-believe play?

It addresses the lack of reliable and valid measures for children’s mature make-believe play, which has limited assessment of claims about play-based learning outcomes.

What tool is introduced or used to assess mature make-believe play?

The study uses the Mature Play Observation Tool (MPOT) as the new assessment instrument.

What relationship does the study find between MPOT scores and children’s skills?

Classrooms scoring well on the MPOT show children with better self-regulation, literacy, and numeracy performance.

Oct 15, 2026

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