The Origins of Free Play

Richly illustrated with insightful photos by Marian Reismann, this informative booklet gives a detailed description of how the play activity of infants develops during the first year of their life, from the first signs of ‘play’ to more complicated schemas like fitting objects into one another or arranging things in groups. As Éva Kálló liked to point out: there is a lot more to the development of play as meets the eye at first glance. If left to their own devices, children will typically go through a whole series of less known phases in the development of their play, which are of great importance nonetheless. The authors shed light on how self-initiated play not only gives pleasure and a sense of achievement to both the child and his/her carer, but may well contribute to the development of their personality as well. In addition, there is detailed advice on how to organise a small child’s play space and what kind of toys to offer them if we are to promote independent play.