Children live in a social world. From birth, they initiate an examination of their world. Through their development (infant, toddler, preschool, primary age), children explore and attempt to understand their social and physical surroundings. They progressively discover their growing community and ultimately consider themselves to be citizens. This entry explores the role of play in young children’s self-discovery and knowledge acquisition; specific attention is given to the stages of social play that structure children’s early lives.

Young Children and Knowledge Acquisition

Young children have to learn about themselves, their world, and their relationship to it. They test their knowledge on their physical and social world to obtain feedback from their outside world and distinguish the limitations between themselves and their immediate world. Young children acquire the knowledge ...

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