Problem solving and prior play experience: an observational study

One of the criticisms of previous studies of the effect of prior play on children's problem solving abilities, is that children have been instructed to play for relatively short periods. The present study looked at the quality of spontaneous play with sticks, nuts and bolts in 18 children (CA 44 months) over a four week period and the effect of this on a subsequent problem whose solution required two sticks to be bolted together. The most striking result was that children who had discovered the elongation principle during play were significantly better problem solvers than those who had not. Neither play frequency nor fantasy play was significantly related to problem solving.