New Play Experiences for Children: Planned Play Groups, Miniature Life Toys, and Puppets 9780231887243

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NEW PLA T EXPERIENCES FOR CHILDREN PLANNED PLAY GROUPS, MINIATURE LIFE TOYS, AND PUPPETS

By Ruth E. Hartley Lawrence K. Frank Robert M. Goldenson

Columbia University Press NEW YORK

Copyright 1952 Columbia University P r e s s , New York First printing Second printing

1952 1953

Published in Great Britain, Canada, India, and Pakistan by Geoffrey Cumberlege: Oxford University P r e s s , London, Toronto, Bombay, and Karachi

Manufactured in the United States of America

Foreword In 1947, under a two-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Caroline Zachry Institute sponsored and provided facilities for an exploratory study of play in fostering healthy personality development of young children. The project was organized and supervised by Lawrence K. Frank, Director of the Institute, and was conducted by Dr. Ruth E. Hartley, psychological consultant. A one-year grant from the New York State Mental Health Authority in 1948 provided the means and opportunity to discuss and evaluate the findings of this study with groups of teachers and directors of nursery schools and other child centers. What was found by them to be most valuable and especially pertinent for directors, teachers, and other staff of such centers, as well as for parents, has been compressed into a volume entitled Understanding Children's Play. 1 Such additional material as was considered of particular interest and value to teacher-training instructors and to adequately trained personnel in centers for young children is presented in this booklet and in another entitled Growing through Play. 2 Dr. Hartley's original manuscript has been condensed, r e vised,and adapted for maximum usefulness by Dr. Robert M. Goldenson, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Philosophy, Hunter College. In this work he was generously assisted by the valuable criticism and counsel of Dr. Ruth Andrus, of the Bureau of Child Study and Parent Education, and by Dr. Luther E. Woodward, of the Mental Health Commission of the State of New York. Publication of Understanding Children's Play and of the two booklets has been made possible by another grant from the New York State Mental Health Authority. New Play Experiences for Children presents the findings of that aspect of the study which concerned itself with exploring the efficacy of planned play groups, and the value of miniature life toys and puppet plays, which are not yet part of the usual p r e school program, but have already proven fruitful as expressive media for young children in other settings. 1. Ruth E. Hartley, Lawrence K. Frank, and Robert M. Goldenson, Understanding Children's Play. 2. Ruth E. Hartley, Growing through Play.

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FOREWORD

We fully recognize that the techniques outlined in this booklet a r e still in the experimental stage, and we sincerely hope that further investigation will be made under the guidance of professionally trained persons. Whether planned play groups, miniature life toys, and puppet plays will become generally accepted in the program of nursery schools and kindergartens r e m a i n s for the future to decide. But we do believe that the evidence presented in this study indicates that they offer promising leads to richer and more productive play life, as well as to the fuller understanding of the individual child in his effort to develop and to meet the demands that a r e made upon him. Lawrence K. Frank, Director Caroline Zachry Institute 3

3. Discontinued, June 1, 1950.

Contents I.

Planned Play Groups

Page 1

II.

Miniature Life Toys

31

III. Puppet Plays

50

Bibliography

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Chapter I: Planned Play

Groups

IN the project on which this booklet is based, our observations clearly indicated that certain children a r e almost always penalized by the presence of aggressive children when dramatic play is carried on in varied and virtually unselected groups. The potential fruitfulness of such play efforts in helping the child work out his problems is largely vitiated by interference f r o m others who are able to use the group for their own purposes. We found it much easier to help teachers acquire insight concerning the services that various physical materials can perform for the child, than to clarify the concept of human beings a s play materials. Yet there is no doubt that each child uses other people with whom he comes into contact to satisfy his needs and to p r o mote his growth. He does this with every aspect of his environment and certainly does not exclude his peers or his teachers f r o m this process. The difference in the child's usage of animate and inanimate materials is that the latter a r e easier to handle and can be manipulated more freely. Nevertheless, in the other children we have invaluable agents for the development of any given child in the group, provided, of course, we understand how to use this human material and recognize the specific functions it can perform. Slavson in his group therapy work with somewhat older children states that members have a "catalytic effect" on each other and serve as "balance wheels" when selected correctly. He e m phasizes the necessity of balancing a group in t e r m s of active and passive individuals and points out that if grouping is incorrect the anxious and neurotic child grows too frightened to come to themeetings, or, when he comes, his anxieties a r e further increased so that he is traumatized. With reference to the withdrawn child he notes, "Because of his fear to face the realities of the situation, a member of the group chooses one of the others as support through which he overcomes his f e a r s and misgivings. Usually there are a series of supportive egos chosen in accordance with the growing and evolving personality of the client before he b e comes part of the total setting." 1 1. Slavson, 'Treatment of Withdrawal through Group Therapy," American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 15 (October, 1945): 689.

2

PLANNED PLAY GROUPS

In Understanding Children's Play 2 there is mention of numerous "traumatizing" effects of the behavior of aggressive children on certain others. Since these children came from different centers and from widely separated sections of the city, we may safely assume that every day large numbers of children who have not developed the courage to defend themselves are similarly disturbed in nursery groups whose composition is fortuitously determined. It is, of course, always the irony of fate that these should be precisely the children who have most to gain from their play efforts and who could use play most fruitfully in autonomous attempts to solve their problems. Since the social and emotional growth of these children can go forward only if they are relatively free from psychological obstruction, it must be part of the educational function of the teacher to recognize their needs and arrange her group procedures so that these can be met. Another need for special manipulation of the group situation for the best interests of the children concerns the extremely active and aggressive child. Not only do such children victimize others, often unintentionally, but they are themselves hampered by the necessary restrictions of life in a large group, in expressing their own needs and gaining the kinds of experiences that are imperative for their development. Such children may need an opportunity for venting explosive energy harmlessly; they may chafe under the confinement of a room filled with other creatures who must not be interfered with; they must repeatedly come up against negations and measures designed to control their intrusive spontaneity. Since such children are themselves driven by powerful forces—be they constitutional factors or previous experiences with aggressive and frustrating adults or siblings—the necessary controls imposed by the teacher, who must manage a fairly large group, are not optimally advantageous to their development. It is true that some apparently overactive or aggressive children profit from firm control, but this probably does not apply to all who show a similar pattern nor does it mean that firm control continues to be fruitful when persistently exerted. Very likely this kind of child can better accept the limitations of group life and use them more effectively in his development if they do not have to be adhered to uninterruptedly. If a time, a place, and materials for "breaking over" or "exploding" are provided in the child's play activities, the problem of group management will probably be simplified. 2. Hartley, Frank, and Goldenson, Understanding Children's Play.

PLANNED PLAY GROUPS

3

Finally, we should consider here the process of identification —thinking and feeling oneself to be like another—through which children learn to be adults, in a continuously progressive fashion as their ability to assimilate experiences and to develop concepts grows. In most discussions on psychological development the process of identification refers almost exclusively to identification with parental figures. Yet, this is only part of the story. Any attentive observer of children who are old enough to be aware of social factors in their environment will notice a tremendous amount of imitation of peer models. This may take the form of simple imitation of an activity, a mannerism, or a social attitude. It may lead to an exchange of toys, clothing, or even of names. Children who feel in themselves a lack in some significant area of living often choose for special friends others who seem to have somewhat more in the way of psychological armor, and when with them are able to behave as if they had themselves acquired some of the playmates' powers. This is especially true of timid children or those who lack some significant adult figure in their family constellation. Fatherless little boys, for example, can learn to be more masculine if they are fortunate enough to gain acceptance by boys who have fathers and are not fearful of their own masculinity. So, too, fearful and inhibited little girls can expand and become self-assertive under the guidance of a more spontaneous child. Such friendships which supply "supportive egos" are not confined to therapeutic groups but are found everywhere and are important developmental agents under all kinds of circumstances. A child's full use of a peer as an identification figure depends to a large extent on the way in which the other child responds to his advances. Since children who particularly need such supportive contacts are rarely those who are outstandingly successful in social competition, some means must be found to reduce the competitive aspect of group life for them. Even teachers who are aware of the strategic importance of using the human material in their groups for the benefit of individuals are often nonplussed by their inability to channel the responses of the potentially helpful children. If, however, they can reduce the number of stimuli vying for the attention of these youngsters, and can simplify the social field, their chances for success in this type of environmental manipulation are increased. It was with these various considerations in mind that we embarked upon an exploration of group management that would make it possible for the timid and inhibited child to play out his dramas

4

PLANNED PLAY GROUPS

uninterruptedly, for the active and aggressive child to "explode" harmlessly, and for the fearful or uncertain child to borrow courage from more confident playmates. For this investigation, it was necessary to have some space that was not continuously usedby the whole group—an extra room that was f r e e during part of the day, or the group room itself while most of the children were occupied outdoors or in a different part of the building. It was extremely important, of course, to make our manipulation unobtrusive, so that no suspicion of special attention to certain individuals would arise and no cause for jealousy be given. Since the manipulation we intended consisted of providing space and special play materials for a small group away from the larger "class," it was easy to disguise specific r e f e r e n c e to given children by rotating the individuals to be included in the special group at different times. It was, of course, necessary to have an adult available for the supervision of this small group. This need was met in two ways. When the smaller group was composed largely of very active children, most of the disturbing elements of the larger group were drawn off, and a single adult was able to manage the r e s t very well. In a group of fifteen children, ordinarily supervised by a teacher and an assistant, one of the adults could remain with the major portion of the group while the other took four or five to another play space. However, when the smaller group was composed mainly of the timid or withdrawn children and the larger one contained many outgoing children, it was necessary to have extra help, since all the customary teaching personnel had to r e main with the larger group. It was our good fortune to find several individuals who had both the personal sensitivity and professional background to function in a special supervisory capacity with small groups of children. The amount of time invested in appealing for volunteers and screening those who responded was repaid many times by the services rendered. 3 3. In larger communities there are women who have had adequate training in childhood education or in psychological services and are eager to continue to function on a professional level if they can do so without interfering with their family obligations. The amount of time they have available for extra-family work is usually so limited that they cannot hope to function in a professionally remunerative capacity, but their interest in the field of their professional training frequently remains very keen, and they are often willing to assume regular assignments on a voluntary basis. Obviously, the personality and training of volunteers sought for such a purpose as indicated here must be evaluated as rigorously as they w u l d be in the case of any paid worker, and the task of selecting an Individual to function in this extremely delicate and responsible situation may be time-consuming.

PLANNED PLAY GROUPS

5

Our most difficult problem was the choice of children to be included in the groups. It was necessary to achieve a fine balance of inhibition and spontaneity, of attraction and acceptance. The choice of group members is especially important since the effectiveness of such play groups depends entirely on the ability of the children to use the experiences provided for them. The experiences must be of a kind that can be assimilated and that make for healthy growth. Assimilation and growth, in turn, depend on the pattern of the personalities present in the group. The staff usually met to decide on the composition of each group. Groups were built around one or two children whose behavior or attitudes indicated they might profit from them. Such indications consisted of difficulty in making and sustaining contacts with their peers, inability to defend themselves adequately, evidence of bewilderment in the larger group, or apparent inability to submit to the controls necessary for the management of the larger group. After a decision concerning the group m e m bership had been reached, the adult who was to supervise the session simply approached the children individually and invited them to "come and play* with her toys. If a child hesitated, the adult suggested he invite a friend. No refusals were encountered. The adults who were to supervise the group understood that it was to be as permissive as possible, with only three limitations: no child could be victimized by another child; no attack could be made on the person of the adult; and no real damage could be inflicted on the plant. The teacher was to function as an accepting, encouraging individual, guiding the play only when it seemed necessary to keep it going or to prevent friction that might be h a r m ful to some child in the group. This receptive personality was particularly desirable because the largest number of children in any one of these special groups was five, and each child in the group therefore had more than the usual access to the teacher. Once the small group of children was chosen, a kit of special play materials was usually brought out. This kit included small tool chests, lunch boxes, badges, handcuffs, rubber knives, guns, babies' nursing bottles, women's handbags, men's shirts, women's jewelry. When the group met in the usual classroom most of the customary toys also were accessible to them. Water was always at hand, but plastic and graphic materials were not generally available, since the object of these special groups was to promote dramatic play. For several of these special play groups, it was possible to supply "buffets" (oversized puppets with soft, stuffed heads sewn to men's shirts or women's dresses) 4 4. The original inspiration for these came from Adolf G. Woltmann, who finds them useful in his individual therapeutic work with children.

6

PLANNED PLAY GROUPS

which the children were allowed to use a s they pleased. Each buffet was as large as a child. Our observations yielded data which may be considered under four general headings: (1) differences in behavior of children when they are placed in planned play groups; (2) criteria for the selection of the personnel of planned play groups; (3) the effect of constancy and change in the child personnel of the small play groups; and (4) the role of the adult in planned play groups. 1. Differences in behavior of children. Observations were obtained from a group of four boys, two of whom were considered disturbing to the larger group, one of whom was less masculine in his development than most boys of his age, and one of whom was very spontaneous and fairly well adjusted. This group played in a separate room in the school building in which the Center was located, a room which was not customarily used. During the first meeting, one of the disturbing boys in the group, whom we shall call Neil, immediately picked up a small bottle and filled it with water; he then shifted to a baby bottle, put a nipple on it, and tried to drink. When he could not get any water through the nipple, he removed it and drank the water without the nipple. Then he shifted to a small medicine bottle, put the nipple on it and drank the water through the nipple. Neil, who came from a Spanish-speaking home, had not learned how to speak English. In the larger group he had been extremely destructive and unmanageable, largely because he seemed to have no understanding of the purpose of most of the materials provided and seemed completely unable to relate himself to the school program or to the other children. In the small group, after satisfactorily sampling the bottles, whose purposes he seemed to understand immediately, he offered two similar ones to another child, who was also a disturbing element in the larger group. This child, usually unintentionally aggressive, after attempting to force still another of the boys into the role of "baby," soon lay down on a bench himself, and drank from the baby bottle, kicking his feet in the air like an infant. Meanwhile, Perry, the least aggressive of the four, a child whom the teachers considered somewhat " s i s s y , " put on the police badge, picked up the stethoscope and knife, and approached one of the others, saying, "I will cut your stomach out. I am the doctor." Here we have a complete reversal of the usual play roles: the aggressive and destructive boys becoming "babies," while the effeminate child assumes the character of the strongest of the strong, the policeman who may "boss" others and the surgeon who may "cut them up."

PLANNED PLAY GROUPS

7

During the second meeting, which occurred two weeks later, similar play themes emerged, but were carried out more intensively and continued for a longer time. This time all the boys used the baby bottles to suck from, with Neil again initiating this kind of play. Again Perry played doctor, and "amputated" the leg of one of the others and bandaged him. Neil inadvertently spilled some water from the bottles he was using and seemed guilty about the resulting mess, but on being reassured about it, returned to suck his bottle, lying stretched out on a table top. Altogether, this play, centered on sucking from the nursing bottles and playing with water and the medicine bottles, was sustained by the boys for about twenty minutes. Unfortunately, further meetings of this group were not r e corded. It seems noteworthy, however, that in this completely undirected milieu, the behavior of the boys was so different from the troublesome behavior which the teachers had reported in the large group. Perry was clearly asserting himself in these d r a matic roles, which were suggested by the special "props" supplied, in a way which he did not dare try in the larger group. Here, where he was deprived of the company of girls, he not only played with the boys, but assumed the most forceful roles in the group. He was quite patently working through his identification with his father, whom he feared but who was an extremely important figure in his life. The fact that the other boys acceded to his demands and permitted him to become the aggressor figure was a revelation to him in t e r m s of what he could hope to achieve in human relationships. It was largely because other, more forceful, characters of the group were not present that P e r r y was able to achieve his success. It is significant that the behavior of both Neil and Eric, the child with whom Neil shared the bottles in the first meeting, was completely unexpected from the teachers' point of view. The teachers could take their cues from the pattern of behavior thrown into relief by these small play groups and minister unobtrusively to the needs that these apparently destructive and overwhelming boys usually hid: their needs for passivity and tenderness. Finally, the wholehearted enjoyment of sucking on the baby bottles shown by all four of the children, when protected by the comparative privacy of the smaller groups, suggests that there is perhaps too great an emphasis on continuous forward progression in group life for children, and from which it is helpful to have an opportunity to r e t r e a t at times. 2. Criteria for selection of child personnel. Some suggestions concerning the optimal organization of a special play group are

8

PLANNED PLAY GROUPS

offered by our experiences with Jane. Her first experience in such a group took place with a little boy, Jim, who was her special friend at the time. The play took place in the regular group room, but they were separated from the other children by a movable screen which served to fence off a corner of the room. Though Jim took the initiative in introducing aggressive play, Jane could follow him in such play and enjoy it thoroughly when the victim was a Teddy bear. Jim seemed to be the ideal agent for helping Jane recognize and express her own tendency toward aggressive action. Jane had already had a good deal of play experience with Jim in the larger group and felt she was accepted by him. He, on the other hand, although spontaneous in behavior, was not sufficiently aggressive to frighten her or to tempt her into activities that might make her anxious. The day following the first play session, when Jane was invited to play as one of the group of four, including Jim and another boy and girl, her behavior was entirely different. Although Jim and Jane played together at first by filling the baby bottles, Jim was lured away from her by Paul, the other boy in the group, who began to play rather aggressively with a knife. The two boys paired off together and started to wrestle and pretend to stick each other with rubber knives. This left Jane out completely, and she became an onlooker, sitting and watching the boys at their rough play, with a baby bottle next to her. Although Vera, the other girl in the group, could participate vicariously by urging the boys on, Jane was not able to do this. Jane, in fact, was not at ease until she and Vera began to play with the Teddy bears as dolls, feeding them and taking care of them. When Vera put one of the bottles into her mouth, Jane inhibited her by saying, "Don't put that in your mouth." Later, however, both girls were observed drinking from the baby bottle. Vera's support in this activity seemed important to Jane. Several times during this session, Paul's intrusive aggression threatened to disrupt the play of the girls, suggesting that, although Jim could accept it, it was too far removed from the range of the girls' reaction to be assimilated by them. It is likely that the group play would have been more profitable if Paul had been omitted and only Jim and the two girls included in the group. Jim would then have been available to take the masculine role in the play with the girls and would have been able to act as catalyst for aggressive impulses for both girls as he had for Jane the day before. It is commonly accepted that a child will function better in a group, at least in the initial period, when he is permitted to bring

PLANNED PLAY GROUPS

9

with him another child of his own choice. When, however, the group is made up of two pairs of friends, it tends to break into two subgroups and no social movement is discernible. This is especially true when one of each pair of friends has difficulty in making contacts. Unless one of the "auxiliary" children has previously established connection with one of the other pair involved, the two pairs are likely to function either completely independently, apparently oblivous to one another, or as rivals for the attention of the available adult. It seems desirable, therefore, to include odd numbers of children in such groups as these, or to select as supplementary personnel, in addition to the one or two children for whose benefit the group is created, group mates with whom some contact has been established but no strong bonds cemented. 3. The effect of constancy and change in personnel and activities. If it is thought advisable at the inception of a group to permit tbe children who need the group most to bring with them special friends, a shift in group personnel after a few meetings may be considered. After three or four meetings, for example, during which the membership of the group has been kept stable, the "special friend" might be included in a trip away from the center, and a substitute be invited to take his place in the small playgroup. This kind of manipulation helps the timid child to expand his social contacts and also offers him the benefits of a greater variety of relationships which he may utilize as his development proceeds. As an example of the effectiveness of this type of shift, we might cite our experience with Teddy,9 a child who presented a notable combination of timidity, bewilderment, regression, and aggression. When Teddy was first invited to participate in the special play group, he was permitted to bring with him Sally, the first child who had shown any acceptance of him and one to whom he was very much attached. Toward Sally, Teddy was by turns ingratiating and aggressive, and her attitude toward him fluctuated between seduction and rejection. The other members of the group were Donnie and Rex, both virtually inseparable companions. During the first meeting, Teddy, as usual, stayed close to Sally and behaved toward her as he customarily did when they playec in the larger group. However, he did develop a bit of dramatic play in relation to the adult observer, toward whom he was aggressive at times but whom he used also as the "mother" 5. For a fuller account of Teddy see Hartley, Growing through Play.

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PLANNED PLAY GROUPS

to his own role of "baby." At this time, the most important a s pect of the group for Teddy seemed to be the accessibility of the adult and her willingness to facilitate his "baby" play. This was the most notable development of dramatic play so far seen in Teddy's behavior. The next meeting, involving Sally and another child, Julie, brought forth on Teddy's part a bit of "father" play in relation to some household activity initiated by Sally. But while Teddy identified himself as "daddy," he also identifie4 with a doll who was being used as the baby and was in fact given his name. In both of these sessions, the advance in Teddy's play was very slight, merely hinting that he might be able to develop a situation dramatically (as he had not been observed to do before). In both meetings the adult was virtually monopolized by more assertive children, in the first meeting by Donnie, and in the second, by Julie. Although Teddy made a few feeble overtures toward contact with the adult, he was obviously outclassed by the more a s sertive children, and having Sally available he played with her rather than attempt closer contact with the adult. However, the full significance of Sally's presence was not apparent until the day when she was absent, and Teddy was invited to play with Julie and another little girl. During this meeting, Teddy developed fully both his aggressive and "baby" roles, not only behaving in spontaneous fashion, but also taking a dominating role against the adult, and becoming an initiator of activity—with Julie who was usually the leader, following his suggestions. Although Julie made very strong bids for attention of the adult, Teddy could compete with her successfully. Ordinarily, Teddy followed the lead of Sally in their mutual play, but he had also been playing with Julie in the larger group. Now that Sally was absent, he was forced to use his relationship with Julie and was able in addition to approach the adult persistently and directly. It is probably significant that in the two previous meetings of the play group, Teddy had seen Donnie and Julie make very aggressive and dominating approaches to the adult without being reproached for them. It may be that Teddy needed this experience before he could venture to indicate his own desires in the same direction. The combination, however, of the absence of Sally, his principal play resource, and the presence of Julie, who acted as a catalyst for his own aggressive impulses, stepped up Teddy's play to intensities it had never reached before. A review of the development of Teddy's play during the first four meetings of his special play group is decidedly suggestive of

PLANNED PLAY GROUPS

11

what the combination of a simplified milieu and a good choice of play companions can do for a very inhibited and confused child. During the first meeting, Teddy did very little in the way of constructive play while the other two boys were present. After they left, however, he developed a "baby" role with the help of the adult. This incident illustrates the importance of the adult's sensitivity and her willingness to permit herself to be used by the child. The following excerpt describes Teddy's play after the two more active boys had left the group: Sally didn't want to go out, saying that the observer had told her she was not to go outside. She stayed in the doll corner, and Teddy went there after her. He climbed into the carriage, had difficulty getting both feet in, so removed boot and shoe from his left foot, in order to get that foot in. He threw the boot and shoe to the floor and smiled as he crowded his foot into the carriage. The observer asked him, "Do you want to be a baby?" and he nodded yes, smiling. The observer asked Sally if she would like to be the baby's mother, but she was not interested. The observer then asked Teddy if he would like to be her baby, and have her dress him for going out. He was enthusiastic about this, and the observer turned the carriage around to wheel it out of the doll corner. He pointed to his boot, saying, "You have to pick that up for baby." The observer picked it up and gave it to him, and he immediately threw it out. As they got out of the doll corner, Teddy said, "Baby has to have a doll." The observer found him a stuffed animal. He took it, and threw it out of the carriage, saying, "Baby wants doll." The observer returned it to him. Next the observer asked, "Baby, shall I lift you out of the c a r r i a g e ? " Teddy replied "Yes," and his body was completely relaxed, his face wreathed in smiles, as the observer lifted him out and put him on a chair. As she put on his shoes and boots, jacket and hat, Teddy sat relaxed and happy. He said, "Baby wants a blanket for the doll," and reached in the carriage and got one to wrap around the animal. When he was dressed, he left the animal on the table and went to the playground, his baby role forgotten.

During the second meeting of the group which consisted of Teddy (the only boy), Sally and Julie, and another girl, Teddy developed and sustained a dramatic role longer than he had been observed to do before. Although Sally still directed the play, Teddy was able to accept the role of a father in the family constellation and to initiate a few actions in the play with dolls. He expressed some aggression toward one of the dolls, showed some curiosity about the anal region of another, and indicated a certain amount of identification with still another. The following excerpt contains most of Teddy's organized play for this period:

12

PLANNED PLAY GROUPS Teddy drifted near Sally, and they became a family unit, with Sally the mother and Teddy the father, and two dolls in the carriage as babies. They announced to the observer who they were. The observer said she heard the babies crying and asked Sally if she knew why they were doing so. Sally went off to get a can which she pretended was a bottle and fed the babies in the carriage. Sally put the 'babies" into the dolls' bed. Teddy found a rag doll (homemade, with long thin arms and legs) and asked the obs e r v e r what kind of doll it was. She replied, "Well, what kind of doll does it seem to be?" He laughed, sat on the floor and made the doll dance on his lap, saying to the observer, 'Look at this." He turned to Sally, telling her, 'We are going to have a movie on this." He shook the doll's arms, then threw the doll away, giving it a really hard thrust so that it banged against the floor and slid a bit. He laughingly said, 'Old cracki« doll." Then he took a Negro baby doll, which had its head bandaged, and said in softer voice, "Here's my little dollie. Here's a dollie." He put the doll on a bed, then took it off and turned it upside down, looking closely at the anal area, placing his finger there, too. Sally came and took the doll, saying, 'We take the dollie to the doctor." Teddy looked for another doll. This one had a broken leg, and he said to Sally, 'This is broke." Sally said, "We take her too," as she busily put the doll in the carriage and got a cover. Looking at the two dolls that she had previously put in bed, she said to Teddy, "Let those dolls go to sleep, Teddy." Teddy pointed to one of the dolls in the bed and asked Sally, "Who's this?" Sally answered, "That's Teddy." Teddy then sat on the floor next to the bed and touched the dolls. Sally pointed to the other doll in the carriage, saying, "Here's Sally." She continued to point to all the dolls in the corner, naming them. One she named Ariel, after another child in the group. Finding a hammer, Teddy asked Sally, "Should I feed h e r ? " as he went to the carriage and gently tapped one of the doll's feet, then its stomach. Then he gave the hammer to Sally, who put it in the purse she was carrying. Teddy and Sally started eating some candy pills. Teddy asked Sally, "Should I give her some?" referring to one of the dolls. He pretended to feed a doll a pill, then popped it into his own mouth; then repeated this with another doll. To Sally he said, as he sucked the candy, "I like them; they're peppermint." Sally sat down on one of the beds and Teddy pointed to one of the dolls, asking her, 'Who's this, right here?" Sally answered, "That's Teddy." Teddy pointed to another doll and said, "Here's Sally." Sally smiled. Then Teddy asked Sally, "Are you going to eat all of them up?* (referring to the candy pills). He got up, took an empty bottle from a shelf and put into it some pills that he had in his hand. Then he and Sally exchanged more pills, and Teddy sat on the floor, putting a handful of pills on the floor and taking them, one by one, to put in the bottle.

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13

Sally said to the dolls, in a harsh commanding tone, "Wake up." She pretended to put a pill in the mouth of each doll, then ate one herself. Teddy, with his back to Sally, asked her, "Is Teddy a bad boy?" The observer at this session noted that Teddy seemed to be m o r e aware of the children in the group than he had been in the f i r s t meeting, and more anxious to participate in the play. She also observed that, although he never initiated any of the d r a matic play, he was more active in following suggestions and showed m o r e awareness of the adult who was present. The third meeting, which took place one week later, showed an amazing flowering on Teddy's part. This was the meeting during which Sally was absent. Julie definitely set the tone by including Teddy in her play: After the special toys were brought out, Julie grabbed a knife and stated, "I want Teddy to get a knife like mine.* When Teddy got the knife he threatened, "I am going to cut off someone's head I" The observer asked, "Whose head are you going to cut o f f ? " Teddy did not answer but went over to her and pretended to cut off her head, brandishing the knife. Then he shouted gleefully, "I am going to cut off your head." When the observer offered Teddy a nursing bottle and asked, "Who wants to be a baby today?" Teddy declined and elected a more assertive role, "I want to be a policeman," and appropriated the badge and handcuffs to implement his role. Again he attacked the adult with his rubber knife and put her in jail. When Julie, a very aggressive little girl whom the other children feared, threatened to interfere with his play by enabling the adult to escape from jail, Teddy attacked Julie and pulled her to the floor. After releasing the adult from jail, he proceeded to "cut her up" with his rubber knife, and grew so excited that he had to be reminded to be careful. The reminder was needed a second time, and at each reminder he showed a need to deny his own intentions, once even leaving the play to look out of the window and again by pretending that the knife was a ball. He knew it up in the air while saying, "This is a rubber ball. Just a rubber ball." When the observer started to talk with the new child in the group, Teddy joined in and talked casually about his "mommy," and about his waking her up in the morning and walking home with Julie while his mother talked to her mother. Next he invited himself into some household play with the girls, assuming the role of milkman. Only after Julie took on the role of baby did Teddy decide that he would be a "baby" too, and this time he continued the baby role longer than during the first meeting, and elaborated it with the help of the observer.

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During his baby play, it became obvious that two aspects of babyhood were important to Teddy, the feeding with the bottle and having the adult give him things and do things for him such as picking up his toys. Although he could accept a child in the mother role for a short time, he indicated that it was not very satisfactory and asked the adult to assume the mother role. He played out both his hostility to adults and his extreme dependence on them with much greater intensity than before. The fourth meeting showed further development in the pattern of his play. Again he took advantage of the situation to play out his aggression toward adults but this time he gave some hint of the basis for it. Three times he accused the observer, whom he had put in jail and attacked, of stealing a little boy away from his mother. (Teddy had had to make drastic adjustments to three different adults who cared for him in the course of his short life.) He showed, however, that he was not yet ready to go beyond this expression of his fantasies by striking the observer when she asked where the little boy lived. After this episode, he joined in some play started by Julie and again he spontaneously initiated his role and developed it in accordance with the needs of the play situation, indicating an awareness of the intention of others and an ability to adapt to them. When later he accepted very briefly the daddy role assigned him by Julie he could not sustain it. This is not strange since Teddy had had no contact with a father figure after he was ten months old. Once more he attacked the adult, shooting her with a water pistol and locking her up, this time with the aid of Julie, who had her own reasons for disliking grown-ups. However, immediately after the attack, he retreated into the doll corner and became a "baby" again. He ended the session on a note of aggression, insisting, when Julie suggested that they stop shooting the observer with water, "No, l e t ' s get her wet." During this session, Teddy definitely cemented his relationship with Julie and showed that he could adapt to her needs and also defy her when her needs did not coincide with his. It was clear that Teddy's primary problem revolved about his intense hostility toward adults and his equally pressing need of them. The pattern of Teddy's development during these special play sessions is doubly significant in view of the fact that he had access to the same children in the larger group. There, however, he apparently could not mobilize his energies in the integrated and directed pattern he displayed in the smaller group. Another little boy, Donnie, who was probably more directly responsible for the initiation of the special play group program

PLANNED PLAY GROUPS

15

than any other child, well illustrates the value of planned play and the need to vary the group in keeping with the requirements of growth.® He was so consistently victimized by more aggressive children and in general so repeatedly discouraged by the interference of active and vigorous children with whom he could not cope, that his attempts at working out his problems through dramatic play were frustrated over and over again. Donnie's principal difficulties, from the teachers' point of view, were his inability to defend himself against the attacks of other children and a noticeable girlishness which did not augur well for his future development. Donnie had succeeded in forming one close and persistent friendship in the group, with Rex, a much m o r e vigorous child who had his own problems. Rex served Donnie to some extent by protecting him against other aggressors but, in turn, exacted his own price for this by frequently teasing and frustrating Donnie himself. The tentative objective in forming a play group for Donnie was to help him to assume more vigorous and masculine roles and to extend his play roles into real life if possible. In the course of a year's experience in the nursery school group, Donnie's behavior changed very slowly and undramatically. He was not interested in working with any materials until near the end of his stay in the group. The principal changes that came about were related to his playmates and his attitudes toward his teachers. At the beginning, he played mostly with girls, but after development of the friendship with Rex, he ignored girls to a great extent. He substituted "wild and aimless" running around with Rex for household play in the doll corner. Gradually, also, he became less submissive to adults and progressively more aggressive toward them in a playful way. He continued to be consistently preoccupied with two themes in his play: controlling "wild animals" and making "hideouts" where he and Rex could take refuge and exclude the other children. At the beginning, Donnie was very fearful of messy materials and "self-conscious about keeping clean." It was known that his mother put p r e s s u r e on him to remain clean and neat and that he was very conscious of her attitude. At the end of the year in the group, he was able to enjoy water-play and could experiment with colors in fingerpainting. Although his relationship with children did not show much improvement and he continued to be fearful of aggressive attacks, he seemed to enjoy himself more, was less submissive, and, in general, seemed more relaxed. 6. See Hartley, Frank, and Goldenson, op. clt., pp. 85-91.

16

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Rex served to stimulate Donnie to "wild" activity, such as dumping the covers of the dolls' bed on the floor or racing around the room, which he had not undertaken by himself. Rex also served as Donnie's agent in activities in which Donnie himself could not yet join but toward which he was impelled. In such activities, Donnie would remain on the side lines and direct Rex, who was participating. Donnie's behavior in the special play groups showed two suggestive types of development: a development within each session, and a progressive pattern which emerged in the course of the whole series of sessions. During the first meeting the special group consisted of Donnie, Rex, Sally and Teddy, and two adults, one of whom was preoccupied with taking records. The group promptly broke into two subgroups which had very little contact with each other, with Donnie devoting himself to Rex and one of the adults. Rex chose the dominating role of policeman, took the policeman's badge, and gave Donnie a gun with the announcement, "This is your gun and I am the cop." Donnie resisted and said, "No," went to the suitcase to find a stethoscope and announced, "I'm a doctor." He examined the adult in fairly realistic fashion, and 'when she asked, "Am I very sick?" he answered, "Yea, everybody is too sick."

This statement of Donnie's may be especially significant for the boy because his mother was overanxious about his health and he himself was subject to a number of allergies. When questions came up—as the play continued—about sharing of materials which Donnie was using, the adult was inclined to protect Donnie by suggesting ways in which the material could be shared without interfering with Donnie's immediate use of them. Donnie submitted to Rex in the latter's role of policeman, allowed himself to be handcuffed and placed in jail, but he had enough initiative to ask the adult to release him. Then he picked up a water pistol, filled it, and, saying " F i r e , " he pointed it at one of his teache r s . But he went to the turtle bowl and squirted the water into that.

Note the extreme restraint of aggressive expression here. Following this, Donnie made his first approach to one of the other children: As Teddy picked up the stethoscope, Donnie came to him and said, "Let me try. I'm sick." He put his hand to his throat and sat down in a chair. Teddy, however, was not ready to respond, and Donnie turned back to Rex, looked for another pistol, and shouted, "Where's the other gun, Rex? I'm so stupid and I am going to shoot myself."

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17

Again it is significant that Donnie's spontaneous approach to another child was through a situation suggesting s i c k n e s s , a p parently an area with which Donnie was much concerned but which had not found expression in his ordinary play in the group. Note too that Donnie at this point could not shoot anyone e l s e , and, s i n c e he felt like "shooting," he himself was his only p o s s i ble target. Having found a gun, he threatened Rex and the teacher with ' a shower' but did not carry out his threats. Next he courageously demanded the role of policeman and "locked up" the adult s u p e r visor. When Rex started to quarrel with Donnie, the adult suggested that Donnie in his role of policeman put Rex in jail. Rex agreed but soon broke away, and Donnie was helplessly frustrated and angry. Then he found a smaller child in another group and imprisoned her. When the adult released her, he insisted on putting the recorder in jail, then went to the other adult and told her he would have to lock her up, too. After that he released the recorder. Spying a dagger on the table, he several times repeated the enthusiastic announcement, "I found a knife." Then he returned to the recorder and very harshly insisted she would have to go into jail again, to stay a long time—even overnight—and added that he would not help her get the sand out of her eyes when the sandman came. However, when she asked if she would have anything to eat, he directed Rex to feed her. Next he approached Sally for the f i r s t time during the session and threatened to "pinch" her with a pair of pliers. Next he turned to pinch the straps of Teddy's overalls with the pliers. It i s interesting to note that even after having proved h i s power against the adults, he was not f r e e to be openly and d i r e c t ly a g g r e s s i v e , though he was freer than he had been e a r l i e r in the s e s s i o n when his a g g r e s s i v e move had been deflected toward the turtles rather than the t e a c h e r s . Once more he returned to the recorder to tell her, "I am going to make you nervous and I won't let you out for a long time." Then, finding a hammer, he shouted "Bang bang," as he pretended to strike her. When she joined in the play by saying, "You make me nervous," and pretended to cry, he continued to make loud banging noises and to swing the hammer. When she objected to his command that she get up and run, and said, "I'm tired and cannot run," he smiled at her and said, "I want to see you run." At this point he was diverted by Rex, and the session came to an end. It s e e m e d quite clear from this s e s s i o n that Donnie was p r e occupied with a conflict between his numerous hostile i m p u l s e s directed toward adults and his need to r e s t r a i n these i m p u l s e s .

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It seemed likely from the sequence of events that took place during this session that his fear of children and his inability to defend himself, that is, to strike out against them, were connected with his hostility toward adults and his inability to exp r e s s it effectively. In other words, he seemed to assume that he was licked before he started in aggressive competition, and this assumption seemed to be connected with his own feelings toward adults. It was known that his mother frequently made him cry and considered him "stubborn." It seems logical, then, to assume that Donnie would not be able to sustain adequate r e lationships with his peers until he had been able to express some of the hostility which he harbored against adults in a fairly direct fashion. At this point, other children did not seem to be what Donnie needed, but rather a chance to express himself with grown-ups without interference. Working on this assumption, the next group meeting in which Donnie participated was planned for Donnie, Rex (Sally and Teddy were to participate in a differently constituted group), and one other small boy, who was fairly spontaneous but not overaggressive. Mrs. C., the same adult who had supervised the f i r s t session, was present at all subsequent sessions. This time Donnie was asked whom he would like to play with, and he chose Rex. When it was suggested that perhaps a third child could be included and he was asked if he would like to have a little girl join, he said "No" very emphatically, but agreed to Philip, the third child mentioned above. Again Donnie chose f i r s t to play with the stethoscope and insisted that Mrs. C. be the patient. However, he soon lost interest and turned to the telephone. At this point Rex wandered toward him and he shouted, "Get out of here" in a very domineering fashion. He told Philip to "get out," and when Philip began to toy with the handcuffs, Donnie ordered him to leave them alone. Next he pounced on a nursing bottle and went to the bathroom to fill it. When Mrs. C. tried to help him fill the bottle he cautioned, "Please be careful" and indicated that she had better lean over the basin so that "water would not spill all over." Then he picked up a small, empty cold cream jar, filled this with water, and carrying both jar and bottle he returned to the play space. After a little boastful and boisterous Interchange with Rex, and a brusque command, "Give me those handcuffs," to Philip, he sucked the nursing bottle. Then, pointing to the cold cream jar, he remarked, "Look It. It's all mired," and put a finger in the water and tasted it. When Mrs. C. asked him if he was a doctor, he spoke his annoyance belligerently, "A policeman. What do you think I a m ? " His tone continued domineering and belligerent as he told Mrs. C., "Ah, be quiet" and ordered Philip, "Now take these things away."

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19

Next he pinned a policeman's badge on his shirt, strapped a holster with a gun on his waist, picked up the handcuffs, and drank from the bottle. Rex looked up and said, 'You are a baby, Donnie," and Donnie retorted, "No, I am not,* took the pistol out of the holster, pointed it in Rex's direction and shouted, "Bang, bang." Every time Philip touched something, Donnie told him to "put it down" or "let it go." Rex, sensing Doimle's possessiveness, threatened, "I am going to steal everything you have." With a whine, Donnie countered, "I'll hit you over the head," flourished the handcuffs at Rex, but did not get near enough to touch him. Instead he turned to Philip and put the handcuffs on him. (Note Donnie's substitution of a weaker individual as the ob]ect of hostility which had been aroused by a stronger person.) Then, turning to the bottle once more, Donnie sucked it for a while, unscrewed the lid of the Jar, and began to rub water taken from it on his chest, declining Mrs. C. 's offer to help. Shortly after this, Philip, having gathered some toys together on a table, came to tell the recorder there had been an accident and that he had to call the cops. Donnie interrupted to shout at Philip, "I am the cops, don't you know? You don't have no pistol, no badge, no handcuffs.' Philip, however, continued to talk about the "accident," repeating, "call the cops," and Donnie repeatedly interrupted to insist, "I am the cops." When Philip finally fell In with this idea and began to tell Donnie about the accident, Donnie lost interest... At this point Rex began to interfere, taking Donnie's precious jar away. Donnie ran after him and attacked him, but Rex triumphed after striking Donnie very hard three times; Donnie did not retaliate. When Rex grabbed the handcuffs, Donnie very angrily pounced on him, hanging on and fighting. Again, Rex won and ran off with the handcuffs. In a little while, Donnie managed to grab the cuffs back, and when Rex invited him to join in a telephone conversation, his response was, "Aw, you be quiet." Grabbing the water bottle, Rex said to Donnie, "I'll put water on you," and Donnie grabbed another and countered, "I'll put ink on you." However, when Rex actually attacked Donnie by pressing the bottle against his neck, Donnie went suddenly helpless. Then, following a suggestion from Mrs. C., Donnie got the water pistol, pursued Rex and taunted him but did not actually shoot the water at him. Whereas Donnie had earlier used the cold cream jar, which he seemed to regard as some sort of magical instrument, as a medicine container, he told the recorder that It was a "policeman's thing" and in his quarrel with Rex waved it as if he expected it to produce some magical effect. When Rex grasped the jar and waved it at Donnie, Donnie ran for protection to Mrs. C. and avenged himself on Rex by tearing up paper with which Rex had been playing. He could not accept Mrs. C.'s suggestion that, since he was the policeman, he could do something to Rex for disturbing the peace. He only whined at Rex and asked for his jar.

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After Donnie's preoccupation with adults during the first s e s sion, his lack of concern with them in this session is notable. He had become very much more aggressive verbally, able at least to try to fight back when he was attacked by Rex and only giving up when Rex actually demonstrated that he was the stronger of the two. In the session just recorded, we get a hint of the quality of Donnie's "magical" thinking. We note that he assigns great powers to inanimate objects like the jar and the policeman's "props." He apparently feels endowed with power when he has possession of the badge, handcuffs, and pistol; the power does not seem to reside in himself but rather in the external things, and when he loses possession of them, he seems lost. It is evident that Donnie needs to be convinced not only that it is permissible for him to show open resentment against attack, but also that he can be effectual in counterattack. The hopeful sign in this session is Donnie's ability to take a dominating role when not threatened and his comparative freedom in retaliating against Rex when he interfered. During the next session of the same group, a girl and Jay, a rather aggressive little boy, were brought into the group toward the end of the session. Donnie poured water on the table, saying something about, "so that everyone can break their neck by wetting the floor." For a while he continued to wet the table and wipe it with paper towels, and then turned to some pots in the doll corner and began to pour water from one to the other. Rex joined him in the water-play, and at the suggestion of Mrs. C., Donnie pretended to be cooking with "chocolate milk." When Mrs. C. asked if she could have some, he said, "No, I am going to spill it and make a nice cake, and then I'm going to m e s s up the whole house" (the first overt statement Donnie had made concerning his feelings about messing, contrary to his previous resistance to anything unclean.) Though Donnie began to wipe up the m e s s he had made, he did not object to Rex's spilling water on the floor but joined him in enthusiastic mopping-up operations. Then he began to laugh excitedly but mirthlessly, "Ha, ha, ha, we don't get wet." Rex broke up the play by attacking Donnie and then began a running game which involved the whole length of the room. At this point, the recorder brought out two large buffets dressed as women, and the children grabbed them enthusiastically. Donnie threw his up in the air, shouting, "Wanna see me slide in the air. ladies and gentlemen?" Announcing, "We must be witches," he threw his buffet on the floor, and added, "Hey, I'm a witch." After some play with the buffet during which the other children came in and were permitted to handle the buffets, Donnie turned to Mrs. C. with a smile and asked, "That isn't going to turn real?* Reassured

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21

that the buffet would not 'turn real," Donnie grabbed It again. Apparently, the boys equated the buffets with puppets, for they announced that they would give a play. When Donnie was asked, "What are you?" he responded, "I am, I am, I am...," threw the buffets down on the floor, and, almost in relief, finished, "that's what I am." Once more he threw the buffet down and announced, "I hit the lady." But when Rex banged his buffet against the floor, Donnie objected", "Don't; you're hurting the lady." Next, the boys decided to use the buffets as if they were balls. They threw them up in the air, kicked them, and banged them against the screen. Obviously, however, the human character of the buffet was not overlooked when Donnie remarked, "Come on, you stupid lady, what are you doing?" After banging his buffet on the floor some more, Donnie asked Mrs. C. to put the buffet's dress on him. When she complied, he held the buffet's head in front of his own, and walked around smiling. A little later the session was terminated.

Donnie's buffet play gives us clues to his problems. His fear that the buffets might turn into real people and his obvious dependence on props suggest that he has not yet developed clearly defined boundaries between reality and fantasy. This leads him to fear his own feelings and thoughts, since he cannot be expected to differentiate between what he wants to do and what he actually does. This fear is accentuated because he judges others by what he himself feels. For example, if he should feel overwhelmingly angry at another person, the force of his own anger would be frightening to him because he would have no way of knowing how the other person might feel toward him or might behave toward him. He could only assume that the other person felt the way he did and expect retaliation in the ways that he himself would be impelled to behave. Donnie's assumption of the character of the buffet gives us another hint concerning the way in which he managed his own feelings and his relationships. In this case he became what he had previously injured. In a sense, this was a denial of his intentions, since no one would expect him to treat himself as he treated the buffet. One would expect Donnie, then, to be afraid of the effect that releasing his hostile impulses would create, and to reaq£ t o others who aroused such impulses in him by identifying with them. If Donnie could be helped to distinguish between reality and fantasy, between feelings and behavior, between thoughts and actions, and at the same time be encouraged to do some of the things which he was afraid to do, without incurring retaliation, he might be helped to become a more effectual person.

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At the next meeting, some pipes were introduced into the kit of toys f o r the f i r s t time: Both Donnie and Rex immediately pounced on the pipes, pretended to fill them with tobacco, and sat sucking on them. When Mrs. C. said, "You look like real big men,* it was Donnie who promptly r e plied, "We are." Pipe in mouth and talking out of the corner of his mouth, Donnie said, "This is the way we do." He continued to talk out of the corner of his mouth in a low, gruff voice, fast and inaudibly. He appeared to be enjoying himself very much, while Rex could only sit and watch. It is important to note that Rex initiated the pipe smoking while Donnie took his c u e s f r o m him, but that it was Donnie who c a r r i e d through the impersonation. And it was a definite triumph f o r Donnie to be able to r e t a i n possession of his pipe although Rex wanted it. Led by Rex, they both lay down on doll beds and pretended to be smoking in bed. When Mrs. C. attempted to introduce some household play because Sally was also in the group, Donnie struck at a doll in a carriage and said, "I don't want no baby." After a considerable period of simply lying back and sucking their pipes, they arose and first Rex and then Donnie threw his pipe to the floor. Rex's broke but Donnie's did not, and this emboldened him to throw his to the floor several times. When Mrs. C. explained that it might break if thrown too hard and too often, he countered, "I didn't throw the pipe, it Just fell," or, "Oh, I Just dropped my pipe." At one point he looked out of the window and announced, "I saw a man smoking Just like us." Then, grasping a hand mirror, he tossed it to the floor, announcing, "I want to throw the pipe,* and did so. Immediately after this he said to Rex, "We are monkeys. I am the father and you are the baby." Meanwhile he continued to throw the mirror and the pipe alternately to the floor. (Apparently, Donnie still had to take refuge in a substitute role while being aggressive.) Then he said, "Let's be monkeys. This monkey wants to be a police,* as a sort of preliminary to his declaration, "I must throw the mother's pipe out.* (Any hostile Intention toward a mother person required double fortification for Donnie.) Following this, the play was in some way switched so that Rex was taking the mother role, and Donnie that of the baby. Donnie would not give up his monkey role, for after a few moments he announced to Mrs. C., "Gorilla in a monkey cage. I must get the mommle. I am the gorilla.* When he said to Rex, "I made pee on the floor, mommie," Rex took no notice, so Donnie added, "You know, monkeys make yellow pees.* It s e e m s c l e a r that the monkey role s e r v e d Donnie a s a r e f u g e or a s a disguise when he wished to do something that he was

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convinced would not be approved by the mother figure who was apparently always in his thoughts. Since the first transgression —throwing the mother's pipe to floor—was permitted, he went to a more basic "suppressed desire*—"peeing on the floor." This is especially noteworthy in view of Donnie's avoidance of messy materials and his insistence on keeping himself clean. It is probably allied to the fact that during the previous week's s e s sion he cautioned Mrs. C. not to spill any water. There may, of course, be a more basic connection between his feelings about "peeing," his hostilities, and his being afraid to be himself. This is suggested by clinical studies of other children whose symptoms and family situation resemble those of Donnie. Donnie and Rex next decided to go on a picnic, at which they began to play with the buffets again. Rex put his down in a chair, but Donnie threw his up in the air and ridiculed it with, 'What a funny nose, what funny hair.* When Mrs. C. suggested that buffets might be used in place of people as guests at the picnic, Donnie refused and suggested, "Let's throw them out of the window." Tossing his up in the air again, he said, "I want to cut off this woman's nose. It's no good." Next he remarked, "I can fly in the air—a nice lady, but I don't think she is so beautiful." When Mrs. C., fearful that the buffets would come apart as the boys tossed them around, suggested these might be used in some other way, both boys went behind a screen and began to use their buffets as puppets, and sang out loud. Then they asked to have the buffets draped over them as during the previous session. Donnie reassured the recorder, "Don't be afraid of us. We're funny men," picked up a toy lamb and threw it vigorously to the floor, saying "Pup" as it hit the floor. Then, quickly changing his voice, he cooed, "Heh, my little lamb." Removing the buffet, he began to fuss with its ears and said, "See those floppy ears. I hate them. I hate them." As both boys swung the buffets around, Donnie chanted, "I hate them, I hate them." After a while they pretended to give a show outside the window, compared their buffets, and Donnie announced, "This one starts to fall and fell out of the window," as he threw the buffet over the portable screen to the floor. Again he threw the buffet and said, "and he falls out." At the end of the session, Donnie ran from Mrs. C. and gave up his buffet only after several suggestions that the toys be put away. The pattern developed within this session is fairly clear and quite different from that developed in previous sessions. F i r s t Donnie used Rex, the more masculine and determined child, for identification, following him in the use of the pipe. In each case, however, when Rex initiated an activity, Donnie elaborated it and carried on after Rex had lost interest. Using the pipe as a prop

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for his impersonation of a "strong individual," he turned to fantasy, the monkey role, to express thoughts and feelings that he apparently could not express in his own being. Following this successful venture, when the buffets were again available, he used them to bring the stream of his feeling more directly toward its probable original object—the mother figure in his life. At this time he could sustain aggressive action without denial or excuses for a longer time than in any previous session but he still needed the refuge of fantasy roles, i.e., the big man, the monkey. He had to reassure himself concerning his own strength before he could reveal his infantile desires and primitive impulses. During the fifth play session, parts of past patterns were r e enacted with one more addition—Donnie was able to defy Rex and to act out, with a peer, an imaginary battle which he won: When the session began, Donnie seized first the handcuffs and then the knife although he had previously asked if he could play with the turtle. He called his knife a 'hatchet* and when Rex corrected him, he told him off in these words, "You call yours what you want; I'll call mine a hatchet." Fortified with his weapons, Donnie proceeded to "cut off" both Mrs. C.'s hands and smilingly announced, "Cut your head off." He repeated this, put the knife and handcuffs in his pocket, and turned away. A little later he announced, "We're young policemen" and again began to cut Mrs. C.'s hands off, and after this "atrocity" turned tenderly to a turtle which he carried in a box. When Mrs. C. helped Donnie put on a bow tie, which had become part of the play equipment, she said, "You look just like a real daddy," and he answered, "Just like Rex." (Donnie did not have a real daddy, obviously, he was using Rex as a strong individual to imitate, much as boys use their daddies.) Rummaging among the toys, Donnie asked, "Where's funny face?" (meaning the buffet). When he found it he began to cut at its neck with his knife. A little later, Donnie helped Rex (at the latter's request) to open a pair of handcuffs; having done so, he threw them to the floor and said, "I am not going to worry about these old handcuffs." Rex threw the tie he was wearing to the floor, and Donnie followed suit and suggested, "Let's go hunting and kill the fox." With only the knife as his prop (apparently not needing more), he and Rex engaged in some desultory "hunting" and further aggressive handling of the buffets. Then Donnie went to the doll corner, picked up a piece of fur to put around his neck and said, "He is so delicious." Then he lay down on the floor, squirming around on his back, moving arms and legs in rhythm to the tune he was singing loudly. He explained, "This is a police doing funny stuff." Rising, he readjusted the fur around his neck, took the buffet under his

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25

arm, and swung away In a writhing, snakelike fashion. Then he pitched a stuffed animal at Rex, without provocation, and holding out his buffet, said, "See the baloney. That boy, he knocked me down." Dropping to the floor, he rolled around with the buffet in his arms. Then he reached for his knife and saying, "Cut off these noses," he worked at the buffet's nose. He did the same to another buffet. After that he climbed on a shelf and said, "I am the biggest man in the world," and began to throw things all over, including the buffets. Next he seemed to be following Rex in some play, found a knife, and stopped to say to Mrs. C., "I must cut you." Tugging at her wrists and then reaching to her cheeks, he added, "I must cut the other side for my lunch." When Mrs. C. asked him, "Do you think it will be good to eat?" he answered, "I am a hunter and I must." After this both boys began to play Superman, and during the play Donnie bit his tongue so that it bled. His chin trembled and his own eyes watered, but he did not cry. Instead, he followed the observer's suggestion that he rinse his mouth with cold water, and he became fascinated by the color when he spat the water out of his mouth. Shortly afterward he imitated Rex In a spitting session in the bathroom, during which the boys took mouthfuls of water and spat them on the floor and into the basins. When Donnie left the session to Join other children, it was discovered that he had carried the knife away in his pocket. In this session, we see that Donnie equated the adult on the scene with the buffet, and also with animals to be hunted. In other words, when he is playing hunter, he is really doing to adults what he would like to do but cannot do in his usual role. For the first time his behavior suggests that he is beginning to see the possibility of being able to handle the aggression of his peers. Characteristically, he expresses this fairly strongly in fantasy, with only a slight suggestion of this feeling appearing in his casual relations with real people. Since Donnie had paid less and less attention to Rex as the sessions went on, it was deemed appropriate at this point to leave Rex out of the following sessions and introduce other children who could play cooperatively with Donnie and without overwhelming him with their aggression. During the next session, therefore, only Donnie and another small boy were present with the adults. During this session, Donnie seemed to depart s o m e what from fantasy to acknowledge that he enjoyed doing certain things and would do them if he wished. He spent the whole s e s sion in water-play, beginning, characteristically, in a disguised manner, identifying with his mother and doing the kind of things he had seen her do with water.

26

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However, during this household type of play, he announced his real intentions by saying, "I am going to wash them [the dishes] and get the whole place wet." He took complete command of the situation, directing both the other child and the adults present. At first, when he spilled water in the course of his dishwashing and "beermaking" activities, he excused it by saying, "an accident," and wiped it up. Meanwhile, he related several fantasies which he connected with the soapy water that he was calling "beer." These fantasies were all about breaking into places, dropping and breaking things, and taking things away from adults. He was able to accept suggestions for play that would include the other child only when they offered some logical connection with his water-play and when they permitted him to dominate the other child completely. He was able to play cooperatively only once, when he joined his companion in a fantasy of hunting "wild animals." In the course of the hour, Donnie got his clothes wet without showing any anxiety about it, and gradually dropped the mask of his dramatic role until finally he could enjoy water dripping on the floor and sing jubilantly, "Tra, tra, leaking, leaking." Until almost the end of the hour, he felt impelled to wipe up every drop of water he spilled, but finally he permitted himself to pour water deliberately on the floor without wiping it up. At the end of the hour, Donnie was reluctant to leave and insisted on one more aggressive bit of behavior before he retired from the session to join the other children. The adults who were watching Donnie's progress were somewhat frustrated by this last session. They felt they were getting nowhere because Donnie would not accept the more masculine roles they suggested for him, nor would he, at their behest, accept other children in his play. However, it was quite clear that Donnie had to grow considerably before he could begin to play freely with others. Actually, this last session showed him in the process of becoming a more honest little boy—honest with himself as well as with others—and he could do this only after he discovered that there was nothing to fear when he was honest. It is also clear that once he had expressed the diffuse aggression he apparently had been struggling with, he was f r e e to begin to enjoy himself. This enjoyment took place on a very elementary level, mainly through sensations relating to touch and the muscle senses. Without knowing anything about his previous training except for the few bits of information about his mother's emphasis on cleanliness and neatness, we might guess from Donnie's own

PLANNED PLAY GROUPS

27

behavior that he had been frustrated in his attempts to explore the world in the elementary ways (sucking, touching, and handling) that a child uses when he f i r s t begins to move out toward his environment. From this concept of his previous experience, which is based on the pattern of behavior he showed during these play sessions, and from what we know in general of the course of children's development under given circumstances, we should expect Donnie to need a long period of sensory gratification before being ready to participate fully in relationships with other children. The next play session corroborated this impression. Again Rex was absent, but Sally and Teddy were present with Donnie. Again it was clear that Donnie's pleasure was now more important to him than his hostility against adults. Except for a very brief incident toward the end of the session, Donnie did not attack the adults at all, nor did he wish to play with the buffets. Instead, he showed the importance of the previous week's session for him by saying to the recorder at the very beginning of this one, "Remember the w a t e r ? " This time, Donnie went one step further in his gratification and began to suck water out of the nursing bottle. In this he followed the lead of Sally and Teddy, both of whom enjoyed infantile activities. He also continued to expose some of his fantasies which frequently related to being powerful. For example, at one point he told this story in a very loud voice: "I got nine turtles, snap turtles. I can handle them like no one else can. They snap at people and only I can handle them." He indulged in more water-play, taking up where he had left off. He did not have to pretend to be doing something useful, but frankly enjoyed the spilling of water and getting wet. After ending this water play in a climax of spitting the water deliberately on the bathroom floor, he tried to indicate to the observer one of the real problems he was facing. As might be expected, he was very indirect but he was able to bring into the play session something related to his real life situation. He began to talk on the telephone, using two voices, one talking gibberish in a high nasal tone, as if it were coming over the wire, and the other normal, but very loud. He occasionally yelled, "That's not the way you talk on the telephone." Once he said something that sounded like, "I am going to call my pa," and, "Then I will talk to you tomorrow on the phone. I will ring you back again. I'm going out to work." He was preoccupied with the phone for a long time, recurrently yelling, "Shut up" after he pretended it had rung. He showed considerable preoccupation

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with, and aggression toward, the fantasied person who made it ring. His feelings were revealed by such phrases as, "Ring, ring better not ring any more. Makes me nervous hell." Then he engaged Mrs. C. in conversation: 'Guess who is coming on Saturday?" Finally, after much guessing, he asserted that it was someone called "George." Following this, he turned to the phone again, continued his dialogue in two voices, and then said to Mrs. C., "Do you know why? He is a Russian man." Shortly after this he became very aggressive again and insisted on putting both adults present in jail, and cutting them to pieces with his rubber knife. His teachers knew that Donnie's mother was divorced and that Donnie had been called for on several occasions by a man who was not his father. With this information, it was not too hard to understand the meaning of his behavior. He was apparently preoccupied with thoughts about a suitor of his mother who frequently called her on the telephone and wrote to her, and who was, moreover, planning to visit her. Thinking about this suitor who might become "pa" made him feel hostile, a hostility he exp r e s s e d , as we might expect, toward the women who were on the scene rather than toward his mother directly. It is regrettable that the s e r i e s of observations ends at this point. The course of Donnie's development, however, seems quite clear, and the next steps for the teachers are implied in what has happened to this point. Their effectiveness will depend in large measure on the length of time they have to work with Donnie, and the opportunities they find to manipulate their human materials in such a way as to help him achieve in reality what, at the moment, he is living only in fantasy. Aside from what Donnie has himself gained f r o m this s e r i e s of protected play sessions, his teachers have learned from them what they must help Donnie do—to accept his own hostile impulses and acknowledge his desires for sensory pleasure and exploration. It would seem well, if possible, to help Donnie clarify his feelings concerning the men in his mother's life, and Donnie is apparently ready to give his teachers openings for this. It must, of course, be done with tact, and with sensitivity to the child's ability to face his own confusions, questions, and emotions. From what they have learned through observing Donnie at play, his teache r s can also help his mother recognize and accept Donnie's need to explore and realize his own abilities to control his world. We could go on at length illustrating how each child uses such play periods to reveal himself more clearly than he feels f r e e to do in the larger group and to express needs which are choked

PLANNED PLAY GROUPS

29

off by the intrusion of other children in the group, who are also acting under the impulsion of their inner pressures. However, we have emphasized the critical importance of achieving a delicate balance of human material for optimal results, and have discussed some of the props that might be used to focus and precipitate the children's behavior. The reader should keep in mind that the play sessions described here were conducted in the same general surroundings as the larger groups and that the children had an opportunity to extend the discoveries they made about themselves in the play sessions to their relationships and participation in the group life to which they went immediately from the sessions. Some children revealed aspects of themselves in the smaller groups which were never glimpsed in the larger. With others, however, it was possible to note in their behavior in the protected s e s sions, echoes of events to which they had been exposed in the larger groups. 4. The role of the adult in planned play groups. In our own experiments with this approach, we have found that it is l e s s fruitful for the adult to be completely passive than for her to make suggestions for further play at appropriate moments when the play seems to be disintegrating. However, these suggestions have to be made with great delicacy. They must never be intrusions of what the adult would like to see the child do, but should be extensions of the child's own intent, which the child may not initiate because of the limits of his experience and conceptions. We have found that inept suggestions are usually disregarded if the adult behaves in general as a permissive and nonaggressive person. However, it is very important not to intrude suggestions when the play is in full swing, since such suggestions may i n t e r fere with the child's own productiveness. The adult must also be willing to permit the child to use her in his fantasies without responding to them in kind. In other words, if he wishes to cut her up, to destroy her, she must be able to accept this without feeling any retaliatory hostility. If she realizes that she may be used as a symbol for some significant person in the child's life at any time, it is easier for her to bear these apparent assaults against her person. Nevertheless, we did find it necessary to establish rather clear limits concerning attacks on the person of the observer. Although we did not suggest, "You may do anything you wish to do," as is rather f r e quently done in most therapeutic play sessions, we found the children responding to the general permissiveness of the atmosphere

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and to the lack of explicit control by doing more and more as they wished to do, going a step further in uninhibited play each time the experiment was successful. However, when they seemed about to attack the adult or to do serious damage, another place or another form for their activity was suggested, and they were told clearly, "I cannot let you hurt me," or, "We must not damage the room." It is interesting that even though the children were f r e e to leave these play sessions and rejoin their groups or occupy themselves with other materials in the room any time they wished to do so, in our brief experience with this procedure we did not find them doing this. When the adults played this permissive, gently guiding role the planned play groups brought to light impulses and needs in both aggressive and inhibited children not revealed directly in the larger group. In addition, for some children it proved an excellent milieu for encouraging the "living through" of experiences apparently needed but denied them in their previous history. The simplified social setting, the presence of other children who could support or stimulate them, the greater accessibility of adults, and the availability of suggestive props combined to make these sessions fruitful experiences for the children involved.

Chapter II: Miniature

Life

Toys

EVER since Anna Freud found that she could understand children better by observing their play than by talking with them, miniature life toys have been a p r e f e r r e d tool for studying the young and helping them find a way through their difficulties. Both the troubled and the untroubled a r e intrigued by these lifelike dolls and animals and by the reproductions of objects that surround them in everyday life. Almost all a r e stimulated to project their feelings and fantasies, and because of the literal nature of the toys and situations created with them, the observer has less difficulty detecting what the children a r e trying to exp r e s s than he has with less structured materials such as clay and blocks. In a word, with miniature life toys children speak their minds with special clarity. On the face of it, this medium would seem to be particularly appropriate for use in kindergartens and nursery school centers. The toys are readily obtainable, and the young child can use them for communication, expression, and relief without recourse to words. Moreover, they are so familiar and manageable that he can employ them to repeat experiences, dramatize relationships, and try out different ways of dealing with his problems. Yet, in spite of these advantages, miniature life toys are rarely included in nursery school and kindergarten equipment. One reason appears to be that they have been used so much by therapists that they are associated with the clinic rather than the school. Again, they do not stem from the tradition of creating form from the f o r m l e s s that has inspired the use of blocks, clay, and paints. A third common objection is the small size and fragility of most of these toys; and a fourth, which is harder to overcome in the school, is the fact that in their use to date each individual child has played with them in a separate room in the presence of an observer. Since the promise of miniature life toys seemed so great and the objections so formidable, we decided to explore a s fully as possible their use in groups of young children. Among the questions we had in mind were: What unique contributions could they make to the teachers' understanding of children? Could the toys be beneficial without guidance or interpretation by an adult? Do they have any harmful effects? Which ones are most productive

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and best adapted to special kinds of children? What is the best way to present them? Procedure of the Project In the course of the project, 186 records were made, describing the play sessions of a total of 79 children ranging in age from two through five years. The subjects varied widely in personality and adjustment, as in other parts of this investigation. Each child used a kit of miniature toys that included the following items: (1) People: small, flexible, plastic dolls representing family figures, dressed appropriately—mother, father, sister, brother, several babies of different sizes, maid or nurse, grandmother and grandfather. Auxiliary figures: policeman, fireman, Indian, cowboy, soldier with gun. (2) Animals: jointed snake, horse, dog, giraffe, etc. (3) Furniture: beds for adults and children, nursery furniture, including cribs, play pen, bathinette, toilet seat; high chair, carriage, toilet, bathtub, washbasin, table and four straight chairs, sofa, two armchairs, several small bowls, plates, cutlery, sink, stove. (4) Vehicles: truck with open t r a i l e r , ambulance, airplane, small car, fire truck with ladder, open boat, train engine and train car. (5) Miscellaneous: rubber knife, baby's nursing bottle with nipple, doll's nursing bottle, jar of Elastic Plastic, small squares of cloth, doghouse, several cardboard partitions or about a dozen blocks. These toys were kept in telescoping laundry cases, and all were presented together without any attempt at organization. They were available only when the observer was present, and the child was invited to play with them in a corner of the group room, cut off from the others by shelves or screens. In some centers one or two additional s e t s were usually in use for gene r a l play at the same time in order to appease the other children; in others, the sessions were planned for periods when the r e s t of the group were outdoors or in another room. The approach of the observer was in the form of a simple question, "Would you like to play with my toys today?" No pressure was used if a child refused, although sometimes an attempt was made to lure him by inviting a close friend to play. The child was told he might open the box, but if he hesitated, it was opened for him, and he was told, "Go ahead—you may play with them any way you want to." All observers were instructed to be as permissive as possible but not to allow attacks on their person or destruction of property. They gave no suggestions and offered help only when the child was obviously frustrated, as for example, in getting a

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difficult piece of clothing off a doll. In cases where the children demanded the observer's participation, it was granted but was made as noncommittal as possible, the observer remarking, "All right, what shall I do?" The frequent question, "What is this?" was usually answered, "What do you think it could b e ? " and if the child could not volunteer an answer the observer would say, "Could it be a so-and-so?" The children were also allowed to take the lead in terminating the sessions, which varied from five minutes to over an hour in length. Occasionally, a child would be unable to end the activity himself, and the observer would ask him if he wanted to join the others. One of the important things to notice was forced, compulsive play in which the youngster would sort the toys and line them up endlessly or grunt and complain about the "work." These were usually overcompliant, submissive, and uncreative children. Breakage of the toys was treated casually and reassuringly, but if it was persistent and compulsive the child was generally offered things, like paper dolls, which he could destroy at will. The observer generally took notes during the sessions, and if the child asked what she was doing, the response was simply "I am writing. I have some work to do." The records were as full and as objective as possible, including previous activities of the child, conversations with the observer, the child's movements and expressions, the choice and placing and manipulation of the toys. Comparisons were made between these records and impressions obtained from other sources, and each protocol was read aloud and discussed in detail with the teachers at a staff meeting. It was usually found that the play with miniature toys illuminated behavior of the child at other times and was in turn illuminated by it. An illustrative instance will clarify not only the way the r e c ords were used but the general approach and techniques of the observer. Harry was a four-year-old who had come to this country from South America at the age of two. His mother described him as a very good boy who helped her with his younger sister and served as her interpreter in the stores. His teachers characterized him only as unhappy and anxious, and said he could never be wholehearted or spontaneous about anything. To make him feel important and accepted, they often gave him little jobs to do such as returning leftover cookies to the kitchen; but this made no difference in his general behavior. Just before the session reported on page 34, Harry had accidentally (?) dropped

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MINIATURE L I F E TOYS

a b a r r e l on his little s i s t e r ' s head and had run into a dark and empty room to hide. Notice especially the point where he b r e a k s off to investigate outside noises, and the nature of the themes he plays out dramatically: Harry asks me, as he takes out the table: 'What's this?" I ask what he thinks it is. He answers, "A table," and puts it down. He takes the airplane out, puts it on the floor, examines it carefully, picks it up, turns the wheels with his fingers, and pushes it around some, making a slight airplane noise. He then takes out the baby in the red jumper: "This is what I have in my little sister." He puts it down and takes the snake: "This is a snake." Harry starts to take things out rapidly, one after the other, naming each one: a "dolly," car, cowboy, giraffe, Indian. He examines the Indian closely, putting his finger on the sharp part of the spear: "Oh, I don't like, this will hurt. A little man." He picks up the boy doll, tries to make him stand up, but cannot. He takes the baby in the blanket: "Oh look at the little weeny baby." He examines it, smiling, and sets it down. Harry then picks up the cowboy...picks up the figure of a woman holding a baby: "Look at this little baby." He takes the third cowboy: "Cowboy." He picks each of the dolls from the box, saying, 'Maybe this will stand; he finds that they do not, and puts them back in the box saying, "Broken." Harry takes up the snake: "The snake is going away." He places it on the floor, making almost a complete circle by putting the tail near the head. Then he starts pushing the snake along the floor, holding it by its head, and making a guttural noise, "Yaaar, yaaar." He puts the baby by the snake's head: "I see a...* (he doesn't complete the sentence). Harry picks up the cowboy with the pistol, then the Indian, and places the soldier with his gun pointing at the Indian. Tome: "What are you doing?" I explain that I am writing. He wants to know why, and I tell him it is my work, which seems to satisfy him. He picks up the girl doll, turns her upside down, looks under her dress, tries to make her stand, puts her down and picks up the mother doll. He makes the airplane run along the ground, stops it, and turns the propeller with his finger. Hearing someone in the next office, he goes to see who it is, taking the snake with him. He comes back at my invitation. "The plane is coming for the little baby. The little baby is crying. This is all broken." He picks up the baby, puts it on the wing of the airplane, then notices the snake and picks it up: "The snake is coming from the other place." He pushes the snake along the floor, holding it by its head. Coming closer and closer to the baby, Harry suddenly shouts, "It's dead it's dead." Several things were apparent in this session: the boy's great concern with babies (he commented on every baby doll in the kit); the fact that the baby was taken away by the plane and killed by a snake—during which he broke off the play, ostensibly because

MINIATURE LIFE TOYS

35

he heard a man in the next room—the use of the snake to bite the Indian, who carries a spear that "will hurt." Though corroboration is necessary, this behavior seems to indicate that the boy's feelings toward his baby sister are not the unadulterated solicitude his mother represented them to be, and that his relationship to his father troubles him deeply. Furthermore, his preoccupation with making the dolls stand up as they ought to, and the fact that he thinks they are damaged if they do not, seems to imply that things—or people—that do not do what they are supposed to are damaged or punished in some way. From these bits of behavior plus the mother's praise of his responsibility we might surmise that Harry's anxiety is connected with demands that he has difficulty in meeting at his stage of development. Two other sessions with the toys confirmed some of these hypotheses and threw further light on the boy's behavior. In one session he brandished a knife saying, "I like to kill. I like to kill anything," and almost immediately afterward made "a nice little house" out of screens and proceeded to retreat into it. This suggests a conflict between aggressive impulses and a need for the safety of a cozy place, reminiscent of the protection of babyhood. In the other session he expressed great fondness for the snake and had it bite the Indian again. However, he treated the father doll gently, putting it in bed with the boy doll. This indication of ambivalence toward his father seemed to parallel the fact that the father was too preoccupied with studying for a technical degree to be warm toward the boy, although he often rebuked his wife for being oversevere with him. The picture that emerges, then, is one of a boy who resents the loss of infantle pleasures, carries a load of responsibility anxiously, and is afraid of his quite natural tendencies toward aggression. As a consequence, his teachers stopped putting extra burdens on him and gave him opportunities for releasing his aggressive impulses. After careful consideration the parents were approached in an effort to lighten the boy's responsibilities at home and gain for him both a more childlike life and a closer relationship with his father. Flay with miniature life toys served to increase understanding of this child and led to definite constructive suggestions. However, it is important to remember that the interpretations were all highly tentative until they were checked against the facts of his history and family situation, and that they were also based upon a broad body of knowledge concerning the dynamics of ciildhood. Without these two ingredients, it is doubtful if the

36

MINIATURE LIFE TOYS

play records would have meant much to his teachers, although the sessions with the toys would still have had value in affording the boy a medium of expression. Unique Contributions of Miniature Life Toys Many teachers and administrators will ask whether the illumination offered by miniature life toys might not be obtained through activities and materials which are already part of the group program. This is undoubtedly true for many children. In fact, only about half of those observed played out a dramatic theme or displayed a recognizable pattern of behavior with the toys. The rest of the children either showed no interest at all or treated them as objects to be manipulated, stacked, flung, or destroyed. We freely admit that we cannot predict whether or not a given child will play with the toys in a manner that will prove enlightening to his teachers. In general, however, our observations indicate that anxious and withdrawn children played more fruitfully with them than did those who were habitually aggressive. As a rule, outstandingly well-adjusted children played as enthusiastically as the troubled youngsters, often more so, but the quality of their play was different. It was on the whole more consistent, continuous, and placid; it tended to reflect their daily lives more closely; and they took greater delight in the toys themselves—their small size, their color and texture, the faithfulness of their representation. Children who were having special difficulties, on the other hand, seemed to find the toys an outlet for feelings rather than a mirror for events. On the whole, they showed three different patterns: some were helpless and spent their time in endless arrangement and rearrangement; others disregarded the nature of the toys completely and used them as objects to be dropped, hurled, or macerated; still others maneuvered them violently, intent on producing catastrophe after catastrophe, often attacking them as if they represented particular objects or persons they wanted to destroy. Age, of course, made a great difference. Sustained dramatic play was found much more often after four years of age than before, and development of theme and character rarely appeared before the age of four and a half. However, even sporadic dramatic play and momentary identification supplied valuable clues to the feelings arid problems of the children. One of the most dramatic demonstrations of the unique contribution offered by miniature life toys occurred in the play of a five-year-old girl who was assigned to us for special observation.

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37

Little Letitia, a bright-eyed, self-reliant, vivacious youngster, was well liked by most of the children and was the center of a small clique of girls whom she bossed unmercifully. At nap time, however, she would sob pathetically and ask for her mother. Eventually, it was discovered that she was afraid she would die because she sucked her hair; apparently her mother had threatened her with the old tale of a hairball in the stomach. Reassurance proved of no avail; in fact, the little girl began asking whether this or that substance was poisonous. A review of her dramatic play brought to life only a persistent impersonation of a dominating mother and a consistent interest in babies. Her preoccupation with death was further attested by the fact that she frequently played a "dying" game with other children. At home, Letitia had a brother who was openly preferred by her mother. The father was away most of the time and showed little interest in the children when he was present. The mother worked full time five days a week, but kept her house spotlessly clean. In the following condensed version of Letty's first session, it is important to notice that a break in absorption occurs after the father doll has been removed from the bed and thrown on the floor. Notice, too, that the little baby is made to die after the mother has been killed several times, and that the mother is then crushed once more, and the play is abruptly terminated and significant pieces of furniture are removed. In spite of these actions, the girl doll makes repeated approaches to the mother, indicating a longing for closeness in addition to hostility and guilt. This reaction is not surprising when we consider the emotional dynamics of childhood. When Letty was invited to play, she immediately came over and inspected the household toys. She looked at the toilet, put It back, arranged kitchen chairs and table correctly, then set up the cradle. She took out the man and woman, put the man back, took him out again and 'washed" his hands in the basin. Then she put the man and woman in living room chairs. After this she set up a "Christmas t r e e , " pretended to wash clothes in the machine, put a baby in the cradle and another one in the chair. The mother's and father's beds were set up next each other; the baby's cradle was put at some distance from them. Letty then turned to the cradle and in turn picked up-«ach doll and put it on the toilet then back in its crib. Then she said, "And this chair is over here," picked up the brown chair and put it next to the red chair and moved the red chair to the tub. She put the mother on the red chair and the baby in the tub and said, "Mommy wash the baby." She turned on the shower bath, manipulated it, making noises like water, then said "Turn off the shower," and "Now Mommy washes the baby.* The father was

38

MINIATURE LIFE TOYS then removed from the bed and dropped on the floor. She picked up the tub unit, held it up to Elmo, who was sitting on the shelves in back of her, and said with a smile, 'Elmo, look at it—a tub*... Letty turned to the box of dolls, spied the girl doll, said as she picked it up, "A little girl. Where is she supposed to be sleeping? I see now." She put the girl doll on what had been the mother's bed. She put the father in the next bed, then took him off and threw him on the floor. Then she turned to the observer and took a small bottle out of her pocket, showing it to the observer, saying that her mother had given it to her and it was perfume. She tipped it, applied it to her ear. She picked up the ambulance and the truck, took them out, took the mother doll, put her in front of the truck, shoved it over her several times, said, "In the ambulance," and pushed the ambulance around making siren noises. She put the mother doll on top, carried her to the bed, put her in it, and said, "Can't get up." She picked up the girl doll, put her next the mother for a moment, then replaced her in the next bed, saying, "Now here is the little girl going to eat," set up the red table again, put the girl doll next to it and fed her, then said, "Mommy's all better." Letty placed the woman doll on the truck, said, "She's going to work, she's going to drive the car. Beep, beep." She pushed the truck and the ambulance so that the truck crashed into the ambulance and both turned over, the mother doll falling out. She said, "Where's the ambulance?" then got it and crashed them together again so that the mother doll fell out, said, "She never can get up." She put this doll in the truck again and again made it turn over, dumping the mother out. She put the mother in the bed and the little girl in the car, saying, "Girl goes to work." Then she crashed the truck and the ambulance again and said, "Crashes in car and she dies," put the girl back in the truck and brought her back to the bed saying, "Now it's father's turn. This time father goes to work." She arranged a crash for the father and brought him back. She was interrupted by Elmo, who said something about putting the babies in the bathroom. After looking at him she turned back to the dolls and said, "And then the babies' turns," and she put each one in the truck in turn, arranged a crash, conveyed them back to the bed, and put them in bed. Then she said again, "There the father goes," and then, "Here another baby," and put one of the babies in one of the large beds. Then, "Father goes to work and crashes into a car. He's asleep. The cars tumble over and then he dies. No, he don't die." Then she conveyed the father to the beds by truck and put him in the baby's crib, picked him up and put him on the bed, said, "Now he dies," then, "Now the babies," and repeated the whole action with the baby saying, "Baby dies. Now put him in his cradle. Now this baby goes. Oh, I forgot to get the car. Mother and daddy get up to get in car." The second baby was not put in the car, but was replaced in the crib. The mother and father figures were put into the truck, "Daddy drives mother to work, beep, beep.* Then the truck was stopped, and without a word the mother was taken out

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and made to walk on the floor and the ambulance was run into her. This doll was then held down with one hand while the ambulance was put on top of her and ground down with the other hand. 'They push her like this into the house. " The doll was dragged along the floor by the head and put in a bed. Then the furniture, dolls, and three beds were picked up and put into the truck. The absorption of the child and the Intensity of the action are impossible to describe. Letty's first play session seemed to reveal her inner feelings, and the sessions that followed gave their raison d'être. Practically all the time of the adult women dolls was spent with the babies, and very little attention was paid to the girl doll. Even when the girl was seated next her mother the little boy baby was made to push his way in. Most of these sessions were placid scenes of washing and feeding, but in one of them Letty again vented her wrath against her mother in no uncertain terms: Letty picks up the mother doll and then throws her on her head. She picks her up again and throws her vigorously across about two feet of floor space. The doll falls on her head with a bang. This happens several times. Letty supplements some of these actions with exclamations such as, "Hit... bang, bang." She rises a little farther each time until she is kneeling straight up, then says, "I don't like this doll.' What is significant about Letty's play is not its unusual content—it tells a rather common tale of rejection and hostility— but the fact that her other activities revealed only scant shreds of her conflict. The whole story was nowhere so completely and comprehensively played out as it was during these sessions with miniature life toys. Contrary to the popular belief that boys are never interested in dolls, several young fellows of four or five were found to play with them for extended periods of time. One of these boys, Jackie, gave an even clearer exposition of the way babies should be treated than the girls did. The difficulty with Jackie was twofold; he repeatedly evacuated in his pants, and in corners of the group room and playground, and he played with girls almost exclusively. An only child, he was known to be fatherless by divorce, but little other information about his family situation was available. On occasion he could be very aggressive toward little girls, but at other times was exceedingly tender and demonstrative. Toward boys he was never aggressive, nor could he defend himself at all. In Jackie's first session two things were notable, and his comments left no doubt about his feelings. He was violent

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toward the toilet, "I knock toilet down," then put it in a car and made it fall off. Toward the mother doll he was solicitous in an indicative way. He put down a piece of fence and made the doll walk on it, saying, "She's walking a track. I don't want her to, a train comes." Putting these incidents together we might conjecture that Jackie was impelled to deny his hostile wishes direct recognition and felt it safer to take them out against the toilet. Although Jackie boasted about being "big" and coming to school alone, he nevertheless repeatedly sucked the bottle during the sessions, saying, "I'm a baby. That's what babies do." He also rocked the miniature cradle, crooning, "Rock, rock, she likes that.... I'm so tired. See, this is broken," pointing to a broken bed as if to explain and excuse his own desire to be in the cradle. In one session while playing with the baby doll he said, "I need to change her. She made kaka in her pants. She's only a little baby. Big babies can't make kaka in pants." He then played more and more languorously, finally lying quietly on the floor, apparently completely identified with the baby. Further clues came forth in still another session. First he played out a drama of hostility by pushing cars into one another, exclaiming, "I bump into you, you bad man." Following this in the excerpt below, he talked confusedly about the little boy doll, indicating that he was hurt but was rescued by a man in an ambulance and later comforted by his mother: Jackie: "So many cars, boom. See, he starts lambulance. Man that takes care of him, see man goes in." He moves the yellow car up to the wooden cars. "Going away. Hear him crying." Now moves the yellow car away from the others. "Know he met him in other lambulance." Observer: "And then?" Jackie: "Stop, stop, I'm going in." Observer: "Then?" Jackie: "I'm gping home. His mudder will cover him. Where's man? Don't you have the baby? ... Cover him up." He takes out patterned material and puts it on bed. "Now watch dis. He's carrying chair." Puts the brown chair on two wooden cars as he kneels down. "Put chair right back here [now he puts the chair beside the bed] so mudder can sit here. He's only little boy, he got lost." Jackie sits and looks at the toys singing to himself. This sequence of disaster following the expression of aggression toward an adult recalls the play of Letty. Having satisfied his conscience by this ritual punishment, Jackie went on to repeat the attack: The wooden cars go around the policeman. Jackie then takes the yellow car and pushes it, saying, "I won't stop. I knock you over

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[to policeman]." He pushes the policeman over with the yellow car. "He's dead. Poor policeman. See," as the car goes over the policeman. Now he stands the policeman up. "Stop, stop. Now get dead again." The yellow car pushes him on the floor. "Falling everywhere, I won't pick you up, you dead thing! Should I put you in jail? In bed. He goes to bed. Mudder mad at him, 'cause he's on street. [The observer thinks he may have said "wet bed."] Mudder won't tell him a story. Then she says if he is good she will. In bed, in jail, mudder put him in jail. She says one story; I'll tell you about three bears. I have it home. Policeman going to sleep. See bow he closes eyes." He covers him up in the bed. The noteworthy thing here is not merely the expression of hostility toward the male figure, but the fact that the adult is treated like a little boy, "jailed" in bed for being naughty, his mother angry at him for going on the street, but still willing to forgive and comfort him. It is not a f a r cry to a s s u m e that Jackie r e s e n t s the loss of his father and interprets it as the r e sult of his f a t h e r ' s being "naughty" and therefore rejected by his mother. He also s e e m s to be saying that if this is what happens when you grow up and become a man it is obviously s a f e r to remain a baby—and if you have only one person to comfort and cherish you it is exceedingly important to cherish her and not run the risk of losing her by showing hostility. Here, then, is another expression of the classical dilemmas of childhood—to grow up or not to grow up; how to love and hate the same person; how to hate and yet escape retribution. These same problems were depicted in Letty's play, but significantly the dramatic personnel chosen by the two children were different and corresponded strikingly to the family situation of each. This correspondence occurred again and again in the dramatic play with miniature life toys. One child showed how she was torn between the need for babying and for being a big girl, as well a s between resentment felt against the dominating women in her life and her basic desire to be like one of them, her mother. Again, a f a t h e r l e s s four-year-old played out her fantasy of a loving father who protected her against a harsh mother. In other c a s e s the child's play revolved completely about the mother, with the father conspicuously absent. But in each instance the real family structure and the child's conception of it and his attitude toward it were all reflected in the play with miniature life toys. Interpreting Play with Miniature Life Toys Again we must emphasize that any interpretations of activity with miniature life toys must be considered within the framework

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of several sessions of play and be checked against all the information we have about the child. The same general kind of play may have quite different meanings when it comes from children in different family situations. Tender and solicitous care of a baby may indicate identification with the infant and a desire to return to babyhood. On the other hand, it may also represent identification with a kind and loving mother and may indicate complete acceptance of a sibling or the desire for a sibling. Psychologists have found that aggressive behavior against adults occurs in the miniature toy play of every child, but it is found in an infinite number of combinations with other types of behavior and its significance is discovered only through the context. For example, when troubled children make an attack on an adult doll, they usually follow it with some sort of damage to the child doll — possibly out of fear of retribution for feelings of hostility, possibly to hide or disguise the real object of their resentment. Generally speaking, fewer attacks of this sort and less general havoc occurred in the play of the well-adjusted children we observed. We present below excerpts from successive sessions played out by Gertrude, a four-year-old girl who was considered well adjusted. Like Letty, she was the older of two siblings, and her father too was at home only sporadically. But there the r e s e m blance ends. Gertrude's comparative placidity and lack of tension a r e apparent at a glance: Gertrude smiles as she sees the toys. She picks up a baby: "Is this a baby g i r l ? " She picks up two more, saying, "Two girls, one boy baby." She puts one baby in a carriage, asks for a cover. The observer gives her a sheet of paper. Gertrude folds it and covers the baby with it. She finds a cradle with no bottom In it: "How to fix it? How can baby sleep in broken c r a d l e ? " She puts the boy baby in the bathinette. Then she pushes the c a r r i a g e with the baby in it back and forth. Picking up the girl, she asks, "Is this g i r l ? Yeah? 'Cause she is s m a l l ? " She takes the baby out of the carriage and works hard to get another baby into it. When Gertrude gives up and asks for help the observer suggests that she look in box of toys to see what she can find...She finds a horse: "Where is the man that goes on h e r e ? " She finds plate, spoons, and forks. As Gertrude picks up the large rubber knife, she asks, "What's this?" She smiles as she opens it, puts it back into the box, and picks up a small knife: ' H e r e ' s another knife and plate." She picks up the girl and t r i e s to make her stand, wants help. The observer shows how to make the doll stand. Gertrude goes to the bathroom, comes back and finds that girl doll has fallen down: "See, she's fallen down." She stands the girl up and sees the man; "Is he a man?" The observer doesn't answer. Gertrude answers, "Yes," and stands the man near a baby.

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*He"s come to see the children." She finds a woman and stands her by the girl, placing the man by the woman: "Are they going to a wedding?" She finds a boy and stands him by the girl: ' L o o k father, mother, dolly, boy." She stands another man by the boy. The horse is standing in front of the dolls: 'This Is a parade. They are watching a parade." Gertrude takes the baby out of the high chair and puts him in the play pen, uses baby talk as she places him: "Put baby In crlbby." To the observer she says, 'Did you talk like that when you were a baby?" Then, 'Where is a bed for this baby? Where is a bed?" She sees the broken cradle: "Can't you fix this? What's supposed to go with this?" The observer gives her a piece of paper saying, "Maybe this will help.' Gertrude tries to fix the bottom of the cradle with the paper, finally puts the paper on the floor and the baby on it. "This won't do, baby on floor, feet will get cold." Then she puts the baby on a toy bench, covering him with the paper... Gertrude sees the large snake In the box and takes it out: "What is this? An alligator? Is this an alligator? Is It? Yes? No? Yes? No?" She teases for an answer and lays tbe snake down. She picks up the woman and tries to stand her so that she can push the carriage: 'Doll won't stand. Can you make her stand?" The observer suggests that the doll might like to sit, and Gertrude a r ranges it accordingly. She picks up the woman who has been sitting on the floor: 'Mother is tired, she wants to sit on bench.... Sister here too." The little boy is placed near by and a family is arranged. "Look at this." She sits back and smiles, then says, "Go and play, children." She looks around, sees the snake, and makes it crawl to the family group: "Here is alligator." She places it right near the group, saying, "He's coming to see the children." She closely examines the mother's clothes, pulls them way up to her neck: "Look, I've pulled this up." Then in turn Gertrude pulls up the clothes of the small girl and of another girl, and begins to undress the small boy, but does not get all his clothes off, lays him down, picks up the carriage, and goes back to the box. With the carriage in hand she lifts out the truck, the big airplane, the little airplane, and arranges them in a row. This s e s s i o n is especially notable b e c a u s e it includes s o much behavior that contrasts with that of troubled children. Gertrude responds to the knife and snake with neither f e a r nor aggression, even making the snake (or alligator) p a r t of the f a m ily group; she does not seem unduly disturbed by the broken toys but does what she can to r e s t o r e or r e p l a c e them; she does not disguise her interest in what lies under the d o l l s ' clothes and s a t i s f i e s her curiosity quickly and openly; she shows neither compulsion nor aggression in her play, a s k s f o r help when she needs it but is capable of working things out f o r herself when it is not forthcoming. Other s e s s i o n s with this child revealed

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additional facets of her very normal personality. In one she was able to spank dolls without compulsive repetition and without guilt; and in another, where she took the part of a mother who spanked her children and later rewarded them, she implied that she herself could take spanking in a matter-of-fact way from a mother who also gave her special treats: one thing balances another. She also indicated through her dramatic play that her father gave her ample attention during times when the baby monopolized the mother. Finally, through another episode, she lets us know that she is by no means helpless even when her mother is very exacting; for she tells us through the dolls that she will behave as she is asked to only so long as her mother loves h e r ! Her confidence in herself and in others is further revealed by her parting words to the observer: "You will have to put the clothes back on the dolls." In other words, adults can be trusted to do their part, just as she herself does her part. A child of this sort should have little difficulty coping with the inevitable problems of life. Differential Patterns of Behavior with the Toys The personnel of this project had the good fortune to have access to the judgments of experienced teachers about the developmental status of all the children involved. By combining their comments with our observations we were able to arrive at certain general statements about the behavior of well-adjusted children and of children with emotional difficulties when faced with the miniature life toy equipment. The over-all differences between these two groups fell into several categories, each of which will be summarized concisely: 1. Response to symbols of aggression. In general, troubled children showed four types of reaction to the snake or the knife: they refused to recognize it; were afraid of it; seized on it as a weapon; or conspicuously avoided it. Well-adjusted children were much more casual about these items, though it must be remembered that they may have a focal problem which can be touched off by such objects. 2. Response to nursing bottle. The happy, healthy child looked upon the bottle with mild interest, commented on its large size as compared to the dolls, sucked on it experimentally, or used it as a water c a r r i e r . The child who had been deprived of babying would often pounce on it and suck it during the whole session to the exclusion of other toys. Sometimes he would make a derogatory remark about it at the beginning, but this false front usually broke down if the observer did not interfere.

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3. Investigation of the dolls' clothing. Almost all the children were interested in raising s k i r t s or removing trousers, but some glanced at the adult furtively or turned their backs while investigating. The very young children were likely to be unconcerned about this interest and ask for help in undressing the dolls. 4. Creativity of play. About 10 percent of the children seemed unable to play with the toys in any creative fashion, but were also unable to refuse. They moved the toys about without rhyme or reason, constantly asked the observer what to do with them and ended up in monotonous repetition or hopeless confusion. 5. Content of the creative play. A comparison between Letty's and Gertrude's sessions would be c l e a r e r than any secondary description. But in general, the play of troubled children who were able to work at all creatively abounded in chaos, catastrophe, and sudden death. People were run over, cut in half, caught in burning houses, and abandoned to their fate. Well-adjusted children, on the other hand, tended to play out calmly the various aspects of everyday living such a s bathing and feeding babies, having people go on trips, sailing boats, washing clothes. 6. Use of water. This was one of the most revealing clues. Untroubled children used water as they needed it in the play; children with special problems either seized on it avidly or treated it gingerly as if it might explode. The symptomatic use of water included wantonly and aggressively pouring it over everything in sight, including the observer, or wiping up every drop that fell outside the intended vessel. Somewhere between these two extremes were the released responses of older inhibited children who played enthusiastically, creatively, and even daringly with the toys only after water was introduced. 7. Amount of aggression shown. Aggression was frequently exhibited—indeed, we would be surprised if it were totally absent, since one of the functions of this play is precisely to help children express aggression in a protected environment and in away that hurts no one else. However, the amount varied widely. Only about seven out of the total sample of seventy-nine spent a considerable time in destroying, threatening, or attacking. Of these, five turned their hostility against people and only two—both known to be extremely disturbed—set out to wreck the toys. One of these children, Lenny, poured water over all the toys, threw them down and crushed them underfoot, and was heard to say, pathetically, "I break and I break and I don't know why I break."

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Lenny was not permitted to continue breaking the toys but was given paper and paper dolls to tear up if he wished. However, during the sessions he revealed a conviction that all inanimate objects were hostile to him and frequently burst out in unprovoked attacks on adults. Virtually the only time he did not show hostility was when he curled himself up in a fetal position in the kit where the toys were kept. Friendliness and forbearance helped him calm down somewhat, but it was apparent that he needed psychiatric care. One apparently well-adjusted child was able to release a large amount of hostility in using the toys possibly because her father had been abrupt and demanding toward her and the obs e r v e r was a man. But generally speaking, the children who showed an unusual amount of hostility toward the toys or with the toys were also unusually hostile in their everyday life and needed individual attention. 8. Use of the observer by the child. For many of the children the most stimulating aspect of the play was the opportunity it offered of having an adult to themselves. About fourteen spent as much time or more with the observer as with the toys; of these, two were considered well adjusted and the others had a variety of special problems. The situation of semiprivacy plus a sympathetic adult encouraged some children to tell the obs e r v e r about conflicts and longings that were not revealed elsewhere. Under these circumstances even apparently well-adjusted children showed that they had difficulties, and we may therefore conclude that whenever the adult is more fascinating than the toys in these sessions, the pattern of this relationship should be carefully examined and the child's emotional status and life situation should be investigated further. Suggestions to Teachers As to the setting, we found that conducting the play in a semiprivate corner of the group room is preferable to taking the child away entirely. Interference can be kept at a minimum through the use of screens and by scheduling the session when others are busy at music or outdoors. An area of about six feet square on the floor, with an opening in the portable screens, offers a better play surface than a table. Most of the toys and supplies, with the exception of the Flagg Flexible family dolls, a r e available in five and ten cent stores. It i s advisable to sew snaps on doll clothing to facilitate undressing them. Plastic or Elastic Plastic can be put on their feet to make them stand. Cardboard partitions for making

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rooms, etc., can be made from ordinary boxes. Most of the toys, especially the plastic ones, are easily broken; furniture cement should be on hand, as well as "spares." The initial expense of hard rubber vehicles and wooden furniture is well compensated by their low breakage rate. Three or four-inch plastic family dolls with jointed limbs have come on the market since the project ended and might prove sturdy and inexpensive. However, ambitious teachers can construct these figures themselves, using wire, beads, and tape, scaling them to the size of the furniture. Perhaps the most difficult problem presented by the regular use of the toys is the scheduling of teacher time. Although the child undoubtedly benefits simply from playing out his feelings and problems alone, the insights which this kind of play offers to the teacher seem too valuable to be lost. Moreover, the presence of a receptive adult may facilitate the playing-out process. How then can a teacher be freed to devote herself to just one child for a period of time ? We found different solutions in different groups. In some, a supervisor such as the director of the center takes over the group or observes the individual child, using his notes in a staff conference. In others, a student teacher helps the assistant teacher handle the group while the teacher observes, or they might alternate in making observations. To avoid the appearance of favoritism it might be well to schedule individual periods for all children who want them. Qualified volunteer assistants may be brought in when the program is planned on this broader scale, but they would have to be screened and briefed on their role. If the individual sessions take place when other children are in the room, it is desirable to supply extra kits of toys for general use. The time factor usually makes it necessary to select certain youngsters for special study. Those who are likely to profit most are generally over three and a half years of age and show definite adjustment difficulties. Our own most illuminating r e c ords frequently described children who seemed shy, withdrawn, anxious, or preoccupied, but we cannot deny that in some cases hyperactive and aggressive children also played effectively with the toys. We must point out again that a single session can be quite misleading. If the toys are to be used at all as an aid to understanding, at least three sessions should be planned before reaching a decision about their value for any specific child. It may be useful to go into more detail about the attitude of the observer, since she usually serves as the catalytic agent that precipitates the child's reactions. To create a fruitful

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atmosphere, and enable the child to express himself freely, the observer must be unobtrusive, yet warm and attentive; permissive, but firm when it is necessary to act; sensitive to the child's needs and meanings, but discreet in responding to them. No suggestions, directions, or corrections should be given so long as the child does not harm himself or other people. General limitations about attacking others and destroying property are of course necessary in any school situation; these should be decided upon ahead of time, but not mentioned to the child at the beginning of the sessions. If a child oversteps the limits he should be so informed calmly and without rebuke, and then be given a more acceptable outlet such as throwing water at the bathroom instead of the classroom wall. In general, observers function better when they throw the child's questions back to him and have a wide variety of grunts and noncommittal responses at hand, such as "uh-huh," "Why?" and "It could be." Breakage and spillage should be accepted with nonchalance, and the observer must be ready to reassure the anxious child when accidents occur. It is not wise to punish or scold deliberate destruction, but it must be stopped if it becomes wholesale. Our experience has shown that children will not be confused by their extra liberties in these sessions, and easily understand the difference between individual play and the usual group situation. Some, however, need reassurance at the start that they can play as they want to: "It's all right to do that here" is usually all that need be said. Occasionally at the end of a session a child will cling to his teacher, indicating a need for individual attention from an adult. On the other hand, some children are so distrustful of adults that they do not want to accompany the observer to a solitary play session. In these cases a friend of the child might be invited, and if possible two kits of toys should be used. The relationship between the two children should, of course, be observed. However, in general, the miniature toys are more revealing when the child plays alone. While mere observation can be quite useful, a detailed record which can be discussed with other staff members greatly increases the value of these sessions. Notes should be factual and descriptive rather than evaluative; instead of merely saying, "Tom was angry," it is better to describe what he did to give this appearance. To achieve complete records that can be understood by those who have not actually seen the child, the following should be kept in mind: sequence of movements; spatial relationship of objects to each other and to the child; tempo; degree of absorption or preoccupation; verbatim utterances.

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"He picked up a doll and put it down again" is not sufficient; the record should specify which doll, where it was put down in r e lation to other objects, how it was handled and scrutinized. In addition, facial expressions and nonverbal sounds like grunts, sighs, and humming should be described. Body stance and the manner and extent of movement should also be included. With practice, all these details will "register" on the observer and fall into place as parts of a connected whole. These detailed records have unique value for studying the child at leisure, for checking impressionistic opinions against factual data, and for focusing several minds on a single problem without subjecting the child to intolerable scrutiny. When specialists a r e available on a part-time basis, many hours of their time can be saved by referring to these notes. When they a r e used for staff discussion without professional guidance, it is well to check the interpretations, not only against the child's total life situation, but also against the general knowledge of growth and development available to the staff members.

Chapter III: Puppet Plays IN recent years, puppets have been used as an educational device for conveying social science material, but here we are concerned with another and more personal kind of learning. We believe that puppets hold considerable promise in the education of emotions and the development of wholesome attitudes toward the self and the world outside. These vital areas receive very little attention when a school curriculum is under consideration, yet it is upon them that the basic structure and strength of the child's personality inevitably r e s t . Puppets have certain unique qualities which make them particularly appropriate for use with young children. They a r e comparatively simple to manipulate, so that the mastery of presentation is well within the abilities of any teacher. If they a r e small enough, even the young child can manipulate them with sufficient skill for his own satisfaction. Because of their size and grotesque appearance they fall definitely into the realm of fantasy and open the door to the expression of preoccupations which often cannot be evoked through more realistic or complex media. Yet since puppets apparently move and speak, they have an aura of reality, and children readily conceive of them as real persons, identify with them, project their own feelings upon them, and present their own experiences through them. Puppets offer a means of making fantasy concrete and of bringing it safely into contact with reality, in this way providing the child with some realistic control over subjective interpretations of experience. Furthermore, they offer the sensitive teacher a means of intimate contact with the child at a time when his verbal skills a r e not well developed and his emotional experiences tend to remain private and incommunicable. Through this medium she can help the child by providing an outer form for expressing what is often a m e r e shapeless mass of feeling. Loretta Bender and Adolf Woltmann have found puppets helpful to deeply troubled children both in clarifying the bases of their difficulties and in giving them a harmless channel of expression for emotions which a r e otherwise blocked or expressed in devious ways. They summarize the primary needs of these children as "an opportunity to work out their problems, the chance to give some f r e e expression to their aggressive

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tendencies, to verbalize and clarify the difficulties in their r e lations to their life with their mother, father, and siblings, and to be relieved from feelings of guilt and anxiety." 1 In an experimental attempt to meet these needs, they presented situations in the lives of children in the form of "puppet plays." They found that the impersonal nature of the c h a r a c t e r s with which the children identified themselves and the fact that they were puppets and could not really be hurt, made it possible for the children to express their emotions freely. In their own words, "As a matter of fact, it is undoubtedly one of the greatest therapeutic factors that the child learns that other children about him a r e experiencing the same feelings that he is, and he is aided and abetted in the expression of his aggressive tendencies by the fact that all the others about him a r e loudly acclaiming his own feelings." 2 Woltmann summarizes the effectiveness of psychologically oriented puppet shows in this statement: We have learned to understand the child through his reactions during the play, through his verbal expressions in discussing the show, and through his own puppet activities. The child benefits from these shows because through the puppets he sees himself, other persons, and parts of personalities. The puppet shows give him a chance to react to all kinds of situations. The make-believe nature of the puppet shows reduces feelings of guilt or fear. The frequent repetitions provide for experimentation with all kinds of physical, social, emotional, and intellectual relationships, and finally lead to their mastery. The sharing of his feelings with a group of children has a socializing effect upon him and enriches his social contacts. All these mechanisms combined enable the child to face a problem, to work it out, and to come to an understanding of it.s It is largely as a result of this successful use of puppets with groups of disturbed children that we began to explore their possibilities for the normal preschool or kindergarten group. For we felt that the same general problems occurred in both groups, and very likely the puppet plays would be a s valuable in prevention as they were in treatment. Our f i r s t objective was therefore to devise a number of scripts built around a r e a s of 1. Bender and Woltmann, "The Use of Puppet Shows as a Psychotherapeutic Method for Behavior Problems In Children," American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 6 (1936): 341. 2. Ibid., p. 352. 3. Woltmann, "The Usé of Puppets in Understanding Children," Mental Hygiene, 24 (1940): 457-458.

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adjustment which prove difficult for many children, aiming particularly at release and reassurance. The teachers were interviewed, and they suggested these subjects: the arrival of a new baby; aggression of peers; harsh treatment by parents; resentment about separation from a parent; fears of getting dirty; sibling rivalry. To these we added feelings of difference related to peculiar family constellations (such as the lack of a father or of both parents) and unjust treatment by parents. In general, the plan followed was to present the situation, have an identification character express his feelings about it, ask the audience how he should deal with it, and then offer a r e s olution which would be acceptable to the children. It is hardly fair to call these presentations "shows" for the children, although that is what the children themselves called them, because the audience participated very freely and their suggestions were embodied in the action. In this sense the audience was part of the play. The cast of characters was composed of a family groupmother (Toots), father (Mr. Joe), boy (Happy), girl, and baby— a monkey (Bingo), and a nondescript character who could function as master of ceremonies or take any special role called for The plays were given to groups of five or six in the presence of a teacher, and were repeated several times during the same day so that all would have a chance to participate. A second teacher would keep the rest of the group busy, preferably outdoors. The stage was a small table without frame or proscenium, and the properties were placed on a bench next to the puppeteer. Before any writing was done, prospective puppeteers were briefed by the project psychologist on the meaning of mental health in general, factors leading to neurotic or delinquent development, and various means of counterbalancing them. Discussion brought out a number of aspects that must be understood by anyone wishing to undertake this kind of work: the processes of projection and identification; the development of anxiety in its relation to hostility; the need for teachers to avoid guilt enforcement and suggestions of behavior that might produce anxiety or serve as an undesirable model; the importance of emphasizing the difference between fantasy and reality; and the desirability of extreme flexibility and sensitivity to the reactions of the audience. The functions of the plays were outlined at the start and clarified as the presentations were made. They served to elicit clues to the children's expectations of adults, to evoke emotional expression, to furnish the child with opportunities to experiment

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with different solutions to problems, to suggest possible approaches and give reassurance about fantasies and feelings. The reactions of some of the children suggested that the puppet plays might also be used as educational devices in family living, and help them gain a realistic approach to the limits of events, both in time and scope. The actual scripts were devised (in collaboration with project personnel) and the presentations given originally by two volunteer assistants, Miss Miriam Reinhardt and Mrs. Henriette Jenke, both of whom had considerable experience in teaching and group work. They also trained regular teachers to take over the project in their own centers, after they had witnessed five or more demonstration performances. In a sense, they were part and parcel of the experiment since one of the objectives was to discover what stumbling blocks lay in wait for an educator who was not a psychological specialist, in attempting to work in this area. In the f i r s t presentation of a play, the puppeteer made an effort to establish contact with the group. The f i r s t character to appear was Happy, the little boy, with whom the children were expected to identify. He entered with a theme song: •I'm as happy as can be: Toodle do, toodle dee." Then he said: Hello everybody. My, I'm glad to see you. I just love putting on a show, and that's what I'm going to do right now... let's see: there are one, two, three, etc., girls and boys. OhI that's wonderful. This is a perfect group for me—now I'll tell you something about myself. I'm going to show you how I can do anything I want to do. See—I can walk, I can talk, I can jump—I can make others do just what I want. Now I'll show you—Toots, come up here. The f i r s t play ended as it had begun, with the theme song sung by Happy, who then invited the audience to sing with him. After that he said to another character (the nondescript, unnamed puppet), "Let's see ... don't you think it would be nice for us to know everybody? Let's find out everybody's name." The other puppet replied, "I think that's a wonderful idea. Let's do it. Then, turning to the children, he said, "Will you tell us your n a m e s ? I would just love to know who you a r e . " Then the two took turns asking the names, and after each one they talked about what a nice name it was (much in the spirit of some current radio programs), and performed a little dance to show how glad they were to know each child. Here is the way the f i r s t play went:

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P U P P E T PLAYS Happy introduced himself, then called Toots. "I can't come Happy. Baby Is asleep. I have to stay with him." Happy insisted and threatened to get the baby If she did not come. Toots came and was introduced to the audience. Happy commanded her to bring the baby. She refused at first but went to get him after more threats. Happy burst into song again, but was hushed when Toots reentered with the baby, because he was asleep. Both sang a lullaby and began to dance quietly as Happy took the baby. His dancing grew wilder, waking the baby and making it cry. When Toots tried to get him from Happy he grew angry, shook the baby and finally dropped him. Toots ran out to get help. An unnamed male character came in, and seeing Happy mistreating the baby, commanded him to stop. They fought for the baby, pulling It back and forth between them until Happy was knocked down and the baby rescued. Just as the rescuer began to sing to the baby, Happy came up from behind and knocked him down. Then Happy picked up the baby and swung it around in great glee. In the midst cf this, he caught a glimpse of Mr. Everybody, the embodiment of authority, and exclaimed in fear, *Oh I must get rid of the baby. What can I do with him?" Finally, he was about to throw him out of a window just before Mr. Everybody entered. The latter soon became suspicious and accused Happy of having 'done something." He went to the window and discovered the baby. He grabbed Happy and turned to the audience, asking what he should do with Happy. The audience advised him to throw Happy out of the window, and he did that. Later, however, they asked that Happy be brought back, and when Mr. Everybody did, saying, "Now he's all well again," their relief was very evident, with one exceedingly timid child asking, "They's friends now?" hopefully and wistfully.

During the course of the action a rather aggressive little boy made motions as if dropping the baby. Another called out with apparent relish, when Happy was knocked down, "He's dead, he's dead, he can't get up." When the baby was dropped out of the window, however, the whole audience laughed. Although they enjoyed Happy's daring, they tattled on him when he denied to Mr. Everybody that he had done anything, calling out things like, "Oh, she did"; "She threw the baby"; "She's bad." (Happy was both he and she to them.) They eagerly suggested punishments for him, but everyone wanted him brought back afterward. The reaction of the children to this f i r s t puppet show in gene r a l seemed to follow the behavior described by Bender and Woltmann. They showed no anxiety at Happy's e x t r e m e behavior, apparently enjoying it, entered into the fighting zestfully, and accepted— indeed insisted upon—the resurrection of the c h a r a c t e r s . Only a few words need be said about the second play since it was rather unsuccessful.

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Happy started off by complaining that the baby had kept him awake the night before, and asked the audience whether they liked the baby. Toots, whom he now called 'Mamma," came in and fussed over the baby, preparing to feed him. When he tried to peek, he was sternly sent off to play by himself. He built a house, called Toots, but was told to be quiet. Happy pleaded in vain, asked the audience how to make her come to him. He threw a block, with no results, then pretended to hurt his finger and told the audience it was a trick. Toots responded to his anguished cries but suspected it was a trick. When she asked the audience, the children upheld Happy's story and she kissed the finger. The doorbell rang, and Happy was left with the baby. He resisted the temptation to grab the baby's toys and was praised by Toots when she came back. The children were interested in this play, as they a r e in a l most anything puppets do, but it did not give them enough opportunities for r e l e a s e . However, it did help the t e a c h e r s understand some of them better than they had before. F o r example, when Happy said, "Do you like the b a b y ? " B r u c e , a very troubled child, responded, "My baby can't talk, can't even walk, can't—can't— can't." But when Toots began to kiss Happy's finger, he covered his eyes as if confronted with an unbearable sight, peeking from time to time, and finally running away, shouting, "I want to go out. I don't want the show." The difference between his own situation and Happy's was apparently more than he could bear. The third play introduced the father character. The children burst into the Happy song before it began and participated more fully as it proceeded. Happy started the action by complaining that his mother had made him leave the kitchen because his father was coming home and she was busy cooking. He said he did not like to play by himself and proposed to the audience that they all pretend that they were going away, and asked, 'Where shall we go?" Bruce advised him to go to 'Coney Island... and don't come back any more." Several others told him to go to Texas. Happy played {¿trough going on a trip, pretending he was a train, stopping, going over rocks, etc. Finally, however, he gave it up, saying, "Oh, I'm tired of this and I'm still angry." He tried to go back to the kitchen but was told sharply by Toots to stay away. He grew angrier, and was reminded that he was angry at Daddy too. He confided to the audience that Daddy had been mean to him. "All I did was break a dish and do you know what Daddy did? " Almost without exception, his audience guessed that he had been spanked. Bruce sighed softly and gently as he said, almost with resignation, "Spanked you, he spanked you. * Happy accepted the children's guesses, and went on to build up the case against Daddy. He told them of the time when he had broken the baby's bottle and had been sent up to his room. Getting angrier and angrier, he

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P U P P E T PLAYS finally picked up a small ruler and said, "I'm going to pretend this is Daddy—now you stand up there. What should I do to him?" The children called out with great excitement, 'Hit him"; 'Kick him"; "Bite him'; "Hit him, hit him." Several had their arms going up and down in a striking movement. Bruce ran excitedly to the stage and struck at the ruler, "Knock him unconscious." Just then Daddy entered and asked Happy what he was doing: "Nothing." Then Daddy accused Happy of taking the baby's toy, and asked him to tell where it was. Although Happy protested his innocence, Daddy did not believe him and turned to the audience to ask if Happy had taken the baby's toy. Although Happy's protagonists shouted "No," Daddy did not believe them and proceeded to spank Happy. Though Bruce was so vociferously hostile and most clearly identified with Happy, he seemed to enjoy the spanking, grinning while it proceeded. However, after it was over, and Daddy said, "He is a naughty boy," the audience objected to the Injustice and shouted back, "You're naughty too, Daddy"; "You too, you too"; "Yes, you are. You're naughty." Just then Toots came on stage, calling out that she had found baby's toy and that she herself had misplaced it. She told Daddy that he would have to make up for spanking Happy and asked the audience what he should do. Most of the children felt that Daddy should go to jail. Bruce was most insistent on this. When Toots pleaded that the family needed Daddy, Bruce suggested that he should go "only for three weeks and then come back." She Insisted that Daddy apologise to Happy, and Bruce shouted implacably, "Don't tell him you're sorry. Go to jail." When Daddy hesitated to apologise, he gleefully gloated, "He's going to jail." Finally Daddy did apologise, only to be beaten up by Bruce who rushed up to the stage, saying to the puppet, "Don't say it, go to Jail. Daddy'll have to go to jail." When the Master of Ceremonies came on after the other characters had left and said, "Daddy had better be good now, don't you think? " the audience agreed with him saying, "Yeah. If he is bad again he will have to go again." But Bruce dissented; he apparently wanted Daddy to continue to behave in such a fashion as to deserve punishment. We can understand the reason for this when we realize the degree of hostility Bruce felt for his ownfather and the punishment he experienced at his hands.

This play brought some other interesting insights. Unlike the others, Julie, a very aggressive f o u r - y e a r - o l d who came f r o m a f a t h e r l e s s home, persistently declared that she did not like Happy Her later play indicated that she was fantasying an all-good, allpowerful father who would help her against her inconsistent, cold, and aggressive mother. Hence, Happy's complaints about his father did not set well with her. However, even she finally decided that she liked Happy when Daddy apologized to him and declared that he had been a good boy. Julie also identified with the

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baby, enjoying the pleasant treatment of the mother and resenting Happy when he mistreated him. This little g i r l ' s unique reactions emphasized the importance of constant awareness of individual children. To prove this, we have only to point out that Doug, another fatherless child, reacted quite differently. Like the others, he loudly demanded that Daddy be "hit," and when Happy was spanked, his mouth turned down and he looked as if he were about to cry. Apparently some private fantasies made the difference. Allen, a well-adjusted child, was a perfect picture of ambivalence. From the beginning he would egg Happy on, then turn on him and give him away to the parent puppets. In the second play, when Happy pretended to hurt himself, he told Toots, "Shedidn't hurt finger at all." Yet when Toots told Happy to watch the baby, he advised, "Don't, Happy, make a trick. Go outside. Take baby outside with you." Later, when Toots indicated that she believed Happy's statement that he had been good, Allen shouted, "She did a trick, took baby and put her out of the window and then put her back." At the end of that show, when the master of ceremonies asked the audience, "Do you like Happy?" Allen first said "No," then, "Yes." These ambivalent responses may indicate that Allen had found a way to eat his cake and have it too, f i r s t by enjoying the f r e e impulsive behavior of Happy, then by smugly assuming the role of the adult. Happy might have served as the externalization of Allen's normal aggressive impulses, which he then, in his "good boy" role, proceeded to punish. It is interesting that his easel paintings showed an alternation of regressive smearing and highly intellectual use of form which might be interpreted as indicating a conflict between acceptance of external environmental pressure and acting out his own more primitive impulses. It is obvious from the foregoing accounts that the children were reacting in a progressively more intense and spontaneous manner, and were identifying more and more fully with Happy. In the fourth play he apparently seemed so real that they wanted to give him gifts and sing him songs. He was being accepted as a member of the group: Happy had combed his hair, washed his face, and brushed his teeth, arid was feeling very good. However, there was one fly in the ointment—his daddy was going away. Daddy came in, hunting for a paper which he had mislaid and asking Happy if he had taken it. Happy hid from Daddy to play a trick on him, came out and shouted, "Boo," and then asked why Daddy was always leaving him. Daddy responded rather brusquely that he had to go away, and left. At

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P U P P E T PLAYS that Happy grew angry and suggested that the audience play a ' p r e tend* game with him. He picked up t r o small candles and asked them to pretend one was "Daddy," the other "Mommy." Then he got a toy and called it "Baby." Turning to the audience, he asked them what he should do to "Daddy." Bruce responded as usual, "Hit him, punch him, hard. Spank him!" Then Happy said he was going to do the same thing that Daddy was doing, he was going to take his pretend family far away, and asked where. The feeling was completely negative. They shouted, "To the tracks and put them on the tracks so they get killed"; "Tie them with ropes"; "Yes, on the track with the rope"; "Throw them in the water"; "Tie them up." Happy agreed, but changed his mind and said that he wanted to be good and asked what he should do. One of the children brought a car to Happy and suggested that he might play with it. He announced that they were going to take a ride, but Bruce insisted that he had better "run them over with it." After Happy put the pretend family in the car he asked the audience, "Where shall we go?" Bruce protested, "To the railroad tracks. Put them on the tracks; you tie them down." Just then Happy pushed the car and the pretend family fell off the table. Happy began to cry and called his mother, saying, "I'm frightened, Mommy." When she arrived he confessed what he had been doing, and she reassured him that since he was only pretending, there was no harm done and that he needn't be frightened, and they left the stage singing, "We're as happy as can be."

Bruce had difficulty again in accepting the happy ending. During this play the children spoke directly to Happy in a new way. For example, when Happy hid and said, "Don't tell him where I a m , " they responded verbally. One said, "We'll tell him Happy's not h e r e . He r a n away." Another offered, "We'll tell him you're down in the p a r k . " Only Allen tattled when Daddy wondered where Happy was. However, he showed himself to be the most r e a l i s t i c a l l y oriented a little later when Happy said, "Why does Daddy always have to go a w a y ? " Allen responded m a t t e r - o f - f a c t l y , "Because he wants to make money." The r e sponses of the l e s s troubled children were c h a r a c t e r i s t i c a l l y milder than those of B r u c e and o t h e r s like him. For example, when Happy asked f o r suggestions about what to do to the " p r e tend" family, he was told "Kick them"; "Push them"; "Buy a suit of a lion and s c a r e t h e m " ; "Punch them in the f a c e " ; "Go to Coney Island." Here again the play was most obviously s u c c e s s f u l in r e l e a s ing hostile feelings toward parent and sibling f i g u r e s . B r u c e , the prize example, r e a c t e d to the puppets not simply in t e r m s of what they actually did in the play, but r a t h e r a s if they had behaved in a f a r w o r s e m a n n e r . This fact, coupled with h i s

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profuse comments, suggests that he found the play a more s a t i s factory release medium than any other. It is noteworthy that as he became more and more outspoken in his attacks on the puppet family figures in the s e r i e s of plays, his aggression toward other children tended to diminish. It is also significant that youngsters who were better adjusted also had some hostile and destructive impulses toward family figures. All teachers should recognize that feelings of this kind are inevitable, probably as a response to the pressures exerted on them in the process of growing up and meeting the demands of society. Puppet plays provide an excellent opportunity for children to express these feelings in a reassuring and understanding atmosphere. It is obvious that all the excitement in this play was contributed by the audience itself. In a sense, it was simply a group interview, except for the setting up of the situation. It is r e markable that so young a group could follow the complexity of a play within a play and could respond to a fantasy situation twice removed with such vigor. This play threw new light on the attitudes of Liza, who had been considered a happy, well-adjusted child. Unexpectedly, she grew progressively more hostile to the family group depicted, ending with, "I want you to hide her [Toots] in the forest where the wolves are." Questioning of Liza's teachers by project personnel revealed that she was the only child of parents who were "trying to make her perfect." The teachers then reviewed her history and found they had originally checked the items "easily upset," "aggressive," "whiney," "domineering," and that six months earlier it had been reported that she would often act ill to get attention and at rest time try to get a teacher to sit by her. Liza's paintings showed some insecurity, aggression, and tension, as well as a contrast between striving for intellectual control and infantile patterns. The latter conflict also came out in her finger painting sessions, in which she seemed to r e sist the enjoyment of smearing, making highly controlled patterns, yet at the same time encouraged Julie to more and more uncontrolled immersion in the paint. The resulting appraisal indicated that she was a child with good potentialities and inner resources who was, nevertheless, pressed too hard to grow up. Consequently, her teachers resolved to ease up in their demands. It was not surprising to find shortly thereafter that Bruce and Liza were beginning to play together. Their responses to the puppet play had indicated an excellent common meeting ground in their hostility toward parents.

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The fifth play was simply an adaptation of Adolph Woltmann's "Rockabye Baby." Bingo, the monkey, was introduced during this play. Toots entered the scene saying, "Oh, I'm so tired all the time and now I have to dust. I don't see why I should have to dust so much.... See the nice bed, do you know what we a r e saving this bed f o r ? " The children guessed accurately that it was for the baby. Toots continued to complain, "Oh dear, I get so tired working so hard, etc." Happy asked her to play ball and she refused, saying she was tired. He turned to the audience and asked, "Why is Mamma so tired?* Bruce responded, "Because she is a mean mother. She feeds the baby first." Then Toots and Happy scuffled, and Daddy came in to lead Toots off to rest. The next scene was introduced by the Master of Ceremonies, who told the audience that Toots was bringing home a baby. Bruce called out, "I got a little baby. She can't walk or talk. I got a brother; he can't walk or talk either." Toots entered with the baby in her arm, gushing over him. When she asked the audience, "Should I kiss the baby?" all except Bruce responded "Yes." He said "No," then justified himself by adding, "She's asleep now." Baby was put down, and Happy entered singing. Toots stopped him immediately, and the audience began to advise him, "Take ruler"; "Hit her when she's not looking." Toots impatiently told Happy to go away. He complained, "You don't play with me." Toots appealed to the audience, "He should go in the corner, shouldn't h e ? " Bruce said, "No," but Allen maintained his usual stand and righteously said, "Because he was going to hit you with a ruler.* Toots told Happy finally to lie down, which he did. Bruce urged him to sing and wake up the baby and then go to sleep. Just then Bingo came in and called to Happy. Happy greeted him eagerly and there was much hugging, kissing, jumping, and singing. Then Bingo and Happy concocted a scheme to "do something" because they resented the baby. They asked the audience what they should do. Allen shouted, "Hit him and crack his head," but Happy restrained Bingo. Bruce urged them on, "Yes, because they don't like him." Bingo appealed to the audience, "Happy won't let me hit him and kick him, what should I do?" Bruce advised, "Hit him, only hit him, o n l y only make believe you hit her." Bingo agreed to this, and Happy asked the audience not to tell. When Bingo returned from the baby's room, Happy asked him to do something more, to put the baby away. Then Happy lay down innocently as before, and Bingo took the baby outside. Again Happy asked the audience not to tell. As soon as Toots came in, Bruce could not restrain himself, "Baby is put away, Toots." Toots grew frantic and asked where the baby was and searched for her. This time nobody tattled. Happy jumped up and declared that he was frightened and wanted Bingo to come back. The audience shouted for Bingo. Happy asked Bingo to put the baby back again. The

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audience disagreed with Happy and told Bingo not to bring the baby back again. Bruce elaborated on this attitude, "Lock her in a cage; throw her—put her on the tracks." Bingo and Happy fought, and Happy conquered Bingo, and Bingo returned the baby. Then Bingo had a comedy scene in which he knocked a chair down and straightened it. It fell again, and he straightened it repeatedly. This was much enjoyed and seemed a happy release in a fairly tense situation. Bingo then told the audience, "I don't like Happy, he's mean to me," and left. Happy went to see if the baby was back, and was relieved to find him. Toots came in and expressed her delight that the baby was back. (Both Bruce and Allen, however, insisted that the baby was not back.) Then Toots asked the audience if Happy had done something to the baby, and they all shouted "No." This time Allen broke away from his usual pattern, saying, "You know who took her away? The wind." Then Toots gave Happy permission to get up again and she left. Happy appreciatively said to the audience, "Oh, you are my friends." Mr. Joe (Daddy) entered carrying a bag which contained candy for Happy, and Happy Insisted upon sharing it with his friends. Then Happy and Mr. Joe danced together and sang the Happy theme song. This p e r f o r m a n c e was marked by several differences in the audience reaction. Allen seemed able to retain his identification with Happy and entered into the spirit of the thing by not giving him away and, in fact, gratuitously baited Toots. Bruce, although persistently anti-baby and anti-Toots, moderated his suggestions, apparently accepting the implied "pretend" solution offered in the previous play. Julie joined Happy and the other children and apparently abandoned her identification with the baby. When Bingo asked if he should put the baby back again, she responded "No." One of the l a t e r plays presented a situation to which timid children a r e frequently subjected, and sought to encourage them to s e l f - a s s e r t i o n . The plot revolved about Happy's attempts to help his mother. He washes by himself, gets a diaper for the baby, and is then sent to the s t o r e for bread and candy. After he gets them he encounters Toughie, who takes them away and e a t s the candy. Later Happy r e t u r n s to the scene of his defeat, beats Toughie, and gets back the bread. The most noticeable thing about the reaction of the children was their complete sympathy for Happy. They warned him about Toughie before the fight, gave him advice on how to beat the bully, and actually tried to beat him up themselves. After his defeat they told Toots what had happened to Happy and finally encouraged him to take r a t h e r d e s p e r a t e m e a s u r e s against the bully. These r e s p o n s e s suggest that the timid children and

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perhaps others a s well would find strong support in their identification with Happy and in the positive feelings of the whole group toward him. At this point it is impossible to predict the degree of effectiveness of this kind of group support since the play itself attacks the problem on a superficial level. Certainly more work would have to be done, with detailed records of reactions, before any conclusive statement could be made. However, the uniformly positive response to Happy in this situation suggests that a play of this kind might offer a good starting point to teachers who would like to help timid children. This play might well be followed by f r e e discussion about why Happy was afraid of Toughie in the first place, bringing out the fact that many of us are quite frequently afraid. One play and discussion of this kind could not be expected to effect any actual change in the children, but they might open a channel of communication and encourage them to talk about their fears and worries. Here the important thing is for the teacher to be a receptive listener and to avoid making judgments. Moreover, if the effect of the play is to release the aggressive impulses of timid or socalled "good" children, it is essential for the adult to be patient while they struggle to achieve a realistic combination of conformity and self-assertion. One plot led to an unexpected result that may have valuable educational implications. Happy wants his daddy to get his car, but he has to go to the office. Toots also refuses because of a headache, and Happy won't go to the store to get medicine for her. Bingo comes in and helps him try to get the car, but it is broken in the process. Toots comes in, forgives him for breaking the car, and daddy comes home and fixes it, so that everything ends happily. Although the object of this play was to give the children an outlet for resentment against their parents and to assure them of continued acceptance in spite of their feelings, the actual effect was to evoke sympathy for the parents and an understanding of the p r e s s u r e s under which adults labor. The children recognized that they were the innocent victims of c i r cumstances. They were outraged at Happy's refusal to help his mother, they incited Toots to spank him and proclaimed that the broken car was a well-deserved punishment. They even assured him that his daddy would fix the car. (Later on, Julie included her father in a dramatic play session for the first time.) These responses suggest that puppets can be exceedingly useful in helping children to understand their parents' motivations, and in teaching them about human relationships in general.

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In looking back on this exploratory project, we should like to s t r e s s again both the promise shown by puppets as a mode of communication and the care their use entails. Children a r e immensely intrigued by puppets, whether they a r e made of paper bags, stockings, papier-mache, or even potatoes. 4 When they are used dramatically, as in the present investigation, their emotional values a r e multiple. They a r e most effective in r e leasing the child's hidden feelings, they give him an opportunity to discover and express his attitudes toward people and events, they stimulate him to think about different solutions to his problems—and all this takes place in the reassuring atmosphere of a group setting in which others have similar reactions. At the same time, they help the teacher understand the behavior of individual children and appreciate the strains and p r e s s u r e s under which they may be laboring, thus providing her with the opportunity to do her part in the education of their emotions. Each of these points has been illustrated in the foregoing account of the plays and the children's reactions to them. In spite of—indeed, because of—the manifold effects of the puppet plays, we must conclude with a number of distinct r e s ervations. The release of strong emotion is inevitably attended by some measure of risk and responsibility. While in the great majority of instances the expressions and reactions a r e mild enough not to be disturbing to the child himself, to other children, or to the teacher, there is still the possibility that now and then a reaction will be forthcoming with which the teacher is not prepared to cope. This possibility can be reduced although not wholly eliminated by excluding from the activity children who are known or suspected to be disturbed or deeply troubled. As a matter of fact, the composition of the audience should be given close attention even among average, fairly well-adjusted children. As was indicated in Chapter I with reference to other activities, it is advisable to select the children according to their temperamental patterns, so that, for example, the fearful will not be discouraged by the vigorous responses of the more spontaneous and aggressive, and the timid will be supported by the group rather than overwhelmed by it. As a second precaution, any teacher who undertakes the use of puppets in the ways we have described, must be not only versed in puppetry, but particularly resourceful and experienced 4. For directions for making puppets, see the two pamphlets by Grossman and by Shoemaker published by the Play Schools Association and listed in the Bibliography.

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in the handling of emotional problems among children. She must be in a position to recognize and deal understanding^ with the usual expressions of hostility and ambivalence toward parents, brothers and sisters, or herself. But at the same time she must be on the watch for the more acute types of reaction, be ready to eliminate any play themes that tend to produce anxiety or extreme behavior, and equally prepared to discuss the advisability of professional help for a child instead of attempting therapy herself. In view of these special requirements, the use of puppet plays for emotional purposes cannot be suggested at this time as a general procedure on a par with such activities as blocks, fingerpaints, or clay. Rather, we strongly recommend that full and systematic explorations of this medium be made. This can best be accomplished by the combined efforts of the well-equipped teacher and the psychological specialist. If present indications are fulfilled, puppets, in the hands of properly trained persons, may well become a powerful instrument in helping children understand and adjust to themselves and the world about them.

Bibliography Chapter I: Planned Play Groups Baruch, Dorothy W. Therapeutic procedures a s part of the educative process. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 4 (1940): 165-172. Erikson, Erik H. Studies in the interpretation of play. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 22 (1940): 557-671. Hartley, Ruth E. Growing through Play. New York. 1952. Lawrence K. Frank, and Robert M. Goldenson. Understanding Children's Play. New York. 1952. Lowenfeld, Margaret. Play in Childhood. London, Gollancz. 1935. Slavson, S. R. Play group therapy for young children. The Nervous Child, 7 (1948): 318-327. Treatment of Withdrawal through group therapy. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 15 (1945): 681-689. Washburn, Ruth W. Reeducation in a Nursery Group. Monograph 2, Vol. 2, Society for Research in Child Development. 1944. Chapter II: Miniature Life Toys Bach, George R. Father-fantasies and father-typing in fatherseparated children. Child Development. 17 (1946): 63-80. Young Children's Play Fantasies. Psychological Monograph, Vol. 59 No. 2. 1945. Baruch, Dorothy W. Aggression during doll play in a pre-school. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 11 (1941): 252-260. Doll play in pre-school as an aid in understanding the child. Mental Hygiene. 24 (1940): 566-577. Brenner, G. J. The effect of two fantasy environments on children's doll play responses. Unpublished dissertation, State University of Iowa. 1947. Jeffre, M. F. D. Fantasied mother-child interaction in doll play. Unpublished thesis, Department of Child Welfare, State University of Iowa. 1946. Levy, David M. Use of play technique as experimental procedure. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 3 (1933): 266-277.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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