The Effects of Thematic-Fantasy Play Training on the Development of Children’s Story Comprehension

This study examined the effects of three modes of story reconstruction training on the development of children’s story comprehension. One hundred and eight children in grades K-2 were assigned randomly to one of three training conditions: thematic-fantasy play, adult-lead discussion, or drawing. Children were read three books on separate occasions and exposed to the appropriate conditions in relation to each book. Story comprehension data, as measured by a two-factor, criterion-referenced test and a retell task, collected after the third session, were analyzed. Second graders’ performance on all comprehension measures was superior to the younger children’s comprehension. Thematic-fantasy play was the most effective facilitator of all measures of comprehension, particularly for kindergarteners. Enacting specific play roles seemed to have a direct effect on the ability to retell stories.