Verbally Expressed Modes of Transformation in the Fantasy Play of Black Preschool Children

McLOYD, VONNIE C. Verbally Expressed Modes of Transformation in the Fantasy Play of Black Preschool Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1980, 51, 1133-1139. Black, low-income children's verbalized fantasy transformations during a 20-min free-play session were examined. 18 samesex dyads, 6 33,-year-old, 6 5-year-old, and 6 mixed-age dyads composed of a 3/1and 5-year-old partner, equally divided by sex, were observed. Approximately one-half of the girls' and onethird of the boys' utterances represented fantasy transformations, the most frequent of which were animation, reification, and situational attribution, respectively. Children made significantly more object than ideational transformations. Significant sex but no dyad age effects were found. Girls made significantly more transformations overall and significantly more substitution, object realism, and role-attribution transformations than boys. Proportional analyses indicated that girls made relatively more object realism and role-attribution transformations than boys. Boys made relatively more attribution of object property transformations than girls. Results suggest need for further examination of cultural and sex differences in play as a transformational and representational activity.