This book has its origin in a conversation with D. L. Hawtin, Director General of the British Toy and Hobby Association. He felt that there was little appreciation of why children play, what they learn through play, and how toys can facilitate play and broaden its consequences. There is much research on the subject, I said, and suggested that we invite some leading researchers to discuss their work with an eclectic audience of students, teachers, journalists, people in the toy industry, and others who care for children. Accordingly, with sponsorship from the British Toy and Hobby Association, a seminar was held in London in October 1992. Most of the chapters in this book began as papers for that seminar. To round out these papers, additional chapters were commissioned on subjects, such as sex differences in play, that the crowded seminar agenda did not permit.

Each contributor to this book is a highly regarded expert and researcher in the field of children's play. Furthermore, each has written for nonspecialist audiences of parents, students, and teachers, the audience for this book. These psychologists are not only able researchers, they are individuals sensitive to what children tell us through play. They do not merely speak of children in the abstract, as research subjects, but of children whom we know and were.

Although they share skills and interests, the authors do not always agree among themselves.