Natural Variability in Parent-Child Puzzle Play at Home

Nicole Pochinki; Dakota Reis; Marianella Casasola; Lisa M Oakes; Vanessa LoBue

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.733895

Natural Variability in Parent-Child Puzzle Play at Home

Front Psychol. 2021 Sep 16:12:733895. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.733895. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Nicole Pochinki¹, Dakota Reis¹, Marianella Casasola², Lisa M Oakes³, Vanessa LoBue¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, United States.
² Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States.
³ Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States.

Abstract

Here, we observed 3- to 4-year-old children (N=31) and their parents playing with puzzles at home during a zoom session to provide insight into the variability of the kinds of puzzles children have in their home, and the variability in how children and their parents play with spatial toys. We observed a large amount of variability in both children and parents' behaviors, and in the puzzles they selected. Further, we found relations between parents' and children's behaviors. For example, parents provided more scaffolding behaviors for younger children and parents' persistence-focused language was related to more child attempts after failure. Altogether, the present work shows how using methods of observing children at a distance, we can gain insight into the environment in which they are developing. The results are discussed in terms of how variability in spatial toys and spatial play during naturalistic interactions can help us contextualize the conclusions we draw from lab-based studies.

Keywords: parent-child interactions; play; puzzles; spatial language; spatial skill.