Packed with learning activities, games, poems, and recipes, as well as anecdotes and advice, the eight sections focus on:
- Individual Differences and Common Threads (distinguishing between real and pretend; concern with fairness; self-awareness)
- The Questions Children Ask (the physical world; the natural world; the social world)
- Friends (best friends; controversies and conflicts; sibling play)
- Active Play (contact and cuddling; physical feats; sports)
- Creative Play (music; art; crafts; storytelling and jokes)
- Pretend Play (actor play and dressing up; imaginary playmates; reemergence of pretending)
- School Play (reading; writing; arithmetic; collecting facts; science)
- Family (attachment and separation; family continuity; traditions)