Traditionally, street play has played an important role in structuring child social organization and culture. This study of child play focuses on play as a spontaneous phenomenon which occurs without adult guidance and written rules. In all cultures each play activity has a particular structure which defines it. In general, this structure leads to the development of particular game patterns, strategies, and sanctions. Although this structure arose from child interactions, it constitutes a ritualized "supra-relationship"; that is, although each verbally-coded structural characteristic may exist independently from constraints placed on it, the same may act as a determinant in some situations. In practice, play structure does not affect child interactions, in the sense of eliminating particular types of interpersonal relations that were previously established. Beginning with traditional games such as marbles, kiting, and tag, those structural aspects that condition, or interact with interpersonal relations were studied. It is believed that a thorough investigation of these factors is necessary in order to better describe the nature of games and comprehend how within-group relations influence the transmission of play culture.
play structure; games; child interaction; cultural transmission
