Abstract
How do children initiate interactions with peers? Preschoolers' free play behavior was observed using a videotape recorder, and scenes in which children initiated peer interactions were analyzed to understand the children's types of explicit and implicit strategies. In addition, the stream of initiation behavior (strategy, peer response, consequent condition) was analyzed as a sequence. The results included age differences in initiation styles during ages 3 and 4. There were various implicit strategies besides direct and explicit ones to initiate interactions with peers. Three year-olds imitated others' behavior to engage peers more often than did 4 year-olds. Between ages 3 and 4, children came to use implicit strategies and participate in peer play more often. But in the latter half period of 4 year-olds, children tended more to invite peers to join in their activities, and to attract peers' attention. This latter style might reflect the fact that older children know each other better. The number of explicit entry attempts increased as children became more familiar with the rules of entry into preschool play.
