抄録
In this study, Japanese 3-5-year-old children who play with sand and make sand mountains are observed. As the result, 3-year-old children discover the nature or sand by playing with sand, and they learn how to make mountains using sand by watching their peers who play alongside them. Children as young as four can access this knowledge of the nature of sand and readily develop the skills to make mountain with sand. They also have social skills at this age that allow them to cooperate with peers in the making or sand mountains. Moreover, children of five developed cooperative play by dividing up areas of "work" in making sand mountains.
