Children’s play was considered to h

Children’s play was considered to have become more
active, creative, and social at least in part because of the
motivating quality of the materials. All the teachers agreed
that the children enjoyed playing with the materials. An
illustration of children’s heightened engagement concerned
an occasion in which it had been difficult to interrupt their
play for a sports carnival. Teachers referred to children
“having a great time” and “loving” the materials and to
certain materials, like the wooden planks, being “really,
really popular.” One important consequence of children’s
motivation to play with the materials was reported to be
an increased resilience: So engaged were they in play that
children who fell were more likely to pick themselves up
and continue playing rather than cry as they might previously
have done.