The first section considers studies that ask children the seemingly simple question: What happens when you go to school? Of interest is whether play enters into children’s school scripts and, if it does, where it goes. Do children’s responses reveal their emotional and motivational judgments of schools and, if so, how are these judgments expressed? From script-oriented research, the second and third sections turn to studies that deal more specifically with the distinction between work and play. These studies view work and play as sociocultural concepts that children acquire at an early age. Studies of children’s views of work and play examine the
criteria children use to separate these concepts and how these criteria change with age. Finally, there is a summary of recent data about children’s retrospective accounts of play, especially pretend play.