As a grandmother of two who are about to turn two, this book is of special interest. The author does a good job of presenting the various facets of the relationship between child development and games and play, and the importance of their interaction. In fact, she elicits the help of her students to analyze how physical play, the evolution of nursery rhymes and games, and today’s digital games enhance or deter a child’s physical, mental, social, and emotional development.

The short five-chapter book covers a lot of ground, with some grammatical errors such as those found on pages 69 (“to challenge toddler’s [sic] who”) and 72 (“a simple ways [sic] to do this”). The book starts out with theoretical background on the importance of games and play, as acknowledged by philosophers and psychologists whose ideas on how children learn are in agreement that letting children play allows them to discover the world and themselves. It also traces the development of games such as jacks, bowling, and various ball games from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome to medieval times and through the 19th century.

The oral tradition of repetitive rhymes allows children to develop their ability to articulate and learn about the world around them. Rhymes accompanied by singing (“Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” for example) and hand gestures allow children to use their voice and facial expressions as well as exercise hand movements and exert physical actions. With the arrival of print media, the use of various devices such as color and texture encouraged action and interactivity between the reader and the child. It was hoped that the advent of digital devices would do the same thing.

It was an expectation that the study of the relationship between transmission methods (oral, print, and digital) would be undertaken by several students. It turned out that the study was undertaken by only one student, whose findings indicate that the amount of physical activity from nursery rhymes that children engage in using digital media is more limited than the physical activity associated with oral and print media. Thus, Reader Rabbit and LeapFrog have been introduced for the use of children as young as two years of age, and Wii and Kinect have tried to engage users in physical activity through dance (Dance Dance Revolution and Just Dance) and games like tennis, bowling, and so on. In spite of this, the ability to have children engage in physical activity has been limited because of the disparity between the child’s developmental stage and the needs that the technology is meant to meet. Thus, younger children may not truly benefit from the movements used in Wii or Kinect games because they are too short to be captured by the camera for the screen.

It can only be assumed that the author’s future students will be asked to find ways to help develop digital games that have children go beyond the screen, which limits their physicality and their perspective. We should want them to engage with a world of greater physical activity, which should be required of good educational digital games that go beyond sitting for hours in front of the computer.

In the meantime, I will be singing nursery rhymes to my grandchildren, more conscious of ways to engage in physical activity that will enhance not only their physical but also their intellectual, social, and emotional growth.