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Everywhere, out of doors and in open spaces, we find groups of children playing. What are the psychological motives behind this playful activity? How far can we go in our attempt to trace, through the profound labyrinths of the soul, those psychological experiences and happenings which have their outward manifestation in play?
It is customary to explain the psychological motives of play by means of certain theories pertaining to the subject, most of which are considered to be universally applicable. The life-apprenticeship theory of Karl Groos, and the philogenetic or atavistic explanation of Stanley Hall, attempt to answer this question of what underlies play on the basis of expediency and origin respectively. Other explanations of children's play tend to generalise from one single aspect of the matter, like Baldwin's “necessity for reiteration”, or the dogma of “joy in achievement” put forward by the experimental psychologist Buhler. In the case of several of the games, generalisations have been made from mere temporary phases, such as, for example, Schiller's deductions from the theory of “regeneration”, or Spencer's from that of superfluous energy. Then according to Buitendyk all activity of children is nothing more nor less than mere play, and may all be safely classified as such.
These theories of play leave out of consideration any question of the distinction between individual and group games. In the same way, they fail to account for the by no