Abstract
Observing children at play is an excellent tool to obtain information about their development and may contribute, in psycho-pedagogical evaluation, to get to know educational needs at early ages. Nevertheless, evaluation based on play is an underdeveloped methodology which lacks empirical validation. Standardized tests are the most common tool for obtaining data; however, they have proved not to be motivating for children, and even stressful. Even when tests are not administered, observation of how children play and interact with their classmates during play offers valuable information, given the important role of play in different aspects of development, which is well documented in childhood psychology. The objectives of this work are: to describe different evaluative instruments based on play, detailing the areas of evaluation, characteristics and procedures followed, and to conduct a study based on the comparative analysis of several instruments, finding similarities and differences, as well as advantages and disadvantages for the complete evaluation of child development. Throughout the study large differences have been observed in the objectives and procedures used. More research is needed to develop play-based assessment tools that allow an overall evaluation of development in the educational context.
Evaluation; Child development; Play; Comparative analysis