Playground Dynamics: Perceptual-Motor Behaviour and Peer Interactions of Young Children With Down Syndrome Naznin Virji-Babul, Robyn Hovorka and Anne Jobling Abstract The playground is a key environment where young children learn to navigate in both the physical and social world. However, little is known about how children with Down syndrome (DS) interact in the playground, engage with their peers, and whether the playground environment facilitates meaningful motor and social interactions. This paper addresses some of the factors that may impact the play behaviour of young children with DS. A brief review of the development of play in children with DS is presented. The underlying perceptual-motor and social competencies that may impact play behaviour are explored. Data on a pilot study that examines playground dynamics in a group of six young children with DS are presented and the implications for intervention are discussed. The development of play in infants and toddlers with Down syndrome (DS) is thought to have a similar organizational structure to that of their non DS peers (Beeghly et al., 1989; Loveland, 1987), although at a slower rate (Beeghly, Weiss-Perry & Cicchetti, 1990). However, within this overall structure there are several distinctive characteristics and qualitative differences in the patterns of play behaviour in children with DS in comparison to their non DS peers. These include differences in attention and information processing which are present as early as in the first year. Infants with DS engage in significantly fewer social referencing looks (i.e., pointing, eye-gazing, and joint attention) that guide attention and action (Kasari, Freeman, Mundy, & Sigman, 1995; Landry & Chapieski, 1990). Infants with DS manipulate toys less often and show more passive behaviour in response to their mothers' efforts to direct attention (Landry & Chapieski, 1989). During free play, children with DS spend more time in passive behaviour, shift back and forth from play to passivity more often than typical children (Linn et al., 2000), display shorter sequences of goal-directed tasks and higher rates of toy rejection (Ruskin et al., 1994).