Abstract
The observation of preschool children in a hospital playroom emphasizes the young child's grief and regression during hospitalization. The younger the child the less he is able to play unless relationship with an available and "constant" mother-substitute is established. Children younger than 4 years old need an active approach from the teacher, while the preschool children from 4 to 6 years reach out and compete for the teacher's attention. Once the grief is relieved and the pain of separation is alleviated, the children are ready to play out actively whatever they had to endure passively during the illness and hospitalization. These observations highlight the meaning of the teacher as the most important single factor, the indispensable constituent of a hospital's playroom. Young children do not need a great variety of toys in this setting, but they do need available and interested adults. Case histories are presented to demonstrate the psychotherapeutic function the playroom teachers may perform in selected cases.
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