Children's Play

Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share in Education: The Children in Permaculture Manual is a ground-breaking book, which shines a permaculture lens to inspire child-friendly, sustainable education.

Full of innovative information, a new curriculum, hundreds of inspirations for activities, session plans, holistic pedagogy and reflection questions, this book will inspire educators to get outdoors and learn from nature.

It is for primary, nursery and kindergarten teachers, policy makers, permaculture designers, Forest School leaders, Scout leaders, parents, carers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and anyone else who is interested in holistic education for sustainability and resilience.

The book may be bought from here: https://www.permaculture.org.uk/books/children-in-permaculture-manual

Stuff and Nonsense is a collection of words, images and essays inspired by the work of Stuart Lester. Stuart’s work has influenced a broad range of practitioners, academics and institutions to think differently about children’s play. In this celebratory book you’ll encounter strangeness, curiosity, humour, philosophy, creativity, high intellect and pragmatism, all of which will be mixed together with a high proportion of nonsense and realism.

The focus of this paper is to apply sensory branding to the case of Lego. Henceforth, the thesis question for my paper is the following: To what extent does Lego use sensory branding and what should the company do in the future in terms of utilizing sensory branding?

The reason for choosing this topic is first of all, that I myself grew up with Lego and as so many in my age range intuitively understand the sensory characteristics of the touch and look of the Lego brand. Second of all I chose this topic because Lego seems to be applying sensory branding only in a limited sense.

This is interesting first of all, because it indicates, that there is room for improvement in Lego’s overall branding strategy. Second of all, it is interesting because according to fellow Danish marketing guru Martin Lindstrom, the future belongs to companies who fully adopt sensory branding. This is particularly relevant for Lego considering they are in an industry where function is relatively easily copied. Therefore, if Lego does not improve its sensory branding efforts, the company risks being overtaken by competitors applying a more holistic sensory branding strategy.

This article suggests that Pentecostalism constitutes a genuine type of religion we can label as play. In order to identify the particular elements of this type, the article makes use of Erving Goffman's frame analysis to organize Pentecostal theological activity. This methodological starting point is followed by an overview of existing interpretations of Pentecostalism as a form of play. The main portion of this essay then constructs from an analysis of everyday experiences visible in Pentecostalism a primary framework of activities oriented around the transformative encounter with the Holy Spirit. The sequence of activity involves a primary and overlapping pattern of Pentecostal spirituality, experience, narrative, affections, practices, and embodiment. Demonstrating that play is not exclusive to Pentecostalism, but that Pentecostals manifest a particularly visible form, demands that greater attention is paid both to Pentecostalism as a religious tradition and to play as a theological model. Pentecostalism is frequently identified as one of the fastest growing religious movements of the twentieth century, and interest in Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity has grown dramatically over the last decades, but little agreement exists about the exact nature of what we label with the term " Pentecostal. " The adolescence of Pentecostalism may offer helpful insights into the development of young religious movements, yet the question can be asked if the Pentecostal movement indeed possesses a distinctive religious character and how its theology relates to the established Christian traditions and to religion as a whole. 1 It is the argument of this essay that the religious identity of Pentecostalism is rooted in its particular character as a genuine theological type held together by an enigmatic theological method: the mode of play. The difficulty of identifying Pentecostalism stems from a lack of apprehending the particular activities that together comprise religion as play. In order to identify the particular elements of Pentecostalism as play, I make use of Erving Goffman's social theory of conceptual frames to organize Pentecostal religious activity. This methodological starting point is followed by a brief overview of existing proposals that relate Pentecostalism and play. The main portion of this essay then conducts a frame analysis of the core elements characteristic of Pentecostal theology. I conclude with a proposal outlining why play can function as a model for the study of Pentecostalism and how it can be used to organize Pentecostal theology going forward. The essay ends with a discussion of the potential impact of play on the study of religion.

Background of Study: Competence in motor performance skills is important in enabling children to be physically literate. Plyometric-based training has been suggested as an effective means to enhance motor performance skills in young athletes. However, no studies have reported the effects of a whole body plyometric-based program integrated into physical education on motor performance skills with young children. Objective: This study aims to examine the effect of a plyometric-based program on primary school students' motor performance skills, upper and lower body muscular power, and reactive strength index. Method: The sample was composed of 61 primary school students, 29 girls and 32 boys, aged 7-8 years old, from two secondgrade Physical Education (PE) classes. Both groups participated in their regular eight-week PE lessons (50-minute classes twice a week). During the study, the plyometric group performed a plyometric-based program in the 15-minute warmup of each class, while the comparison group performed regular warmup activities. Student's motor performance skill proficiency, reactive strength index, lower and upper body muscular power were assessed before and after the eight weeks of PE lessons. The data were analysed using a two-way analysis of variance, followed by pairwise comparisons with the Bonferroni adjustment. Results: The data analysis indicated significant increases in motor performance skill proficiency, upper and lower body muscular power in the plyometric group vs comparison group (p ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: These results suggest that including a plyometric-based program in the PE warmup phase of the lessons may improve motor performance skills and muscular power in primary school students.

In philosophy, there are two competitor views about the nature and value of childhood: The first is the traditional, deficiency, view, according to which children are mere unfinished adults. The second is a view that has recently become increasingly popular amongst philosophers, and according to which children, perhaps in virtue of their biological features, have special and valuable capacities, and, more generally, privileged access to some sources of value. This article provides a conceptual map of these views and their possible interpretations, and notes their bearing on issues of population ethics and on the duties that we are owed during childhood.

Play has often been snubbed as a serious research topic. The combination of its supposed uselessness and its association with the world of childhood has led to a general lack of reflection about play on the part of high culture.
Nevertheless, play experience is symbolic, polysemic, ambivalent, laden with affect and a potential generator of contradictory and transformative knowledge (Huizinga, 1980; Fink, 1987, 1992; Suits, 1978). Due to its rich variety of expression and multiple meanings, it eludes the rigorous conceptualizations and reductionism favoured by contemporary mainstream educational science, which views play mainly as a teaching aid or as an opportunity for socialization, culturalization, transmission of contents or as a means of furthering linguistic, cognitive or affective development.
When we speak about the relationship between playing and childhood, we have to go beyond the real and concrete child, and also go beyond a univocal kind of game - as symbolic play. Although we expose ourselves to the risk of considering playing an important but limited activity, that has to be abandoned in favour of growing up, to evolve activity in more useful ways. But play is linked to the world of childhood in a deeper way, where childhood is understood as an archetypical dimension (Hillman 1988, 1999; Bachelard 1960), as an age which is not only biological, but represents the most imaginative season of life, mainly characterized by wonder and excitement about the world. Childhood is the season in which reality is not analysed, categorized or divided into disciplines, but is seen as a wonderful and fantastic playroom, viewed with passion and understood at a deep symbolic level. In this sense artists, poets, visionaries, dreamers such as players and gamers, nurture a symbolic childhood gaze, open to understanding Play as a fundamental experience for the development of human capabilities. In the chapter I will argue how this is possible, supported by philosophers, anthropologists, educators.

In India, policymakers are interested in improving the quality of services in government run early childhood education and care centers, known as anganwadis, run by India’s Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). One measurement of program quality is the presence of play, which experts construct as a valuable tool for individualized cognitive development.  Drawing on ethnographic data from a 13 month study of anganwadis in three southern Indian states, the author uses a postcolonial feminist lens to argue that, contrary to the expectations outlined in cognition-based approaches to quality evaluation, in India, play often functions as a tool for the collective good rather than for individual social progress. Consequently, in anganwadis, early childhood education programs may be falsely judged as poorly run because they do not conform to standards based on inappropriate, decontextualized notions of play’s form and function. The author argues that broadening ideas about what play looks like and what it is for can lead to more accurate pictures of program quality and, by extension, more specific and effective recommendations for improvement.

BACKGROUND: Qualitative research into the effect of school recess on children's physical activity is currently limited. This study used a write and draw technique to explore children's perceptions of physical activity opportunities during recess.METHODS: 299 children age 7-11 years from 3 primary schools were enlisted. Children were grouped into Years 3 & 4 and Years 5 & 6 and completed a write and draw task focusing on likes and dislikes. Pen profiles were used to analyze the data.RESULTS: Results indicated 'likes' focused on play, positive social interaction, and games across both age groups but showed an increasing dominance of games with an appreciation for being outdoors with age. 'Dislikes' focused on dysfunctional interactions linked with bullying, membership, equipment, and conflict for playground space. Football was a dominant feature across both age groups and 'likes/dislikes' that caused conflict and dominated the physically active games undertaken.CONCLUSION: Recess was important for the development of conflict management and social skills and contributed to physical activity engagement. The findings contradict suggestions that time spent in recess should be reduced because of behavioral issues.

A boy child could simply be defined as a male infant growing into a young boy. There are many issues which have exacerbated to the plight of a boy child.
Equally of concern as regards to this is the prevalence given to a girl child which has led to the negligence of the issues affecting a boy child and causing them to be vulnerable to an unforeseen future. The popular misconception that when you educate a girl you educate an entire society to imply that the same is not true of educating the boy child, this is misleading fact has led to the decline of a participation of a boy child in education.

Resumen: El aula de preescolar es un espacio donde las niñas y los niños pueden poner en práctica y potenciar habilidades que les permiten socializar con otros. En Costa Rica, se hace énfasis en la importancia de estos procesos y, dentro del aula, hay un periodo que los facilita llamado “juegotrabajo”. La presente investigación llevó a cabo una observación de 8 aulas de un nivel de preescolar (transición), donde un periodo de tiempo está dedicado a que las niñas y los niños se dividan y jueguen en diversos espacios físicos. El resultado principal es una descripción de las dinámicas de aula, dónde encontramos un alto grado de juego individual, así como interés en proyectos, tanto de niñas y niños de su área como de otras.

Abstract: The preschool classroom is a space where children may put into practice social skills such as negotiation that will help them in socializing with others. Costa Rica places emphasis in the importance of such processes, therefore inside the classrooms there is a designated time that provides such spaces, one called work-play. The following research looked at eight different preschool classrooms (transition stage) in which a certain time is given to the children to divide and play on different spaces. The main result is a full description of a classroom dynamic where we find

Le misure di sicurezza imposte dai governi per limitare la diffusione del conta-gio da SARS-CoV-2 e la conseguente condizione di isolamento in cui sono coin-volti individui e famiglie stanno inevitabilmente indebolendo quella dimensione sociale e relazionale che rende unica la nostra specie. Le fasce di popolazione che stanno pagando il prezzo più alto, in termini di impoverimento delle rela-zioni, sono quelle deboli: anziani e bambini. Se, infatti, gli anziani sono stati costretti a ridurre drasticamente i contatti con i propri familiari, vivendo una condizione, seppur cautelativa, di solitudine forzata, i bambini stanno sperimen-tando un ulteriore, grave depauperamento: quello dei momenti di gioco tra pari, fondamentali per la costruzione della loro futura personalità. Il difficile periodo che stiamo attraversando sottopone i bambini a una disorien-tante dilatazione della dimensione temporale che, abitualmente, nella scuola dell'infanzia, è scandita da attività ludiche e momenti di con-divisione. L'isola-mento, invece, impone uno spazio fisico-quello abitativo-in cui, giocoforza, non viene più esperita la relazionalità ludica tra pari, privando i bambini di un tempo imprescindibile: quello che consentirebbe loro, attraverso il gioco, di de-codificare la realtà sociale, con le sue regole, i suoi ordini, le sue gerarchie.

The article studies the relationship between the well-being and the ludic principles of human agency. According to Gwen Gordon the research of the connection between the play and the health (well-being) is highly omitted in contemporary psychology. As the psychological concept of eudaimonism refers primarily to Aristotle’s ethical philosophy, the article starts to analyse Aristotle’s concept of happiness and ethics. It will be shown that Aristotelian ethics has a teleological, morally normative, elitist and universal framing. This is why the idea of eudaimonism, personal singularity and non-normativity in contemporary psychology cannot structurally use its alleged Aristotelian source. The succeeding study of Eudaimonia in Fink and Agamben offers the possibility to use the concept of play as a basic structure of human self-relationship, place of self-development and creation of the real. “To be happy” doesn’t mean in this case to achieve any state of inner harmony, unity and/or flourishing, but to have the capacity to live in a conflict, to go through the moments of destruction and transformation and to create new reality. The article reinterprets Aristotelian concept of happiness which excludes the ludic principles from any form of the “serious”, „real“ well-being and shows how the play can take a genuine part in the mature human personality.

This research aimed to explore children’s play in relation to gender stereotypes and beliefs and practices of educators in preschool settings.  A feminist poststructuralist approach framed the design of the research and data was collected in two settings through predetermined categories of play during periods of spontaneous free play. The question asked in this research was, do early childhood educators’ perceptions of gender influence children’s play? Findings suggest that there were differences between these two settings and these differences are explained through individual beliefs and practices of the educators.

Play for a Change is a review of perspectives on play, policy and practice carried out for Play England by Stuart Lester and Wendy Russell of the University of Gloucestershire. The authors of drew on a range of academic disciplines, especially brain sciences,
sociology and geography. While recognising the foundation that developmental psychology has given to theories about children and play, the focus of this review has largely been on alternative approaches. It considers three strands:
• the policy context for supporting children’s play, including an analysis of the literature on approaches to policy-making and on children and childhood
• the literature on the benefits of children’s play and on children’s play patterns
• provision for play and working with children at play.

Abstract: The text presents the play spaces reserved in childhood memories. The places that children infuse with their emotions they recognize as their own and where they define the rules of the games. The period was covered is the childhood of those born during the middle of 20th century and early 21st century.

In this chapter, I argue that the elusive phenomenon of perezhivanie (or “intensely-emotional-lived-through-experience”) can be made available for analysis in its full, dynamic complexity in part through the use of synthetic-analytic methods of representation that themselves evoke and manifest perezhivanie. I de- scribe an application of Vygotsky’s method of analysis of literary works to play that makes perezhivanie an empirically researchable phenomenon. I focus on one example of this application in which a team of researchers, including the author, made maximum use of our roles as participant-observers by enhancing our own and others’ emotional re-engagement in adult-child joint play using the art form of film and play. My claim is that this process did not show us perezhivanie that was less ‘real’ than the perezhivanie we had experienced firsthand but instead revealed qualities of the perezhivanie we had experienced that we could not see without our “film-play”.

Concerning America's--and Nevada's--poor educational system vs. the rest of the world (notably Finland).  How it could be improved, if tailor-made to advances in child development research: for example, starting high school later, letting teenagers sleep in.  Also discusses standardized testing and the "Social Efficiency Model," the value of play and Creativity equaling problem-solving.

At first glance the problems of children playgrounds in Sofia today are identical with the problems of any new public space that has appeared in the city in the past few years: they are expensive, do not take context into consideration, and most of all - children find them boring.
On the other hand, the problems of children play areas in Sofia are shared by most of the facilities all around the world. They are eternally safe, industrially tested, painfully labelled, and multiplied without any imagination.
How did it happen that playgrounds became so dull?
It is curious how history of Bulgarian playground design repeats all the restless quests of architecture in the second half of the XXth century.

Play moves between different realms and definitions, reality and unreality, space and time, collective and individual, freedom and rules. (1) In 1997 the ambiguous character of play becomes the title of one of the most comprehensive studies on the topic, The Ambiguity of Play by Sutton-Smith. The author himself has manifested the difficulties to define what play is, though every reader has a clear feeling of what playing provokes. One trait that the book highlights the character between freedom expressed by Johan Huizinga “Here, then, we have the first main characteristic of play: that it is free, is in fact freedom. A second characteristic is closely con­nected with this, namely, that play is not "ordinary" or "real" life. It is rather a stepping out of "real" life into a temporary sphere of activity with a disposition all of its own” (2) and restriction expressed by Roger Caillois “The game must be taken back within the agreed boundaries. The same is true for time: the game starts and ends at given signal”. (3)

Play is defined both spatially and temporally: “Play is distinct from "ordinary" life both as to locality and duration” (4), and when translated into our cityscape it can be a powerful tool able to transform anonymous urban setting into "extraordinary" space where the activities, movements and uses are carried on by the player because he/she likes doing it, freely accepting the play limitation.

Playgrounds spread in our urban environment are the setting for playful activities such as fun, relaxation, exercise or escape becoming a qualitative manifestation for a healthy human experience. Inside the playground border, the rules of the game hold, but at the same time the free nature of play when is affected by the non-optimal urban/social conditions of the context can easily assume a fragile status and disappear.
Therefore, both the protection and the promotion of playful spaces need careful attention, especially in the contemporary urban settlement. Hence, the aim of this paper is firstly to add nuance to the understanding of urban design linked to playful activities in order to improve mental health conditions especially in children and teenagers. Secondly, it aims to give practical examples through a case study analysis of how urban planning and urban design can affect positively play creating new opportunities.

Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo registrar e analisar as estratégias de organização de espaços e atividades de interações e brincadeiras, destinados ao trabalho educativo com crianças, com centralidade nas artes e nas culturas infantis. A pesquisa articula-se com a extensão universitária, como campo propício à produção do conhecimento, por meio do projeto Balaio de Sensibilidades, protagonizado pela Faculdade de Educação (FACED) da Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA). Deste projeto, a ação Sarau Infantil Toda Criança é um Poema étomada como objeto de estudo no sentido de ampliação de repertório das possibilidades de trabalho com a infância. O texto estrutura-se pelo levantamento teórico-bibliográfico e pela pesquisa participante de cunho intervencionista, tendo como procedimentos da pesquisa, a observação participante e os registros escritos, fotográficos e audiovisuais do Sarau Infantil.Os resultados da pesquisa apontam que o campo das culturas infantis abrange áreas distintas do conhecimento e formas próprias e diversificadas de interações e de produção de saberes. O Sarau Infantil pode ser considerado uma experiência plural, interativa, livre e com diferentes possibilidades de interações entre crianças, artistas, escolas e brincantes.

During the preschool years, children need a lot of learning opportunities that can ensure their development in mental, physical, social, emotional and creative domains. Play, especially water and sand play, can provide these learning opportunities. Observation has revealed however that many pre-primary schools in Nigeria do not give children opportunities to engage in these two important plays. Therefore, as a way of advocating for the use of water and sand play in fostering holistic development of preschool children, this study carried out an experiment with water and sand to document the skills that preschool children can demonstrate during water and sand play. Qualitative research method was adopted. Seven preschool age children were purposively selected for the study. Data was collected through observational technique that involves the use of field note, photo and video camera. Findings from the experiment revealed that water and sand play hold a lot of oportunities for children to develop mathematical, language, scientific, physical, social, emotional and creative skills. Ministry of Education through SUBEB therefore needs to enforce the policy on method of teaching at pre-primary school level. Workshops and seminars are needed to train preschool heads and caregivers on how to use water and sand play in facilitating children's learning and development.

In the mid-twentieth century, psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark conducted their famous "doll test" in which they asked African American children whether they preferred black or white dolls. Most children identified white dolls as "nice" and black dolls as "bad"-proof, the Clarks argued, that segregation damaged black children psychologically. These findings figured pivotally in Brown v. Board of Education. Bernstein defamiliarizes the "doll test" by locating it not in the history of Civil Rights but instead in the history of representational play involving racialized dolls. Bernstein argues that a black child's rejection of a black doll might indeed reveal internalized racism; but it could also constitute a rejection of violently racist practices of play that had, for a century, been coordinated through black dolls. Thus Bernstein offers a new understanding of the Clarks' child-subjects not as passive internalizers of racism instead as agents who resisted inherited traditions of performance.

Play therapy is saintifically supported approach widely used to address social, emotional and
behavioural difficulties for children at school. Play provide means for communication, while toys
and creative materials are the languages for children. Schools consider as situational setting for
play therapy in helping children or young peoples express their feeling, thought and behaviour.
This article presents a brief overview of situational play therapy as therapeutic intervention for
counseling children and young people at school. The authors present how situational play therapy
can foster symbolization process for children and young people. In addition, child-centered play
therapy themes ,patterns and activities also be highlight as effectively tools to work with children
and young people experiencing emotional and academic issues at school.

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Spero che vi piaccia.
To bring the little ones closer to Dante (over 25 readers). You can visit my new website: https://www.danteperbambiniepergrandi.com