Language awareness and multilingualism in early childhood education has received much attention in recent years. The aim of this article is to shed light on challenges and tensions in supporting ...multilingualism in a minority language ECEC setting in Finland. Of special interest are situations where children not yet proficient in Swedish or Finnish are included or at risk of being excluded. The study was conducted in Southern Finland where many children attending Swedish ECEC come from bilingual Finnish-Swedish homes. The qualitative data consists of interviews with 74 teachers and staff working in 18 Swedish ECEC. Also, participant observations of children aged 3–5 interacting with peers were conducted. The results show that children are aware of language differences and use language as a means for inclusion and exclusion of peers during play. The high degree of freedom in children’s free play, without the participation of adults, makes it difficult for staff to create a common praxis or linguistic strategies. Furthermore, the results indicate that ECEC staff need more guidelines on how to actively support the children’s development of Swedish while supporting children’s bilingualism or multilingualism.
Review: Digital Playgrounds: The Hidden Politics of Children’s Online Play Spaces, Virtual Worlds and Connected Games, by Sara Grimes. 2021. University of Toronto Press. vii + 358 pp
The global decline of children's independent mobility is well documented. Whilst the Nordic countries are no exception, a previous study discovered high levels of independent mobility in a suburban ...community in the south of Sweden (Johansson, M., A. Raustorp, F. Mårtensson, C. Boldemann, C. Sternudd, and M. Kylin. 2011. "Attitudal Antecedents of Children's Sustainable Everyday Mobility." Transport and Health Issues: Studies on Mobility and Transport Research 3: 55-68). The current study investigates the everyday outdoor lives of children in this community to shed light on the mechanisms contributing to the children's independent mobility. Sixteen children aged 10-11 years old participated in place mapping and child-led walks. The results describe how their independent mobility grows from their joint commitment to play and socialise in a collective process that builds on their experiences of the local environment to form a shared patchwork of people, places and practices that meets their mutual needs. In light of plans for new development in the area, relational arrangements supporting children's agency are uncovered and independent mobility is confirmed as an important indicator of child-friendliness in planning.
This community service aims to enhance knowledge and expertise in organizational management and children's play module preparation for the Forum Taman Baca Masyarakat (FTBM) in Jepara Regency. The ...service used the Participatory Action Research (PAR) method, with the participants being representatives of TBM managers who are members of FTBM. A questionnaire was used as the instrument for evaluating the activity, and the results of which were analyzed descriptively. The service results indicate a significant increase in workshop participants' understanding. A total of 9 participants (30%) who were initially in the low understanding category succeeded in increasing to the high category, including 18 participants (60%). The workshop activity on preparing children's play modules also made a positive contribution to the participants, particularly in terms of module preparation. There was a significant increase in understanding, where 10 participants (33.33%) who were initially in the low understanding category succeeded in increasing to the high category, involving 20 participants (66.67%). This activity was successful in achieving positive results and supporting the development of participants’ skills and understanding of organizational management and module preparation.
In its COVID-19 Statement of April 2020, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that States Parties explore alternative and creative solutions for children to enjoy their rights to ...rest, leisure, recreation, and cultural and artistic activities - rights, which along with the right to play, are encompassed in Article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This paper reflects on play in times of crisis, giving particular focus to the experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three narratives of play and crisis are introduced - play in crisis; the threat to play in times of crisis; and play as a remedy to crisis. Progressive responses to support play during COVID-19 are appraised. Against a backdrop of innovation and a stimulus to research in play, concerns persist that children's right to play is not foregrounded, and that the 'everydayness of play' is not adequately facilitated.
Playing outdoors in nature with peers has been attributed most importance for children's healthy development but is increasingly marginalized because of the attractiveness of screen-based play. ...Careful merging of digital technology into outdoor play environments rich on nature elements could potentially help bridge digital play with more traditional play activities outdoors. A systematic comparison was made of outdoor play in more or less green settings, with and without digital installations or traditional play equipment. The separate and combined role of digital artefacts, play equipment and natural elements, were investigated, with particular focus on the effects of merging digital materials into nature. A group of children aged 6–8 were involved in a field study in a three-week period playing in a traditional playground, a forest and in a forest with digitally enhanced play artefacts. Children´s play behavior was evaluated using a behavioral tracking method, a questionnaire and a contextual interview with the children, and a physical activity measure, in combination with inventories including maps to document the design, and the ecological and physical status of the settings. The study documents differences in children's play behavior across the three settings. It differs most between the digital forest setting and the forest setting regarding the play categories imaginative play, physical play and rule play and the digital forest setting stands out when it comes to expressive play. It is discussed how particular attributes in the physical environment influence the overall play flow and the interactive effects of natural material and digital material. Ecologically, the forest and the forest with digitally enhanced artefacts were more diverse than the traditional playground, but the natural material present was important for play in all settings.
•The presence of nature is vital for children´s health promoting play outdoors.•Digital play equipment may limit diversity in play at the expense of pretend play.•A study of children´s approach to attributes of nature, digital material and other artefacts.•Recognizing the vital role of biodiversity in children´s play settings in planning and management.
Local play parks are key spaces within children's geographies providing opportunities for physical activity, socialisation and a connection with their local community. The design of these key ...neighbourhood facilities influences their use; extending beyond accessibility and installation of equipment when seeking to create a location with usability for all. This paper reports on the development of an evaluation tool, which supports the review and development processes linked to play parks. The Play Park Evaluation Tool (PPET), which is evidence-based in content and developed with a multi-disciplinary approach drawing on disciplines from the Built Environment and Health Sciences (occupational therapy), considers key areas contributing to the accessibility and usability of play parks. Aspects evaluated include non-play features such as surface finish and seating, recognising the relevance of these in creating accessible, usable spaces for play. This alongside assessment of installed play equipment to evaluate the breadth of play options available and how these meet the needs of children and young people with varying abilities or needs. The paper describes PPET's creation, the revision process undertaken, and its subsequent use across three stages of a play park's development. Key to achieving facilities with high play value is the provision of a varied play experience. To support this the evaluation of play types offered is integrated within the tool. This in-depth appraisal is supported by the creation of an infographic illustrating the resulting data and provides a method by which this information is presented in an accessible form. This visual representation contributing to the decision-making process undertaken by those responsible for the provision of play parks.
•Children express interest in plant species that offer affordances to their play.•Children prefer the natural settings located along the edges of main play spaces.•The boundaries around the natural ...settings influence children’s play types in them.•Children are sensitive to the condition of plants and prefer them well-maintained.•Children do not often experience conflict of activities in natural settings.
Children have less opportunity for contact with nature in our increasingly urbanised lifestyle yet natural environments play an important role in children’s health and development. Children spend considerable amount of their daily time at school hence school grounds are recognised as crucial settings that can increase children’s interaction with nature. However, little is known about the children’s preferences for the physical characteristics of various natural settings in schools. This qualitative study used walking tours, focus groups and behaviour mapping to identify the types of natural settings that primary school children preferred in three Australian school grounds. The study also documented children’s age and gender and the differences and similarities between the ways they used these settings. Thematic analysis revealed multiple physical characteristics of natural settings preferred by children in the school environments. These characteristics include physical features of different plant species, spatial location of the natural settings, their physical boundaries, and their condition. The results showed that children’s preferred natural settings featured elements that offered affordances to their play; were located along the playground edges; were often marked with boundaries that defined their play areas; and were well-maintained. This paper argues that vegetation in school grounds is important, but its presence is not enough to boost children’s interaction with natural environments. The type, context, and condition of natural settings should also be considered for children’s increased engagement with nature and be taken into account in the design and management of school grounds.
Place, Pedagogy and Play connects landscape architecture with education, psychology, public health and planning. Over the course of thirteen chapters it examines how design and research of places can ...be approached through multiple lenses – of pedagogy and play and how children, as competent social agents, are engaged in the process of designing their own spaces – and brings a global perspective to the debate around child-friendly environments.Despite growing evidence of the benefits of nature for health, wellbeing, play and learning, children are increasingly spending more time indoors. Indeed, new policy ideas and public campaigns suggest how children can become better connected with nature, yet linking outdoor space to pedagogy is largely overlooked in research. By focusing on three themes within these debates, place and play; place and pedagogy; and place and participation, this book explores a variety of angles to show that best practice requires dialogue between research disciplines, designers, educationists and psychologists, and a move beyond seeing the spaces children inhabit as the domain only of childhood professionals. Through illustrated case studies this book presents a wider picture of the state of childhood today, and offers practical solutions and further research avenues that promote a more holistic and internationally focused perspective on place, pedagogy and play for built-environment professionals.
This research explores children's agency in negotiating for play spaces in Malaysia within the context of an urban high-rise community. Fieldwork was conducted with 31 children between the ages of ...four to 12 years old. A qualitative, child-centered approach to data collection was employed using participatory research methods. The study reveals how children gain access to play spaces and details their innovative strategies in maximizing play opportunities in a community with limited infrastructural and social support. It highlights how children claim the use of communal spaces within the housing compound, reinvent designated play spaces, resist adult rules around restricted spaces and embrace elements of global culture for meaningful play opportunities. The paper argues that children exercise agency in accessing play spaces, and by so doing, extend and expand their lived geographies which are not just spatial, temporal and social but also invented and imagined.
PDF
