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This paper argues that classroom role-play can be conceptualised theoretically as an oral genre, as defined within Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). The work draws on analysis of 15 video-recorded child-led role-plays in which groups of three 4–5 year-old children engage in five different life-like social scenarios. The study is underpinned by SFL register and genre analysis of the children's interactions, and the findings reveal how the children's linguistic choices have a direct impact on the dynamically unfolding role-play, and how imaginary scenarios are construed by the instantiation of individual genre stages, some of which serve to regulate the role-play and others that mimic real life social scenarios. The findings suggest that the two different types of stages construe two separate, but interwoven contexts, with the make-believe context often being dependent on the regulative context. The paper offers new insights into the ways in which SFL can reveal nuances in children's dialogic and dynamic language in play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a lack of understanding about displaced children's experiences of places and play in the field of children's geographies and built environment. This paper contributes to emerging knowledge in the fields of displacement, place and play by summarising and identifying gaps in the existing evidence regarding displaced children's experiences of place in temporary and/or informal settlements, or in new environments. The scoping review deployed a combination of search terms related to displacement (displaced, informal settlement, temporary settlement, refugee) and themes related to place and play (child friendly places/spaces, experience of place, place attachment). A total of 1001 studies were identified from ScienceDirect and Proquest, with 33 studies included in the review. From the limited number of relevant studies, it was found that place attachment provides a sense of stability amidst change, contributes to wellbeing and identity, and supports the cognitive, physical and social development of displaced children. Overall, play and opportunities for play can help children to adapt to a new place following displacement. The review concludes that more research is needed to explore displaced children's experience of place in both their original and new environment, as well as comparing the experiences of place for 'placed' and 'displaced' children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines play as a fundamental children's activity, giving particular attention to the inclusion of children with impairments at play and children's shared constructions of their playworlds. Children with impairments are customarily portrayed as incompetent, unskilled or deficient in their play, thus being positioned on the margins (or, as 'who's out'?) of mainstream discourses. On the other hand, non-impaired children are usually regarded as competent players, who play in 'normal' ways (as 'who's in'?). Little attention is afforded to noticing skilful or proficient play by children with impairments and including their perspectives in play research. The Social Model of Childhood Disability offers a perspective for considering 'disabled childhoods' and framing enquiry into the culturally-constructed playworlds of children with impairments. Evidence from two ethnographic studies that examine children with impairments at play is discussed, employing vignettes that utilise data from researcher and teacher observation notes. The authors document specific play interactions related to individual experiences and interests and explore how children work together and alone to create meaningful play interactions. The notion that play for children is a mutual, shared and inclusive cultural experience is supported in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child-friendly cities are places that support opportunities for children's play and community connection in safe urban environments. A dominant practice in urban planning and design has been to separate people and their activities spatially (i.e., residential zones, learning zones, play zones) and this coincided with the remaking of cities around private vehicular travel which together necessitated carving out safe spaces for children play. This has meant that children's play has been geared towards permanent equipment in fenced-off playgrounds or more formal educational settings. However, the inclusion of temporary play spaces in cities to support community engagement in the local environment is growing to combine urban design, play and community wellbeing initiatives. This paper documents the experiences of stakeholders of a temporary play space in an inner-city suburb of an Australian city. This work includes key perspectives of the architects and designers and local council members to evaluate how a 12-week activation of a temporary play space came into being and what can be learnt from this collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined preservice teachers' understanding of children's play in diverse cultures. Using digital photo essay methods, a total of 37 early childhood preservice teachers in Myanmar, Korea, and the U.S. engaged in a critical discussion on children's play in diverse cultures. The findings suggested that the participants typically showed three layers of cross-cultural awareness: distance, friction, and flow. Korean and the U.S.participants conducted critical reflections on their preconceived notion of play, as influenced by the idea of Western childhood play. Although Myanmar participants revealed a desire for Western play materials, we did not observe substantial evidence of critical reflection throughout the cross-cultural exchanges. This paper discusses the implications of investigating culturally sensitive strategies for engendering preservice teachers' implicit beliefs by exchanging digital photo essays across diverse cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Double bounce is an unusual and potentially very hazardous phenomenon that most trampoline users may have experienced, yet few would have really understood how and why it occurs. This paper provides an in-depth investigation into the double bounce. Firstly, the static and dynamic characteristics of a recreational trampoline are analysed theoretically and verified through experiments. Then, based on the developed trampoline dynamic model, double bounce simulation is conducted with two medicine balls released with different time delays. Through simulation, the process of double bounce is presented in detail, which comprehensively reveals how energy is transferred between users during double bounce. Furthermore, the effect of release time delay on double bounce is also presented. Finally, we conducted an experiment which produced similar results to the simulation and validated the reliability of the trampoline dynamic model and double bounce theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Childhood & Philosophy is the property of International Council for Philosophical Inquiry with Children and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper aims to present the extent to which the application of the concrete mathematical and musical play contributes to the child's cognitive development. The research was conducted in two international schools in Belgrade, using the play titled 'Musical Monkeys'. The results of the research have shown that this kind of approach in working with children encourages attention and motivation, activity and engagement, while requiring and encouraging critical thinking in solving the set of mathematical or musical tasks and contributing to cooperation as well as finding a joint strategy in problem-solving. The obtained results confirm that the children established connection between the mathematical and musical segments, reaching a culmination in a moment of interest within the play, and rises inevitable question – how can mathematics and music be connected? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study delves into the spatial preferences of children for play spaces within high-density urban block environments, specifically targeting the area of Baihua Second Road in Shenzhen, China. Methods: Recognizing the critical role of play in children's development, and the unique challenges posed by dense urban settings, this research employs multiclass logistic regression models and negative binomial regression models to construct a detailed mathematical analysis of neighborhood spatial elements and children's play space preferences. Data was meticulously gathered through both objective observations of 14 different types of spaces within the block, and subjective assessments via children's responses to a series of environment photos, capturing the essence of over 3,000 child participants' interactions and choices. Results: Key findings reveal a pronounced preference among children for soft facility features and visually appealing spatial experiences, suggesting a nuanced understanding of play space needs beyond traditional playground designs. Notably, the study identifies that while cartoon-style designs in play facilities might increase moderate attractiveness, ordinary designs hold broader appeal, indicating a preference for diversity in play space aesthetics. These insights offer profound implications for urban planners and designers, advocating for a childcentered approach in the creation of urban play environments that prioritize aesthetic diversity, and the integration of natural elements. Conclusion: Moreover, the study situates Baihua Second Road as a paradigmatic case, illustrating the methodology and analytical framework applied in addressing the complex interplay between children's play preferences and urban spatial configurations. By incorporating a comprehensive data-driven analysis, this research contributes significantly to the discourse on child-friendly urban design, offering valuable strategies for cultivating inclusive and engaging urban play spaces for children amidst the constraints of high-density city living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the phenomenon of spontaneous vocalisations in the self-chosen, unstructured outdoor play of children aged 3–12. Spontaneous vocalisations encompass the whole range of children's unprompted, natural, expressive vocal soundings beyond spoken language. Non-participant observations at childcare centres and on elementary school playgrounds anchor this investigation into the nature and extent of children's spontaneous vocalising, grounded in scholarship that establishes these musical expressions as socially embedded and culturally contingent. Previous research has usually considered these ubiquitous playground soundings from a functional standpoint. Our project examines the potential of applying Dissanayake's artification hypothesis, specifically her five affective aesthetic devices, to examples of children's vocalisations to make tangible the artistry inherent in these spontaneous soundings. Pedagogical implications are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper develops, explores and evaluates an evidence-based approach to playground design, with a public park playground (playlab Cph) in Copenhagen as a case study. In the increasingly urbanised world, park playgrounds are valuable places that support healthy child development by providing opportunities for play, nature exploration and sensory stimulation. As it is increasingly expected that designers base their decisions on research evidence, there is a need to develop approaches to facilitate this, which also applies to playground design. The design of PlayLab Cph was based on relevant evidence, best practice, and the theories of Affordances and Behaviour Settings. A post-occupancy evaluation was carried out through a questionnaire survey and observation studies, which revealed that a majority of the potential evidence-based affordances were actualised, and that the application of the theories resulted in a more informed design. Although preliminary, this evidence-based approach seems valuable for practitioners and students within the field of playground design. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Staged annually at the Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio Papet Teatro-Museo, Papet Pasyon is the only sinakulo in the Philippines performed in puppetry to date. In this essay, the puppet play is proposed to be an entanglement of three cultural forms: the literary form of the pasyon, the theatre form of the sinakulo, and the art of puppetry. The bases for the text of this puppet play are foreign sources namely a children's Bible from Europe, the passion play from Oberammergau in Germany, and the dramatic tradition of the Western musical. Though originally a Western-based text, Lapeña-Bonifacio crafted and encapsulated the puppet play into an hour and a half show that highlights the story of Christ's passion, is written in a Philippine language, and is understandable to young audiences. Its manner of presentation, on the other hand, was inspired by the very rich puppet traditions of Asia, particularly the Japanese bunraku and the Indonesian wayang golek. The essay begins exploring this proposal of entanglement by introducing Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio, founder of Teatrong Mulat, and her vision of a children's theatre in the archipelago with productions based on and inspired by local folktales and various theatrical forms in the Asian region. This is then followed by a narrative on the genesis of Papet Pasyon, which like most Teatrong Mulat productions, is a product of mixing and matching local and foreign influences. The bulk of the paper is a preliminary analysis and a close reading of Papet Pasyon as a cultural text and performance of entanglement because, generally, the play is a concatenation of the pasyon, the sinakulo, and various forms of puppetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The functionalisation of play basically stems from the diagnosis of a global childhood inactivity crisis, the so-called “children's obesity pandemic.” Hence, in the context of the activity-related guidelines, children's play appears no longer to be unproductive and purpose-free. It is rather considered an anti-obesity tool that will help children to meet physical activity recommendations. It is questionable whether such a functionalised tool can also provide what has been called the salience of the pleasures of free-play for children. Furthermore, a “normalization” of functionalised practices of play, in turn, could stigmatize children who do not or cannot adhere to these practices. Based upon this background, this paper will take a critical sociology perspective to analyse the functionalisation and medicalisation of children's play in an individualized, mediatized, and pedagogised society. In this sense, the paper aims to pay attention to how the primary goal of play in the sense of “simply make children happy” has given way to the goal of making them healthy and functional.

Play is easy to recognise, though not as easy to define. Its conceptual definitions are numerous and different, depending on their theoretical starting points. What connects them is the importance they attach to play as a divergent activity of the child in which all the child's potentials are activated. Hovewer, research around the world has shown that children in kindergartens spend considerably less time playing and exploring than doing structured activities; that their opportunities to play in open spaces are constantly decreasing; that, even when they are engaged in play, it is often superficial and chaotic; and the way in which adults perceive children's play is often inconsistent with what play represents from the children's point of view. The aim of the research presented in this paper is to look at how children perceive play - what elements of play children identify as most important, how they perceive their relationship with other children and adults while playing, and how they see learning through play. The descriptive method used relied on the techniques of drawing and interviewing. The study included 47 children aged 4 to 7. The results of the research confirm that what children find most important during play are their playmates, that adults' involvement in children's play is very low, and that children's learning through play is linked to the very experience of playing. The most significant conclusion of this research is that children are often left to their own devices in play, so it is necessary to pay more attention to their play and to support it both in the family and in the institutional context by providing children with different experiences and models of creative behaviour.

Copyright of Social & Cultural Geography is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The growing interest in outdoor early childhood education, even in countries with a weak environmental tradition such as Portugal, tends to be associated with a concern over the alienation between urban/Western children and nature. While educational projects in nature criticize this separation, they still maintain a bad culture vs good nature dichotomy to which we object. Resorting to such different fields as critical childhood studies, new materialisms, posthumanisms, and ecological epistemologies, we converge on the inseparability of nature/children and the material/discursive world. We then pay attention to the experiences which children and more-than-human beings shared during ethnographic research in a private outdoor kindergarten. Through photos and excerpts from the field notes, we tell stories of children and bamboo playing in a place free of adult interference, a 'secret hideaway' in which they co-produced their nature-cultures by being collectively with the world and from which we have much to learn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents are children's first educators. Parents influence children's cognitive, physical, social and emotional development from an early age. This qualitative study explored parents' perceptions of children's play through semi-structured interviews. Interviews were audiorecorded and analyzed using open coding. Themes emerged related to the positive and negative aspects of play. Some of the positive aspects of play parents mentioned included play providing opportunities for exploration and creativity, social interaction, and a fun, worry-free, and relaxed learning context. Potential negative consequences of play included rough play leading to injuries. Other potential negative aspects of play parents mentioned were imitating bad behaviors during play and engaging in too much screen time play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking 4 urban parks in Handan City as the research objects, 41 suitability evaluation indicators are selected according to the relevant literature reading. The common factors are extracted through factor analysis and the importance questionnaire and summarized into 6 dimensions, namely children’s play facilities and auxiliary facility quality factor, natural environment participation factor, children’s play space convenience factor, artificial environment participation factor, space environment quality and safety factor, children’s game activity facility perfection factor, and the weights of public factors and indicators are calculated. Then the index score is calculated through field measurement and satisfaction survey, and the IPA analysis method is used to draw the coordinate map of key optimization indicators for 4 parks. Finally, corresponding optimization suggestions are put forward for Handan urban parks according to the analysis and evaluation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social changes resulting a significant shift in philosophical thinking in the renaissance brought the idea of individuality to the forefront, radically changing the social requirements and desires of individuals, the ideas of freedom of all individuals collectively, their relations with society and their environments, and also their participation in urban life. As a result of the industrialization activities, wars and migrations experienced in the twentieth century, this direct participation of the individual in the urban space was negatively affected. Especially due to globalization, the changing physical appearance and quality of life of metropolitan cities have created disconnections in human interactions with the city and their bodily experience with the environment. Monetary system which have dominated urban life, has taken business life to the forefront separating the residential fabric from the zones where business life develops, and accordingly lively streets have been surrendered to motor vehicles over time. One of the social groups most affected by these changes, is the young generation. The cities where the scale has changed radically, the sacrificed areas were usually the recreational environments, and children's play areas. Within this context, it is also mentioned in the literature that adults (politicians, planners, and municipalities) easily ignore the fact that cities are also for children; the developmental characteristics of young people, their needs for age, play and experience necessary for their healthy growths are ignored. Therefore, it should be admitted that cities should have a lot to offer children. It is necessary to organize the streets, to plan the transit routes of motor vehicles, redefine new speed limits, and re-evaluate the streets to make them pedestrian-friendly again taking into account the possibility of danger to children. So, as a part of the theoretical background discussed in the context of environment and behavior theories, the debate covers how the urbanites, children in particular –every urbanite is considered as a body in this paper– are affected by the rapid change of urban space. Also, through the introduction of global models such as woonerf and home zone on how the city can regulate physical and social components that can contribute both to the socialization of adults and to children’s development and freedom in relation to their own age and needs, a fruitful insight is endeavored to be provided to the potential for these kinds of practices to be implemented in metropolitan cities especially in the residential fabric of cities.

• 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children are immersed in a world that is characterized by the continuous interplay of physical and digital dimensions, material objects and virtual realities. This article is centered on an experience with a group of 9-11 years old children where they worked on a shared project that they created together from the beginning, based on the constant flow of ideas and cooperation between individuals, small groups and the larger group, in dialogue with time, between real and virtual dimensions. The role of the adult as an attentive, participatory observer, resource and co-researcher with the children created an inclusive, child-centered atmosphere which kept the children's relationships and collaboration with each other at the heart of the experience. The digital realm was a resource and a material that enhanced the children's play, their ideas and allowed them to give shape to their project by broadening their range of action and the expressive possibilities. Using digital materials and tools and the effects they produced created a playful, immersive and narrative setting which inspired the children to interact with, play with, study, design and modify a hybrid reality which was both physical and digital at the same time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Play is part of the nature of childhood and affirmed as important internationally in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is therefore an anomaly that play is not a pillar of humanitarian aid and this is of particular concern because children are displaced and become refugees disproportionately compared to adults, as a result of both natural and human-induced disasters. Play can help children deal with some of the traumas resulting from a disaster and thus contribute to their health and well-being Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3) and help prepare them for education Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4). Using the theoretical framework of constructed and found spaces for children's outdoor play the paper explores these in two contexts: after the triple disaster in north-east Japan and Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan. The results indicate that in the temporary housing areas of these disaster contexts children play in found spaces which are proximal, associated with temporary housing, and distal, beyond the temporary housing. New constructed spaces were stand alone or associated with safety/educational facilities for children but there were differences in this provision between the two contexts, with more provision in the bounded refugee camp than in the geographically dispersed disaster area in Japan. This difference in provision is suggested as being the result of several factors but may also reflect the fact that provision for children's play is not a pillar of humanitarian aid, which it should be in order to protect the child's right to play in such traumatic situations. • Play is a child's right but is not considered to be a pillar of humanitarian aid. • Children are disproportionately represented as refugees and displaced people. • Children play in found and constructed spaces in post disaster contexts. • Constructed spaces are important for children's safety in natural and human-induced disasters. • Disaster Risk Reduction and Action Plans should consider the provision of constructed spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, particular focus is on micro-ethnographic studies of children's peer play-in-action and how children create shared peer cultures through their collaborative performances in situated game activities. It will be shown how children create micro dramas in play that serve as cultural frameworks to i) dramatize and transform experiences from the outside world; ii) playfully subvert hierarchies and gendered orders; and iii) comment upon and unravel controversial issues in their social life. The data are drawn from three sets of video-recorded data of children's everyday play activities collected during fieldwork in separate school and after-school settings located in middle-class and low-income multiethnic suburban areas in Sweden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study aims to analyze the evolution of play from a diachronic perspective, evoking at the same time the mythical, realistic, imaginary, cognitive, emotional and social dimensions, starting with the earliest days of humanity and up to the present day. At the same time, we captured the universal, multidisciplinary and polysematic nature of play by approaching it from a synchronic perspective. The objectives and functions of play, from the perspective of human development, have been researched for more than a century by thinkers and scientists who have established the value of play for learning and development, but also the consequences of the lack of play in the children's life. In carrying out this study we analyzed the published literature and summarized the most relevant researches, opinions and recommendations concerning the evolution of play and its importance for the harmonious development, wellbeing and happiness of the children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed methods research (MMR) is useful for addressing complex and multidisciplinary urban problems. This article demonstrates an integrated MMR approach with a novel two-phase exploratory sequential design while studying play, play space, and children's (age 7-15 years) location preference for play in three residential areas in Dhaka. We used directly administered survey and interviews in the first phase to describe play and play space from children's perspective. Informed by the first, we employed GIS-based spatial and statistical analysis in the second phase to study patterns of children's location preference for play. Our article contributes to the methodological literature by combining MMR with urban spatial analysis in children's play environment studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study, based on two nationally representative samples of children aged 6–12 years and their parents from 2005 and 2013–2014, explores changes in children's play, through changes in participation in three different out-of-home leisure activities during the last decade in Norway as well as the interactions between these activities. The study finds that there has been an increase in the share of children who participate in organized leisure activities; that they start to participate at a younger age; and that the intensity of participation in organized leisure activities has increased. During the same period, there has been a decrease both in the extent of unsupervised play outdoors and in the degree to which children visit friends' houses. A key empirical finding is that there is a strong positive association between participation in organized leisure activities and, respectively, the extent of unsupervised outdoor play and visits to friends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Playing is essential for the development of higher psychological functions. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that playing constitutes an essential step in children's socio-cognitive development by describing playtime as the indicator of the gradual overcoming of self-centred thinking, with a view to acquiring new social adjustment strategies. The research activity included 64 children from nursery schools in Italy (average age 4.3) and was based on the direct and video-recorded observation of children's spontaneous play at school. Two coding systems were applied to analyse variations in ideation, exploration, socializing, and imitation activities. The preliminary results seem to confirm that playing provides a framework within which it is possible to articulate and express the child's progress in terms of both social development and cognitive skills. The mutual adjustment of the development of these two processes is also shown in the stepwise changing of the way in which conflicts are negotiated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates parents’ perceptions of and engagement with their children's play in the context of Qatar. Quantitative data were collected using a questionnaire that was administered to parents of children aged 4-7 years old in Doha. A total sample of 240 parents responded to the questionnaire. Findings indicated that Qatari parents valued the importance of play to their children’s development and learning. In addition, parents showed a moderate level of engagement with their children’s play. The findings also indicated that physical play was the most common type of play in which parents are engaged with their children, followed by discovery play. Moreover, significant correlations were found between parents’ perceptions of children’s play and their engagement with all play types. In addition, significant differences were observed in parents’ perceptions of and engagement with children’s play based on parents' socio-demographic variables. These findings highlight the importance of extending children’s play in all children’s educational levels, and getting parents involved in children’s play activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores posthumanism as a philosophy that emphasizes human relationships with the natural world by examining representations of animality, both in children’s literature (e.g. titles such as Where the Wild Things Are, Wild, Virginia Wolf, and No Fits, Nilson!) and in children’s play in order to better understand the significance of philosophy in children’s literature and lives. By fostering a feeling of “necessary wilderness,” or connection to nature (Almond, 2011, p. 110), and by practicing a sense of being in nature, “keeping some wildness always alive” (Lerman, 2012, p. 311) through literary engagement and animal play, the authors suggest that children and adults can maintain an interconnectedness with the natural world, even when they cannot be in it themselves. Through a mixed methods approach that combines educational theory, ecocriticism, and qualitative research, we discuss links between children’s stories and bodies, identifying how becoming animals through narrative engagement and play reflects posthumanist theory in practice, and encourages a child’s embodied knowledge of nature. The authors also speak to the ways that embodied education approaches that encourage animal play and “expressive literary engagement” [Sipe, 2002, pp. 476-483]) can support a shifting and necessary worldview informed by posthumanism, suggesting that philosophical change is necessary if humanity aims to survive the ecological and technological changes to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Staged annually at the Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio Papet Teatro-Museo, Papet Pasyon is the only sinakulo in the Philippines performed in puppetry to date. In this essay, the puppet play is proposed to be an entanglement of three cultural forms: the literary form of the pasyon, the theatre form of the sinakulo, and the art of puppetry. The bases for the text of this puppet play are foreign sources namely a children’s Bible from Europe, the passion play from Oberammergau in Germany, and the dramatic tradition of the Western musical. Though originally a Western-based text, Lapeña-Bonifacio crafted and encapsulated the puppet play into an hour and a half show that highlights the story of Christ’s passion, is written in a Philippine language, and is understandable to young audiences. Its manner of presentation, on the other hand, was inspired by the very rich puppet traditions of Asia, particularly the Japanese bunraku and the Indonesian wayang golek. The essay begins exploring this proposal of entanglement by introducing Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio, founder of Teatrong Mulat, and her vision of a children’s theatre in the archipelago with productions based on and inspired by local folktales and various theatrical forms in the Asian region. This is then followed by a narrative on the genesis of Papet Pasyon, which like most Teatrong Mulat productions, is a product of mixing and matching local and foreign influences. The bulk of the paper is a preliminary analysis and a close reading of Papet Pasyon as a cultural text and performance of entanglement because, generally, the play is a concatenation of the pasyon, the sinakulo, and various forms of puppetry.

Play among peers is an important developmental context for child socialization. We have earlier shown that children at genetic risk for aggression were more likely to be treated aggressively by unfamiliar peers during peer play, reflecting genotype-evoked behaviors manifested during play. In this study, 118 5-year-old twin pairs were paired randomly with an unfamiliar, same-age, same-sex child, thus controlling for parent- and child-chosen environments (passive and active rGE). Twins played separately from each other with unmatched children. Play behaviors were coded for aggressive and assertive behaviors. Children were also independently rated by parents for rule-breaking problem behaviors at age 5, and 97 children were rated again on these behaviors 2-10 years later. Analyses showed that children at genetic risk for early rule-breaking were more likely to have partners who behaved more aggressively, suggesting that this was evoked behavior during play. Some evidence of an 'early bloomer' phenomenon emerged via early difficult temperament and parent-rated delinquency significantly predicting later delinquency. Children's play, which is one of the most important influences on early development, requires further study from an rGE perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores children's narratives of their curiosity and imagination through innovative use of an information technology app -- Our Story. Novel use of the app allowed children to express and record their opinions they considered significant to them. The research captured children's approaches to everyday situations through their play. Introducing the notion of 'narrative affordances', findings show how the app facilitated a range of possibilities for recording children's curiosity and imagination through pictures, text, sound and short video. Children added to and developed their narratives, putting them firmly in control of what they wanted to include and share, providing a unique insight into children's perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined play memories from adults who grew up in a wide range of international contexts. Surveys and semi-structured interviews asking adults to recollect play memories were completed with 135 adults (100 Females, 35 Males) who grew up in 21 countries. Play memories were analysed to identify adults’ favourite types of childhood play, barriers preventing their play, beliefs about the impact of their childhood play across their lifespan, the emotions associated with recollecting their play, and the similarities and variations represented across the adults’ play memories. Pretend play, play in nature, and risk-taking were prevalent themes, however, the data reflect how variation in sociocultural and historical contexts strongly influenced children's play experiences. The majority of participants associated play memories with positive feelings and reported lifelong benefits of early play experiences. The literature on sociocultural variations in children's play and neuroscience research on memories as reconstructions informs discussion of the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children’s play is an important activity, which reflects overall children’s development. There is small number of studies that dealt with developmental milestones of children’s play, especially those of children aged up to four years. Therefore, we have conducted a study on 839 children, aged from four to seven years. The main objective of this research is to investigate psychometric characteristics of the three scales for assessing the forms and content of the children’s play (based on developmental milestones for children’s play), from five to seven years of age, by determining the gender differences in the milestones and their correlations with the age of the child. The instrument is called ‘’Milestones Development of Children’s Play’’ (MRDI), which consists of three scales (checklists), suitable for the following age groups: 4-5 years (MRDI45), 5-6 years (MRDI56) and 6-7 years (MRDI67). Results show a satisfactory factor validity of two, from the three rating scales that contains MRDI, with a low but solid reliability of MRDI67, very low but still satisfactory reliability of MRDI45 and unsatisfactory reliability of MRDI56. In the age groups 4-5 and 5-6 years, statistically significant gender differences were found, in the direction of the better performance of girls. The correlations between children’s age and their overall scores on three scales of MRDI are very low but statistically significant only for the oldest age group. The possibilities of potential improvements to these instruments (especially those in the age group 5-6 years), with the purpose of increasing their reliability, but also discrimination, are indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many contemporary popular cultural discourses in the USA recognise and commodify children as distinct persons engaging in the middle-class project of expressive individuation, much public and early educational policy has simultaneously intensified the control and regulation of children, children’s culture and children’s bodies and emotions in early education settings. Prout suggests that late modern schooling might be characterised by ‘practices directed at greater surveillance, control and regulation of children’ (304). This ethnographic study of a group of three-, four- and five-year-old children in a rural New England community preschool setting explores rural children’s lived experiences resisting control and navigating contradiction through unruly, mischievous games and free play. This unruliness is situated in the context of escalating academic demands in early childhood education and resistant rural community culture(s). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]