Calling All Superheroes: Supporting and Developing Superhero Play in the Early Years

Supporting and Developing Superhero Play in the Early Years

Tamsin Grimmer

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781138556966
• eBook ISBN: 9781351367219
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Early Childhood Education

Calling All Superheroes highlights the enormous potential of superhero play in supporting learning and development in early childhood. Using examples from practice, it provides guidance on how to effectively manage and implement superhero play and set appropriate boundaries in early years settings and schools.

Illustrated with engaging photographs and case studies, the book gives ideas about how superhero play can be used to promote positive values and teach children essential life skills. Offering practical strategies and questions for reflection designed to facilitate further development, chapters address important topics and challenges such as:

• Child development, the characteristics of effective learning and the benefits of superhero play, including making sense of right and wrong and increasing moral awareness
• How to broach difficult themes like death, killing, weapons, aggressive play and gender-related issues
• Supporting children to recognise everyday heroes and how to find heroic abilities within themselves
• The role of the adults in managing superhero play, engaging parents and creating effective learning environments

Written by a leading expert with 20 years' experience in the early years sector, this book is an essential resource for early years teachers, practitioners and anyone with a key interest in young children's education and learning.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• About the author
• Introduction
• 1. “I can fly like Superman!” The importance of fantasy play in child development
• 2. “I’m going to make a gun!” Exploring aggression and violent play
• 3. “I’m gonna kill you … you’re dead!” Dealing with notions of killing and death
• 4. “Boys will be boys!” Considering gender in relation to superhero play
• 5. “Superheroes? British values?” British values and early years provision
• 6. “My dad is my hero!” Exploring the real heroes in our lives
• 7. “Where’s my cape?” Creating a super learning environment
• 8. “Freddy’s gonna ‘get’ you!” Effectively managing superhero play
• 9. “He practically lives in his Spider-Man costume at home …” Engaging with parents about superhero play
• 10. “To infinity and beyond!” Encouraging children to find their superpowers!
• 11. Concluding remarks
• Appendix 1: Example of a superhero and weapon play policy
• Appendix 2: Traditional heroes and villains
• Appendix 3: Children’s heroic characters from cartoon and TV programmes
• Index