Children's Empowerment in Play

Participation, Voice and Ownership

Natalie Canning

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9780429838903
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Children's Empowerment in Play is an accessible insight into the vital place of play in children's development. The book focuses on three main themes of participation, voice and ownership, and explores ways to positively and naturally develop play in early years settings.

Drawing on primary research and presenting in-depth case studies of children in a range of play scenarios, Canning offers a framework for understanding play and its relationship with children's empowerment, and highlights play patterns and the ways in which practitioners can identify these. Chapters also cover:

• The research context for empowerment in play
• The significance of play and empowerment in the lives of children
• The power play can have, and indicators of empowering behaviour
• Observing empowerment in play and the challenges of celebrating it

Written for all those working with young children and students on early childhood courses, this book will transform how you understand and engage with children's experiences and learning.

1

The context of researching children’s empowerment in play

In this chapter the case study children that feature throughout the book are introduced, providing an insight into their daily routines and play preferences. The early childhood settings are described and the cross-over between the children and the different settings they attended explained.

The early childhood settings and case study children are based in one geographic location, in central England. It was important, given a sociocultural approach, that a range of early childhood contexts, offering different play experiences to children, were represented (Brooker, 2002; Rogoff, 2003). The range of settings included different types of ownership, for example, private, for-profit settings and a local authority resourced children’s centre. This had a potential impact on how the settings were managed and their philosophy towards children’s play (Brooker, 2011). There were four early childhood settings in total, two within a city centre – a children’s centre and private day nursery, and two in more rural locations – a childminder and private day nursery. The demographic of the city is a largely white population, with a range of socio-economic backgrounds and the case study children and families reflected these characteristics.

From the children attending these settings, seven children were selected as the focus for case studies. This selection was based on the children’s age; an even mix between girls and boys; family situations, for example proximity of extended family, siblings and nuclear family arrangements; regular attendance at the selected settings; and willingness of parents to be involved in the research. The seven case study children were identified in liaison with the participating settings and their parents. Three of the children attended more than one setting and this provided insight into their play at different locations and with different children.

Figure 1.1 is a visual representation of the settings and where each of the children attended.

Figure 1.1 Visual map of research settings and case study children

Age of the children

The sample was a mixture of four boys and three girls. They had attended their respective settings for at least 12 months and were all four years old. Four-year-old children were purposely chosen as they were able to express themselves and engage in more detailed, imaginative play and social interaction. They were all preparing to start school in the September of that year and were able to express their opinion in play through different modes of communication, both verbal and non-verbal, and use their imagination in play with each other. Fromberg and Bergen (2015) suggest that four-year-old children are at an interesting juncture in their lives as they are about to leave the familiarity of their early childhood setting, where they have formed strong relationships with staff and other children and are confident and self-assured in the routines and expectations of their surroundings. The children were aware of the impending transition to more formal learning in UK primary schools through ‘taster’ sessions at their new school, meeting their new teacher and classmates. They were all aware of the imminent changes and to some extent this was reflected in their play.

The settings

City centre private day nursery

The setting is a for-profit small business with 89 places. Organised over two levels, the pre-school room, with a mixture of three-and-a-half- and four-year-old children, is located on the first floor. There is access to an enclosed garden area, which is concrete paved with placed resources such as tractor tyres, climbing frame equipment and children’s bicycles. The pre-school room is resourced with age appropriate toys and open-ended resources and children have the opportunity for child-led play and structured adult-led activities within the daily routine of the setting.

Visits to the city centre private day nursery coincided with the case study children’s attendance and mainly took place after lunch until home time. Once lunch had been cleared children had child-initiated play time for approximately an hour and a half. If the weather was good, then the children would have the opportunity to go outside, but this involved going down a set of stairs and along a corridor to the outside space and had to fit in with other age group rooms as there was not enough space for two groups of children to be outside at once. During the inside play time, children could access any of the resources, but sometimes had to negotiate for space on tables and also take turns on the computer and indoor climbing frame structures. Towards the end of the afternoon, children were encouraged to tidy up and then have a snack, after which there was a story and then songs would be sung in anticipation for collection by parents and carers. A typical timetable of the children’s afternoon activity involved:

1pm	Lunch
2pm	Child-initiated play either inside or outside or a combination of both. If outside or a combination at least 15 minutes spent getting to and from the outside space (1.5 hours)
3.30pm	Tidy up time where children are encouraged to put all the resources away
3.45pm	Snack time (including handwashing and toileting)
4.10pm	Story time
4.30pm	Home time

Two children, Milo and Harry, were the focus in this setting. Harry also attended the children’s centre.

City centre children’s centre

The setting is a local authority owned children’s centre which is open access to the local community. The centre provides a range of services for families with children under the age of five years and the focus of the study concentrated on the ‘stay and play’ sessions which were organised in the forest school. The ‘stay and play’ sessions required a parent to have overall responsibility for their children and therefore only one qualified professional was required. A number of different children and their parents came each week to the outside space which consisted of a small woodland area. The educator had a theme each time, spending the first ten minutes around a central ‘camp’ area and then allowing the rest of the two-hour session for child-initiated play. Parents mainly stayed around the ‘camp’ area for the duration of the session whilst the children played around them.

The visits to the children’s centre mainly took place in the morning. Parents and children would meet in the café and then make their way as a group to the forest school. The first ten minutes of the session were led by the early childhood professional who welcomed children and parents and introduced a theme such as the story of the ‘Gruffalo’ (The Gruffalo is a children’s book about a mouse who takes a walk in the woods and comes across a bear-like creature called the Gruffalo). Children were then free to explore and play in the woodland for the remaining two hours. They did not have to follow the theme introduced by the educator, but there were resources available which supported the theme which were kept in the central ‘camp’ area for that session. The early childhood educator was on hand to talk to parents and engaged with the children as and when they asked for help. At the end of the session children and parents shared lunch in the café. A typical timetable of the children’s morning activities involved:

10am	Parents and children meet in the café
10.15am	Everyone walks together to the woodland area and meets in the camp area
10.20am	Lead educator introduces the sessions focus
10.30am	Child-initiated play in the woodland area (two hours)
12.30pm	Session ends and parents and children have lunch together in the café

Two children, Edward and Harry, were the focus in this setting. Harry also attended the city centre private day nursery.

Rural private day nursery

The nursery is a for-profit small business with 52 places. Based within an old village primary school the setting is on one level and children in the pre-school room are a mix of three- and four-year-olds. There are two outdoor areas, a large field with a constructed canopy for shelter and large outdoor adventure equipment comprising of a wooden bridge, platform and slide pole and a more conventional steel slide built into a bank. The other area is a more structured playground with a tarmac area for bicycles and a grass area where large tractor tyres have been stood on end and sunk into the ground, providing a climbing structure. The pre-school room is resourced with a variety of toys and materials for activities such as painting and model making and children have the opportunity for sustained child-initiated play outside, woven around indoor adult-directed activities in the daily routine.

The visits to the rural private day nursery mainly took place in the morning until lunchtime. Children had an hour of play where staff laid out resources for the children. There was some flexibility, in that if a child wanted to play with something else, they were allowed, but had to put away the item they had finished with first. A formal snack time followed and then outside play for an hour, regardless of the weather and usually in the field. The outside play was totally child-initiated and the large space encouraged physical play. Lunch was served when all of the children were back inside. A typical timetable of the children’s morning activity involved:

9am	Child initiated play – as and when children arrive they join in play or choose their own resources to play with (one hour)
10am	Snack time (including handwashing and toileting)
11am	Outside child-initiated play either in the field or playground (one hour). At least ten minutes spent on organising footwear and coats
12am	Preparing for lunch (handwashing, toileting, setting tables)
12.30pm	Lunch

Four children, Amy, Lucy, Jade and Michael, were the focus. Jade and Michael also attended the childminder setting.

Childminder

The setting is based in a home location and registered with the local authority for up to six children under the age of eight. Children have access to three downstairs play rooms and an open plan kitchen area. Outside has a tarmac drive and large flat grass area and, inside, the home has a variety of toys and open-ended materials that children could play with. There is easy access between the house and garden and children were free to move between the two areas as they wished. The routine was unstructured and child-initiated, with assistance from an adult only being given when requested by a child.

The visits to the childminder took place in the afternoon. Children had been provided with lunch before coming to the setting and so could access resources to play with straight away. The afternoon was unstructured with the childminder checking that the children were safe and answering any questions they had. The childminder was mainly located in the kitchen where she could see both the garden and play rooms if different children were in different spaces and snacks and drinks were provided as and when children requested them. There was a mix of ages at the childminder setting; the older children supported the younger ones who wanted to be involved in the same things such as making a necklace with beads. Play continued until parents arrived and collected their children. There was a length of time where parents chatted to the childminder and had coffee and snacks before leaving the setting. A typical timetable of the children’s afternoon activities involved:

1pm	Children arrive and offered a drink and some discussion of what they want to play with
1.15pm	Children access resources and child-initiated play (two hours)
3.15pm	Children offered a snack and drink
3.30pm	Parents start arriving to pick up children

Two children, the twins, Jade and Michael, were the focus in the setting. They also attended the rural private day nursery.

Case study children

Edward

Edward lives on the outskirts of the city with his mother and father and new-born baby sister. He has extended family close by and the family has a dog. Edward attends the children’s centre twice a week and is looked after at home the rest of the time. Edward looks older than his four years and is the tallest ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of illustrations
• Foreword
• Introduction
• 1. The context of researching children’s empowerment in play
• 2. The significance of play and empowerment in young children’s lives
• 3. The power of play
• 4. Indicators of empowering play behaviour
• 5. Exploring children’s participation, voice and ownership through play
• 6. Observing empowerment in play
• 7. The challenges of celebrating empowerment in play
• Conclusion
• References
• Index