Just Playing?
Wednesday 14 January 2009
Play is generally agreed to be a fundamental right for children, but play experts often disagree on what form play should take and how to get the best out of play.
The conference, sponsored by Sutcliffe Play, included lectures by eminent play professionals, a Question Time-style debate and interactive workshops.
In a Question Time-style debate, with panellists Professor Pat Broadhead, Dr Fraser Brown and Ruth Churchill Dower, delegates discussed different themes from the role of the adult in play to the potential of digital technologies to enhance play.
Delegates took part in the following interactive workshops:
The Digital Divide – can new technology really enhance young children’s play? by Ruth Churchill Dower of Isaacs UK
This workshop explored how digital tools can help in observing, documenting, sharing, celebrating, understanding and listening to children’s voices. Delegates were asked some searching questions about whether or not digital tools can enhance or distract adults and children from enabling engagement in imaginative play and deeper level learning at a young age.
Imaginary Leaps by Rachel Riggs from Dynamic New Animation
A playful workshop encouraging adults to be partners in children's play. Utilising the "playboxes" she developed for Eureka! to encourage creative play, the session addressed the importance of allowing children to use materials in new ways, make their own discoveries and empowering them to take the lead.
Playing with Fire by Mike Wragg from Leeds Met
It is a firmly held belief in a number of professional and academic disciplines that all children have a latent instinctive and biological drive to explore and experiment with fire. This workshop challenged the notion that children should be prohibited from playing with fire, suggests that doing so may be counterproductive, and introduced risk assessed approaches to using fire with children.
Key Note Speakers
Professor Pat Broadhead from Leeds Met spoke about play and learning in Early Years settings for children aged three to six years. She presented and illustrated the 'whatever you want it to be place' and explained how open-endedness in play provision in educational settings leads to enjoyable and meaningful play experiences for children.
Dr Fraser Brown from Leeds Met discussed the role of the play in children's lives, and the varied ways in which a playworker can enable children to socialise, explore, experiment, create and relax in environments which are usually hostile to those forms of play.
Ruth Churchill Dower of Isaacs UK, probably best known for the Earlyarts network, investigated how young brains develop, what place digital technologies can have in the development process, and what happens when children incorporate this in their play.
Find out more about the speakers and workshop leaders...
For more information on the Just Playing? conference email Rebecca Johnson, Director of Play & Learning at Eureka!.
