Playfulness

Eliciting Children’s Perceptions of Play and Exploiting Playfulness to Maximise Learning in the Early Years Classroom





Authors

Justine Howard (University of Glamorgan)
Wynford Bellin (University of Wales Cardiff)
Val Rees (University of Wales College of Medicine)




Correspondence details for first author

Justine Howard
Humanities and Social Science
University of Glamorgan
Pontypridd
Mid Glamorgan
CF37 1DL
United Kingdom

01443 482358 (direct line)
jlhoward@glam.ac.uk





Eliciting Children’s Perceptions of Play and Exploiting Playfulness to Maximise Learning in the Early Years Classroom


Abstract

It is widely accepted that play makes a positive contribution to children’s development, particularly in the early years. Much of the developmental potential unique to play regards intrinsic or within child qualities such as motivation, enthusiasm, willingness to participate and self-preservation. Play is said to capture the attention of young children (Wood 1986), children are more enthusiastic about participation (King 1979) and are free from the fear of failure in the safe learning environment play provides (Moyles 1989). These qualities make an important contribution to learning outcomes. If we accept the importance of these qualities, then it would seem important to consider what children consider playful, particularly if we are to motivate children to learn through activities they themselves perceive to be play (Thomas 1999). This is particularly important when the act of play is distinguished from the internal qualities of playfulness. This paper summarises research that has focused on children’s perceptions of play. It suggests that children’s perceptions are related to experience. The characteristics used by children to define play are considered from an educational perspective, where practitioners have the opportunity to manipulate perceptions through the experiences they provide. The significance of understanding...