Focus on play
March 2018
childcare providers and practitioners This briefing for childcare providers includes information about how to support better opportunities for children to play in their settings. Children and young people need and are entitled to quality places and time for play as part of their everyday life.
and roles they take within their play and create worlds they can master. Unscheduled free time for children should not be seen as nonessential. It is vital to children for their fun and relaxation as well as for their health and wellbeing. It is part of their ‘work/life balance’.
Childcare providers and practitioners in Wales are well placed to be play champions for the communities in which they work. They often have strong roots in the community and they are well trusted and respected by parents, often with strong links to schools and other settings. Where childcare practitioners have accessed playwork training, they have fed back that knowledge of a playwork approach has a significant impact on the play opportunities they offer.
Childcare practitioners are able to operate in a world where playing takes precedence. One of the best ways we can work to support children to access their right to play is to enjoy the play process. Enjoying play for what it is, to play with enthusiasm when invited to play, and to be a passionate advocate for play, are the best ways to ensure an environment and atmosphere where children’s needs and right to play are met.
Play for play’s sake Parents choose childcare settings to enable them to work, train, or because they feel that it is important for their children’s development. More and more parents report that they seek child centred settings which enable children to play for prolonged periods of time in rich play environments. Although the benefits of play for children are substantial and wide ranging and its effects are felt far into adulthood, play is an integral part of childhood and children place great value on having plenty of places and time to play. When children’s time is highly scheduled by others it can hardly be seen as their time. When children personally direct their play, they decide the rules
The importance of play Playing is central to children’s physical, mental, social and emotional health and wellbeing. Through play, children develop resilience and flexibility, contributing to physical and emotional wellbeing. For children themselves, playing is one of the most important aspects of their lives. They value time, freedom and quality places to play. Playing contributes to the wellbeing and resilience of human beings – particularly children. Having welcoming places, enough time and the company of others to play with every day, is of great consequence to all children and young people – as adults we need to foster environments that support this.
National and international policy The Welsh Government recognises the importance of play in children’s lives and defines play as ‘encompassing children’s behaviour which is freely chosen, personally directed and intrinsically motivated. It is performed for no external goal or reward, and is a fundamental and integral part of healthy development – not only for individual children, but also for the society in which they live’. •
Freely chosen means that children themselves choose when, how and what to play. It is not part of a set programme and does not have any steps that need to be completed.
interpretation or emphasis. The aim of the General Comment is to clarify the meaning and importance of Article 31. The General Comment has a very useful definition of play and stresses that play is initiated, controlled and structured by children. It defines play as non-compulsory, driven by intrinsic motivation, not a means to an end. It notes that the key characteristics of play are: •
fun
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uncertainty
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challenge
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Personally directed means children themselves decide the rules and roles they take within their play.
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flexibility
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non-productivity.
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Intrinsically motivated means that play is undertaken for its own sake, and not performed for any reward, certificate or status.
Play is generally agreed to be something that children do naturally and instinctively. However, there are some essential conditions which need to be in place to promote children’s access to play. These are space, time, permission and materials – childcare settings are well placed to provide these.
The Welsh Government recognises that to achieve its aim of creating a play friendly Wales and to provide opportunities for our children to play it is necessary for local authorities, their partners and other stakeholders to also work towards this purpose. Therefore, a section on play opportunities was included in the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010. As part of statutory Play Sufficiency Assessments, local authorities are required to assess to what extent its Childcare Strategy offers guidance to ensure local childcare providers understand the importance of and provide a rich play environment as a routine part of the care they provide. Internationally, the importance of play is also recognised and enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Article 31 of the UNCRC states that the child has the right to play and to join in other recreational activities. As an indication of the significance the United Nations places on children’s play it has published a General Comment on Article 31. This is an official statement that elaborates on the meaning of an aspect of the UNCRC that requires further
Providing space for play A rich play environment is one where children of all ages are able to make a wide range of choices – there are many possibilities so that they can invent and extend their own play. It is a varied, inspirational and interesting physical environment that maximises the potential for socialising, creativity, resourcefulness and challenge. It is a place where children feel free to play in their own way, on their own terms. Wales – a Play Friendly Country (Welsh Government, 2014), statutory guidance to local authorities on assessing for and securing sufficient play opportunities for children in their areas, defines quality play provision as provision which offers all children and young people the opportunity to freely interact with or experience the following: •
Other children and young people – with a choice to play alone or with others, to negotiate, co-operate, fall out and resolve conflict
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The natural world – weather, the seasons, bushes, trees, plants, insects, animals and mud
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Loose parts – natural and man-made materials that can be manipulated, moved and adapted, built and demolished
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The natural elements – earth, air, fire and water
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Challenge and risk taking – both on a physical and emotional level
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Playing with identity – role play and dressing up
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Movement – running, jumping, climbing, balancing and rolling
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Rough and tumble – play fighting
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The senses – sounds, tastes, textures, smells and sights.
Making materials available for play While children can and will play anywhere and with almost anything, there are resources we can provide that can facilitate and encourage active play such as sand, water, shells, fabric, buckets, boxes, rope, tyres, bottles, wood and scrap materials of all kinds. Such materials are cheap and accessible, and simply leaving a pile of them for children to explore will increase the motivation and intensity of their play, activity and engagement levels.
By providing perhaps just a few well-chosen toys but numerous resources we can enrich the play space and facilitate play. Environments that include resources tend to be more stimulating and engaging than static ones. Providing resources in childcare settings also provides parents and carers with ideas that they can replicate in the home environment. Having loose parts (natural and man-made materials that can be manipulated, moved and adapted) available allows children to use the materials as they choose. Providing loose parts supports children to play in many different ways and on many different levels. Loose parts promote and support imaginative play as they allow children to develop their own ideas and explore their world. Playing in a space rich with loose parts supports a wide range of development including flexibility, creativity, imagination, resourcefulness, problem solving, selfesteem and spatial awareness. The Resources for playing – providing loose parts to support children’s play toolkit has been developed by Play Wales to support adults in the play, early years, childcare and education sectors to provide loose parts play within their settings. The toolkit can be downloaded for free at: www.playwales.org.uk/eng/publications/ loosepartstoolkit
Creating time for play in childcare settings For many reasons children’s time for play has decreased significantly in recent years. By making time for children’s play we promote and value children’s freedom, independence and choice and these characteristics perform a crucial role in children’s resilience, ability to deal with stress and anxiety, and general wellbeing. Free play is beneficial for all aspects of healthy child development so it is important to balance structured activities with opportunities for free play. While structured and adult-led activities may offer new opportunities they do so at the cost of the loss of control children have over their own play. This is a significant loss as the central point about play is the control it offers children.
Ensuring permission
Examples of intervention styles
When we reminisce about our childhoods many of us will recall happy times spent playing, mostly outdoors and with children of various ages. Children need permission and support from parents or carers to play outdoors. Parents and carers are subject to powerful and sometimes contradictory messages about keeping children safe.
Wait to be invited to play Practitioners should not expect to play with children unless they are invited by the children to do so.
To demonstrate a supportive attitude towards play we should ensure we do not:
Leave children to improve their own performance Play is a mechanism that enables children to develop their own skills, abilities and judgement. They should be supported to manage their play at their own pace and through trial and error.
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Dismiss it as frivolous and a waste of time
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Unintentionally be unenthusiastic
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Over regulate and over organise it
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Unnecessarily restrict it through fear
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Only use play as a vehicle for learning, educational or health outcomes that need to be met.
A permissive attitude can be reinforced by choosing an intervention style that enables children and young people to extend their play.
Enable play to occur uninterrupted Practitioners should try not to organise too much or interrupt the flow of play.
Leave the content and intent of play to the children Playing is the child’s agenda. What, how, when and with whom they play should be decisions they make. Let the children decide why they play Play is a behaviour without reward or a set goal. It is a child-led process for which prizes or incentives are not necessary. Only organise when the children require it From time to time, children may run out of ideas or want to try something new. They will sometimes ask for ideas, help to do something, or for a resource they need.
More information To read more about play types, loose parts and a range of other topics visit: www.playwales.org.uk/eng/publications To find out more about playwork training and qualifications visit: www.playwales.org.uk/eng/qualifications To find out more about the Playwork Principles visit: www.playwales.org.uk/eng/playworkprinciples
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