This book explores how play is perceived and practiced through the lens of various different professional and international contexts. Children’s experiences of play will vary according to the different institutions and organisations they are involved in across their lifespan during childhood. The chapters cover play from pre-school to adolescence that includes education, playwork and the new developing area of intergenerational play. This wide variety of contexts and cultures raises questions about universal concepts and notions of ‘play’. The editors and contributors explore how policy, practice and research can identify both differences and commonalities between the way that play is perceived and experienced by children and adults across different types of provision.

Learning Through Play translates the theory of play into practice while seamlessly integrating the Australian Curriculum, government policy and current trends. It aims to create a shared understanding of play and play-based pedagogies that positively influence the everyday practices of educators and improve the learning experiences of children. The book extensively covers the various contexts that children may engage with during the early years - the period from birth to age 8. Learning Through Play is structured to complement the Early Years Learning Framework and early childhood education studies. It begins by drawing on theories to discuss the centrality of play to children's development and learning, then delves into the practicalities and challenges of implementing these play-based approaches, and finally discusses the future of play in early childhood contexts. With several learning features that blend theory, context and practical skills, Learning Through Play will not only help pre-service teachers to understand play in principle and in practice, but also to advocate articulately for play-based approaches.

Explores the history of play in the U.S. from the point of view of children between six and twelve.

A full-color trip through the treasures of American Childhood from 1650 to today. Remember the toys you played with when you were growing up? Each of those objects has a story to tell about the history of American childhood and play. Construction toys like Lincoln Logs and Erector Set offer insight into America’s booming urban infrastructure in the early 1910s and 20s, and the important role toys played in preparing children for future careers in engineering and architecture. A stuffed toy monkey from Germany tells the story of young Jewish refugees to the United States during World War II. The board game Candyland has its origins in the dreaded polio epidemic of 1950s. Exploring Childhood and Play Through 50 Historic Treasures brings together a collection of beloved toys and games from the last two centuries to guide readers on a journey through the history of American childhood and play, 1840-2000. Through color photographs and short essays on each object, this book examines childhood against the backdrop of culture, politics, religion, technology, gender, parenting philosophies, and more. The book features ten categories of objects including board and electronic games, dolls, action figures, art toys, optical toys, animal toys, construction sets, and sports. Each essay tells the story of the individual object its historic context, and each passage builds upon one another to create a fascinating survey of how childhood and play changed over the course of two centuries.

This practical book provides pre- and inservice teachers with an understanding of how math can be learned through play. The author helps teachers to recognize the mathematical learning that occurs during play, to develop strategies for mathematizing that play, and to design formal lessons that make connections between mathematics and play. Common Core State Standards are addressed throughout the text to demonstrate the ways in which play is critical to standards-based mathematics teaching, and to help teachers become more familiar with these standards. Classroom examples illustrate that, unlike most formal tasks, play offers children opportunities to solve nonroutine problems and to demonstrate a variety of mathematical ways of thinking—such as perseverance and attention to precision. This book will help put play back into the early childhood classroom where it belongs. Book Features: Makes explicit connections to play and the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics. Offers many examples of free play activities in which mathematics can be highlighted, as well as formal lessons that are inspired by play. Provides strategies for making assessments more playful, helping teachers meet increasing demands for assessment data while also reducing child stress. Includes highlight boxes with recommended resources, questions for reflection, key research findings, vocabulary, lesson plan templates, and more. “This is one of those books that I wish I had written. It is smart, readable, relevant, and authentically focused on children.” —From the Foreword by Elizabeth Graue, Sorenson Professor of Early Childhood Education, University of Wisconsin “In this deceptively easy-to-read book, Amy Parks explains two things that could make a world of difference in early childhood and elementary classrooms: Mathematics isn’t something in a workbook—it’s a fascinating part of the real world; And playing in school isn’t a luxury—it’s an essential context for learning about all sorts of things, including mathematics. Through vignettes of children learning mathematics as they play, Parks helps teachers recognize their ‘answerability to the moment,’ eschewing someone else’s determination of ‘best practice’ in favor of what works with actual children eager to learn mathematics.” —Rebecca New, School of Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Play is of critical importance to the well-being of children across the globe, a fact reflected in Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Yet existing literature on the subject is largely confined to discussing play from a developmental, educational or psychological perspective. Researching Play from a Playwork Perspective offers a new and exciting angle from which to view play, drawing on the authors’ own experience of conducting research into various aspects of this all-important and pervasive phenomenon. This innovative work will act as a compass for those looking to undertake research into different aspects of play and child welfare. Each chapter explores how the author has combined established and new research methodologies with their individual playwork approaches to arrive at emergent understandings of playwork research. The overall conclusion discusses directions for future research and develops a new model of playwork research from the four common themes that emerge from the contributions of individual authors: children’s rights, process, critical reflection, and playfulness. Examples from the United Kingdom, Nicaragua, and Sweden give this unique work international relevance. Researching Play from a Playwork Perspective will appeal to researchers and students around the world working in the fields of playwork, childcare, early years, education, psychology and children’s rights. It should also be of interest to practitioners in a wide variety of professional contexts, including childcare and therapy.

'Children's Play' explores the many facets of play and how it develops from infancy through late childhood. The authors discuss major revolutions in the way the children of today engage in play, including changes in organised youth sports children's humour, and electronic play.