What is play? How does play develop? What is the relationship between play, learning and development? This book looks at these central questions from the perspectives of children, families, educators and what is known from research. You are encouraged to read and reflect on the content as you progress through the book. Although each chapter brings in different dimensions, the approach taken is interactive, with most chapters (but not all) inviting you to consider specific research into play practices, and to generate your own ideas/data to discuss or critique. We begin the journey in this first chapter by looking at your ideas and the writings of others on the topic ‘What is play?’

As advocates for play, teachers need to have a clear definition of play, a model of play used to guide their practice and a theory of play that underpins their philosophy of teaching and learning. This chapter brings together insights gained about play from all the chapters in this book and invites you to take a position on your own philosophy of play. We then ask you to become an advocate for children’s play.

In this chapter, we seek to examine how play supports children’s overall development. We specifically take the child’s perspective in planning for play development.This chapter has been designed to provide a strong theoretical sense of the concepts of play, learning and development in early education; the capacity to analyse and support play development; a look at planning for play and learning outcomes, drawing on the The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (V2.0) or Te Whāriki.

At the beginning of this book, we examined your own play memories and those of other people. We concluded that play really matters to children. But what do we really learn about children’s learning and development when we observe and analyse play? We begin this chapter by looking at a play memory of a 16-year-old boy whose parents used play to support their son in dealing with the arrival of his new baby sister.

In this chapter, we will look at how children play in families, and the diversity of roles that parents may take in children’s play. We begin this chapter with details of the play practices of two families living in the same community. We argue that play is learned in families, and in early childhood centres and classrooms, rather than being something that arises naturally within the child. Through reading this chapter on families at play, you will gain insights into how some families play and how play is learned in families, and an understanding that play practices learned at home lay the foundation of children’s play and learning, and that as teachers we should consider how to build upon these early experiences in our early childhood centres and classrooms.

This chapter has been designed to help you learn about: how others plan for play-based learning and intentionality in the The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (V2.0); what a Conceptual PlayWorld looks like for three groups – infants and toddlers, preschoolers, and children transitioning to school; how to design a Conceptual PlayWorld to support cultural competence; and how to plan a Conceptual PlayWorld for a range of educational settings.

Taking the child’s perspective means looking at the world through the eyes of the infant or the child. This can help us to better understand play practices and better plan for children’s learning and development. But how do we do this in practice? In this chapter we explore these ideas and help you design programs where you gain insight into the importance of documenting infants’ and young children’s perspectives on their play and identify a range of practical ways to find out children’s perspectives on their play.

In this chapter, we look at how play can support children’s learning in schools. We begin by examining how teachers can support children’s learning in play by exploring a range of playful approaches to learning curriculum content. A case study of a play-based approach from the Netherlands is also presented, followed by a range of practical suggestions and resource ideas to support the setting up of a play-based inquiry approach using the Australian Curriculum.

As a result of reading the first five chapters, you are now in a position to argue for the view that studying play is a serious and academic endeavour. To further support your learning, in this chapter and the next we turn our attention to the main theories that have informed the key models of play upon which teachers have increasingly drawn in contemporary times. In this chapter, we show how post-structuralist theory can inform thinking about children’s play.

Children’s play reflects the culture and cultural tools of a community. Digital play and digital tools have evolved over time. Described by Susan Edwards as three generations: First generation: 1980 to early 2000s with the focus was on children’s use of digital technologies; Second generation: 2010 with the availability of the iPad and independent digital activity by children; Third generation: the integration of technologies with children’s socio-material activities and everyday lives.

Play is a key dimension of early childhood education. How play is conceptualised and how a teacher uses play to support curriculum activities have a bearing on what a child experiences. We know from research that play is discussed in different ways in different countries, and also that play is presented in different ways in education curricula around the world.