Chapter 4 uses the figure of the mirror as a way into questions of mimesis, by which I mean sensuous, contact-based imitative practice, rather than “realistic” representation. This chapter theorizes what I call “mirror games,” which are embodied mimetic performances that find Bechdel experimenting with the space between self and other, subject and object. These games are about negotiating what it means to be her own person, a person who comes out of the body of her mother but who lays claim to a separate self. Is there a mode of mimetic reproduction that is enabling rather than annihilating? I investigate Bechdel’s corporeal, sensuous relationship to mimesis at three sites: photography, diaries, and symbolic play. At each site, Bechdel negotiates her similarity to, and her difference from, whatever it is she is copying: her mother’s face, her father’s photo album, a parent’s handwriting. The line is touch, caress; the line is also an edge that marks distinction, dividing this and that, me and you. Through these procedures, Bechdel develops a relational self that passes through alterity, as through the looking glass.

Diagrams are essential for interpreting complex datasets and making discoveries. This chapter examines how diagrams in use make private thoughts, models, and phenomena accessible intersubjectively and complex datasets surveyable. When designed and used conventionally, diagrams are bearers of tradition and culture. This chapter shows that they can also be resources for scientific understanding, pruning and cultivating datasets, and achieving social accountability. Diagrams are the ground on which scientists can play and experiment with data: researchers suspend sequential courses of action for explorations in which they gain insights into possible interpretations and their work’s robustness as they decide which action among alternatives to make consequential. This chapter describes this play in the making of a discovery. As diagrams are standardized and used at many places, the resistance that their users experience can be ascribed to their efforts to be accountable to researchers elsewhere.

Chapter 5 brings together two entirely remote and distinct religious systems: the Vineyard Evangelical Church in the United States and the pilgrim worshipers of Krishna in Vrindavan, India. In both cases, religious actors report sensory experiences of God: auditory in the United States and visual in India. The chapter provides a systemic explanation for these reports, considering them as responses to a profound dissonance in systems of faith among committed adherents to a personal God. The chapter also examines psychological theories such as porosity, absorption, decentering, and other mechanisms for altering states of consciousness toward sensory experiences of the divine.

Through reading this chapter, you will gain insights into Vygotsky’s cultural-historical conception of play and the range of contemporary models of play that have been informed by cultural-historical theory.

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.