Rethinking Children's Play: (New Childhoods)

Rethinking Children's Play examines attitudes towards, and experiences of, children's play. Fraser Brown and Michael Patte draw on a wide range of thought, research and practice from different fields and countries to debate, challenge and re-appraise long held beliefs, attitudes and ways of working and living with children in the play environment. Children need to play and the benefits of play are many and varied, but they are too often underestimated by parents, educators, politicians and society in general. The authors apply a playwork perspective to a wide range of settings populated by children, both formal and informal, to explore the idea that children's learning and development derives substantially from their opportunities to engage with a rich play environment that is supportive of the play process. Thoughts are provoked through examples of research, reflections on research, activities, key points and guidance on further reading. Rethinking Children's Play is essential for all those studying childhood at undergraduate and graduate level and of great interest to those working with children in any field.

Table of Contents:
Introduction to the New Childhoods Series \ Acknowledgements \ Introduction \ Part 1 – Debates, Dilemmas and Challenges: The Background to Children’s Play \ 1. What is Play? \ Part 2 – Contemporary Issues \ 2. Play and Schools \ 3. Play and Other Institutional Settings \ 4. Play in Informal Settings \ 5. Play Deprivation \ Part 3 – Implications for Children’s Lives \ 6. Playwork \ 7. Rethinking Play \ Bibliography \ Index

About the Author :
Fraser Brown is Professor of Playwork at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, where he is Course Leader of the BA (Hons) Playwork. He was Director of the playwork training agency Children First, has held advisory posts with Playboard and the National Playing Fields Association (NPFA) and managed a range of projects for the North West Play Association. Michael Patte is a Distinguished Fulbright Scholar and Associate Professor of Education at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, USA. He is a past president of The Association for the Study of Play and co-editor of the International Journal of Play.

Review :
Rethinking Children's Play is a masterful resource of latest research and application on a topic of ever growing importance given that fact that today so many children are having to swim upstream for play and often are at risk of drowning.The book is well-written, cogent, and very engaging with wonderful transcriptions of interviews with leading authorities and boxed features giving examples of research, reflections on research, and suggested activities.The volume promises to inform and to inspire those who read it and who are in a position to act on behalf of children and in response to their need and right to play in different settings including schools, prisons, and hospitals.The reader can consume content on these and a host of other topics to gain fresh insights about how to think about play in ways to enable heightened sensitivity to the perspectives of children and innovative means to impact play directly or indirectly. This comprehensive examination of play in both the US and UK clearly explains current research and gives practical examples on the value of school, community, prison, and hospital play. It is a very readable and informative volume and includes thought-provoking analyses of negative effects of play deprivation and the positive effects of playwork. Essential reading for educators, parents, social workers, and child advocates. The child's right to play is at the heart of this contemporary and accessible book. Essential reading for anyone engaged in playful provision. Highly recommended for parents too! Brown and Patte present a lucid and tightly structured review of play in children's lives today. Featuring a plethora of international research they both pose and seek to answer questions around the erosion of play opportunities and the importance of the playwork approach. Accessible yet scholarly, they offer a powerful corrective against the increasing marginalisation of children's play and an essential resource for any serious student of play in childhood.