You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
"Foundations of Playwork is a must read for anyone with an interest in playwork or children's services. It shows the breadth, depth and value of our work with and on behalf of children." Mike Greenaway, Director of Play Wales Play impacts on all aspects of human behaviour and development, including the social, physical, cognitive, creative, emotional and spiritual worlds. The profession of playwork endeavours to provide enriched play environments with a view to enabling children achieve their full potential. This book provides a holistic overview of contemporary play and playwork. Straightforward and accessible, it covers topics such as playwork identity; play environments; the role of the p...
"[An] excellent book... With its breadth of discourse, it held my attention throughout. ... This book is informative, but also challenges views on the play experience and the playwork profession. It will be of interest to all those that work and play with young children. The place of playwork and playworkers... is described with passion: readers cannot help but be totally absorbed by this book." Early Years, Vol 24, No 1, March 2004 Children learn and develop through their play. In today's world the opportunities for that to happen are increasingly restricted. The profession of playwork seeks to reintroduce such opportunities, and so enable children to achieve their full potential. This book...
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.
Selected as an Outstanding Academic Title by Choice Magazine, January 2010 The Encyclopedia of Play: A Social History explores the concept of play in history and modern society in the United States and internationally. Its scope encompasses leisure and recreation activities of children as well as adults throughout the ages, from dice games in the Roman empire to video games today. As an academic social history, it includes the perspectives of several curricular disciplines, from sociology to child psychology, from lifestyle history to social epidemiology. This two-volume set will serve as a general, non-technical resource for students in education and human development, health and sports psychology, leisure and recreation studies and kinesiology, history, and other social sciences to understand the importance of play as it has developed globally throughout history and to appreciate the affects of play on child and adult development, particularly on health, creativity, and imagination.
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 explor...
This brand new text breaks the mould of books on the subject of play currently on the market. It explores, debates and further develops the theory of play, relating cutting-edge theory to examples of practice, taken from a broad range of multi-disciplinary perspectives. Each author brings their own perspective to the subject, based on rich and diverse experience, examining play-based activities from a wide variety of settings: the classroom, the playground, the home and local community. Each chapter is illustrated throughout with observation notes, case studies, interviews and discussions, encouraging you not only to critically evaluate current research but to reflect on ways in which you could develop and improve your own practice. Perspectives on Play will be an invaluable resource for any student studying within childhood studies, playwork programmes or training to teach at early years or primary level. The book is also ideal for early years, primary and play practitioners.
Approved by SPRITO, this text is fully revised throughout to reflect the latest thinking and practice, and is based upon the National Occupational Standards.
Play is a crucial component in the development of all children. In this fully updated and revised edition of his classic playwork text, Bob Hughes explores the complexities of children’s play, its meaning and purpose, and argues that adult-free play is essential for the psychological well-being of the child. The book is divided into fourteen chapters that together examine the fundamentals of evolutionary play. Firstly, Hughes examines the very earliest ideas of playwork and its impact on brain growth and organization today. He then goes on to explore and explain the key theoretical concepts underlying playwork. These include discussions on free play and creating suitable play environments ...
This book provides a completely new approach to planning and study for all childcare courses. Written by the country's leading childcare authors, A-Z of Childcare explains the most effective methods of study, and presents outline plans to all the key curriculum areas.
Twenty years after Gordon Sturrock and the late Professor Perry Else’s 'Colorado Paper' introduced the Play Cycle, this theory of play now supports professional playwork practice, training and education. The Play Cycle: Theory, Research and Application is the first book of its kind to explain the theoretical concept of the Play Cycle, supported by recent research, and how it can be used as an observational method for anyone who works with children in a play context. The book investigates the understandings of the Play Cycle within the playwork field over the last 20 years, and its future application. It addresses each aspect of the Play Cycle (metalude, play cue, play return, play frame, l...