The Trouble With Play

by Susan Grieshaber, Felicity McArdle

The Trouble with Play is a radical departure from some of the ideas about play that are held dear by many in early childhood education. For many, play is considered essential to children's development and learning, and is often promoted as a universal and almost magical 'fix'. Although play does have many proven benefits for children, the authors show that play in the early years is not always innocent, fun and natural. Play can also be political and involve morals, ethics, values and power. So, what if...

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Stef Rozitis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found a lot of the unpickings of commonly held assumptions about play useful. Some of them toward the end began to be a bit of a stretch and some of the vignettes I struggled to see relevance in (they were all stuff that happens in an EC setting and that teachers need to daily grapple with but I guess it was no surprise to me). The book didn't suggest answers, techniques or even approaches and while I am happier when they don't try to make it so black and white I would have valued at least a beginning at sketching out some sort of an answer or a new way of viewing play moving forward (rather than just "not this and not that" negatives).

I would like the same authors to have made a claim about something that play is or does (reading between the lines they seem to say play is political which I agree with) also look at how to address issues of power and privilege in play rather than just be aware that they are there.

But I guess the writer writes and it is my job to "do something" myelf as usual. And the thinking in it was good.