Welcome to the start of a mini blog series all about my chosen research title for the PDE Design and Technology project:
Within this research project, I essentially want to look into how children play, what makes certain types of play productive. Then, I want to look forward to the ways that technology is affecting and will affect how children play, both good and bad, and start to think about what can be done to steer these affects towards a more positive outcome. Finally, I want to think about how good play can be facilitated through design, whether using technology or not. How can we design in ways that allow children to play productively?

For any readers out there not part of the PDE course at the Glasgow School of Art, these blogs will culminate in a ‘Pecha Kucha’ Presentation on the topic, given in person. This does mean that these 3 blogs might become a bit of a landing page for all my thinking whilst making this presentation; there might be quite a lot of information, all of which has informed my thinking but perhaps not displayed in the most coherent way!

I think the best way to start this is by trying to flesh out a full understanding of what it means to play, why children play and how this helps them learn. I’ve definitely begun this in some of my previous blogs, most obviously ‘Cas Holman - Design for Play’ (read here) and ‘LEGO’s for Kids?’ (read here), however I still don’t feel as though I fully understand the answers to these questions. There’s a whole host of quotes from great educators about play and the effects it has on children, a lot of which I find helpful to eloquently express what I innately know but can’t describe:

“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.” - O. Fred Donaldson

“Play gives children a chance to practise what they are learning.” - Mr. Rogers

One of the most referenced scientific studies with regards to children’s play comes from the American sociologist, Mildred Parten. In the early 20th century, Parten created her classification of the 6 stages of play seen in children under 4 (here’s a good article breaking these down). This breakdown really illustrates the way that play affects learning as well as explaining clearly the path a child takes to reach fully developed play. More than anything I think this breakdown of the stages of play describes how important play is for a child’s social development.

Within this topic, a lot of the online resources are centred more around parenting techniques, something that divides opinion and has a far from scientific basis. However, within these blogs and articles, one common thread is guidance on encouraging children towards more individually driven and freeform types of play and how important the agency found within this is for them to learn. It seems generally accepted that you can still support and take part in a child’s play activities but shouldn't direct what happens as it’s important to give children the time and freedom within play to learn through self-direction.

Another undisputed fact throughout these threads is that the younger the child is, the less time they should be spending on technology. This is where I think the crux of the problem I’m investigating starts to become apparent. A lot of parents use technology almost as a pacifier for their young children and this can easily create a reliance on passive forms of entertainment from a young age. Studies generally agree that children shouldn’t have access to screens below the age of 2 and that this screen time should still be kept between 30 minutes and an hour under the age of 4. Here’s a formal study from The World Health Organization with a series of recommendations stating that “Children under the age of 5 should not spend more than 60 minutes a day in passive activities in front of a smartphone, computer or TV screen.”. This period up to the age of 4 to 5ish is quite heavily researched, however once children move past this, go off to school and often gain much more exposure to technology and passive media, it seems that a lot less thought is put into the avenues of play that they experience.

Below the ages of 4, a lot more onus is put on parents to direct childrens play. After this age, it seems like a lot less focus is put on play as children start to grow older, so I think this is where more thought needs to be put into how this interaction from ages 4 and up can be kept positive. It’s important that kids above this age are still given access to freeform and social play and this is incredibly difficult through the lens of technology. I want to find some of the better examples of children's play both with and without modern technology. There are already loads of shows, apps and more geared towards cultivating these positive interactions and I think this is the next place to look. Find the good, the bad and the ugly of tech within children's play…

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5th Jan