A fascinating, eclectic analysis of the changing geographies of play in contemporary society.

The first part of this two-part book on play in public education, contains chapters authored by 23 educators, most of whom had been colleagues or students of Professor Margaret B. McFarland to whose memory the book is dedicated, addresses the need to integrate child development research with classroom practice in order to provide developmentally appropriate play and learning opportunities. Topics addressed in this section include: the importance of play in child development; the role of children's play for three age groups; and the role of play in a second grade classroom. The second section examines the early childhood curriculum and the use of play as a vehicle of children's learning. Chapters in this section address: (1) the efficacy of activity-based learning in mathematics, multicultural education, and literature; (2) a checklist procedure for determining the capacity of students in a primary class to use play in the learning process; (3) intervention techniques that help young children adjust to school; (4) a play intervention case study; and (5) the broad implications of play in public education and in early childhood teacher education programs. Most chapters in the book contain a list of references relevant to the topic discussed. A 16- item bibliography of resources relating to play in public education is provided, and a brief description of the professional affiliations of the contributors is appended. (BC)

In Playborhood: Turn Your Neighborhood Into a Place for Play, you'll find inspiring stories of innovative communities throughout the US and Canada that have successfully created vibrant neighborhood play lives for their children. You'll also get a comprehensive set of step-by-step solutions to change your family and neighborhood cultures, so that your kids can spend less time in front of screens and in adult-supervised activities, and more time engaging in joyful neighborhood play.

Where do children go and what do they do outdoors? How do they evaluate their own environment? What are their likes and dislikes? What would they like to see added or changed? How can the outdoor environment support healthy child development? How is the impact of the environment affected by its social and physical characteristics? How can its developmental impact be strengthened through public policy? These are some of the questions addressed by Childhood’s Domain, originally published in 1986, in which children, as ‘expert’ research collaborators, describe their largely unseen life outdoors. On field trips to secret play places around their homes, in streets, in parks, and in places laid waste and abandoned by adult society, they reveal both the pleasure and difficulties of play in the city. A central concept of the book is a new term, terra ludens, which represents the accumulated developmental support that each child receives from her or his personal play spaces. Terra ludens reflects the degree to which each child acquires an intuitive sense of how the world is by playing with it. Field research for the book was conducted in London, Stevenage New Town and Stoke-on-Trent. Neighbourhood sites were deliberately chosen to contrast and compare children’s reactions to the characteristics of ‘big city’, ‘new town’ and ‘old industrial city’ environments. The most interesting experiences were encountered with children in Stoke-on-Trent. Here, in former mineral workings functioning as ‘playgrounds’ equipped with relics from the heyday of the industrial revolution, in new open spaces reclaimed from industrial ‘wastelands’, and in older parks dating from Victorian times, children demonstrated the creative possibilities of a landscape of opportunities lacking in the other two sites. Even so, children in all three sites revealed great ingenuity in making do with whatever resources they could find to create viable play environments for themselves.

The Book That Launched an International Movement Fans of The Anxious Generation will adore Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv's groundbreaking New York Times bestseller. “An absolute must-read for parents.” —The Boston Globe “It rivals Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.” —The Cincinnati Enquirer “I like to play indoors better ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are,” reports a fourth grader. But it’s not only computers, television, and video games that are keeping kids inside. It’s also their parents’ fears of traffic, strangers, Lyme disease, and West Nile virus; their schools’ emphasis on more and more homework; their structured schedules; and their lack of access to natural areas. Local governments, neighborhood associations, and even organizations devoted to the outdoors are placing legal and regulatory constraints on many wild spaces, sometimes making natural play a crime. As children’s connections to nature diminish and the social, psychological, and spiritual implications become apparent, new research shows that nature can offer powerful therapy for such maladies as depression, obesity, and attention deficit disorder. Environment-based education dramatically improves standardized test scores and grade-point averages and develops skills in problem solving, critical thinking, and decision making. Anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that childhood experiences in nature stimulate creativity. In Last Child in the Woods, Louv talks with parents, children, teachers, scientists, religious leaders, child-development researchers, and environmentalists who recognize the threat and offer solutions. Louv shows us an alternative future, one in which parents help their kids experience the natural world more deeply—and find the joy of family connectedness in the process. Included in this edition: A Field Guide with 100 Practical Actions We Can Take Discussion Points for Book Groups, Classrooms, and Communities Additional Notes by the Author New and Updated Research from the U.S. and Abroad

Manufactured play equipment or loose parts? : examining the relationship between play materials and young children's creative play / Reyhaneh Mozaffar, Napier University -- Becoming naturish: ways of coming to know nature in the primary school / Cathy Francis, University of Aberdeen -- A view from China : reflecting on the participation of children and young people in urban planning / Yupeng Ren, Yantai University.

»There's nothing really fun about the park in winter!« - Christina Ergler is the first one to explore why ›play‹ resonates differently across urban localities and seasons. She draws on Bourdieu's theory of practice and Gibson's affordance theory to show that determinants of seasonal outdoor play transcend modifiable barriers such as traffic and unsuitable play spaces as well as the inevitable issue of inclement weather. In contrast, seasonal play determinants are grounded in locally constituted beliefs about what is seasonally ›appropriate‹ children's activity. To foster a healthier and more sustainable life for children, outdoor play needs to become convenient all-year-round in all locations.