Play, adventure and creativity: unearthing the excitement and fun of learning

Many scholars discuss the role of play in early childhood education and the notion that play is the child’s vehicle for learning (Bodrova and Leong Citation2015). The justification for this is partly due to the power of play to engage children in the process of learning; it creates dispositions for intrinsic learning which are self-motivating and inherently rewarding. Play-based learning is often positioned as an approach to overcome the lack of motivation to learn which can be caused by schools if they impose mechanisms which Bruner (Citation1966, 127) suggests ‘fail to enlist the natural energies that sustain spontaneous learning’. As a result, play is thought to alleviate the potential for learning to be mundane, tedious, or repetitive because children see play as exciting and fun. These positive dispositions associated with play stem from children’s familiarity with playing – a process which is typically engrained in childhood by parents and caregivers from birth – creating a sense of control and ownership for children to direct their actions and experiences, or to exhibit control over others in certain play situations (Corsaro and Eder Citation1990).

Författare: Lorna Arnott

Play, adventure and creativity: unearthing the excitement and fun of learning