Over the years since its conception of the term from junk playground.  The word Adventure Playground has been banded about by individuals and organisations so much so that now they can mean a vast variety of different things to different people. The term now includes a variety of examples ranging from unsupervised architectural designed play areas, commercially designed theme parks, play areas designed specifically for the disabled child, park play areas, neighberhood centres, to pet areas, farmland projects or activity centres. Whilst the true Adventure Playground is in fact none of these. They are areas of land set aside in a neighbourhood where local children have free access to play structures, play facilities indoors and out which are supervised by trained play staff. Within these sites the children are encouraged to take risks through play pursuits, aerial runways, slides, walkways, commando nets, etc.  

They are able to be actively involved in construction work and use of tools and materials under guidance and supervision. Theses schemes are neighbourhood orientated with local parent’s management committees and fund raising initiatives. A variety of activities can be planned including outings; social activities play activities and community events. Each site can include possibilities such as gardening, pet’s areas, nursery areas and youth sections as well as barbecue areas etc. A true Adventure Playground is a Community of children and parents involved in sharing and enjoying the fruits of play.

See What An Extraordinary Adventure.Click on Pic

The work was very demanding, yet the fulfilment seemed to cloud all other negative feelings. Whether amongst the adventure playgrounds, play schemes or similar play projects.The children would be easily excitable, encouragingly noisy, yet these mixed with the sounds of laughter and cries of fun resounding across the neighbourhoods. All of such noises were the sounds and echoes of children happy absorbed at their play.

Children, who were always on the move, running around and excited by all that was happening, such free movement broken only by occasional squabbles, or the sharing of such fun filled moments amongst their peers. Questions were rife, with children constantly seeking answers to everything and endless games of mimickingadults; children moving constantly from one activity to another, or fully absorbed in their latest and most intense activity, or occupation. Children who were totally unaware of the time, or other distractions that may occur.

THE CUNNING THING.

When baby awakes of morning

then its wake you people all

for another day of song and play

has come at our darlings call

and till she gets her dinner

she makes the welkin ring

and she wont keep still till shes had her fill

the cunning little thing

 

when baby goes a walking

oh how the paddies fly

for thats the way the babys say

to other folks bye bye

 

when baby goes a rocking

in her bed at close of day

at hide and seek on her dainty cheek

the dreams and the dimples play

then its sleep in the tender kisses

the guardian angels bring

from the far above to my sweetest love

you cunning little thing.

 

EUGENE FIELD.

 

Often these were tiny, brittle children, only just coping with the techniques of walking and other small children working in-groups. All were so eager to learn and were forever asking challenging questions, but wanting immediate answers to such probing questions like, "how do I do this?" and most common of all "WHY NOT?" . Older children mothering little ones, others playing ball, building dens, or playing chase. Older gangs of boys and of girls, just looking on, chatting or involved in building relationships, creating their imaginative dens, or other robust activities. Always questioning the decisions of others, challenging, energetic, physical and most of all very involved.

 

My own individual way of working with children was to encourage them both individually and collectively. Encouraging children to take part in play activities and events of all description, was part of the job, that encompassed traditional street games and group rhymes. These activities included circle games, action songs, hide, and chase activities, alongside the more organised and very traditional recreational games. Such as rounders, football and cricket, which were all very essential.

 

Working in this way, I quickly grasped a working knowledge of a wide range of game repertoires, that included children's chants, rhymes and games gained from all corners of the United Kingdom, both from the inner cities and the country towns. In the early days I would be called at from my home, by small children, asking if I could come out and play with them, either on the green behind my home, or over at the nearby park.

 

 

 

The noisy playtimes of happy children, who were totally absorbed in their activities, was to be the true success of the play leader. As a play leader, I was prepared to take part in all of their energetic activities, sharing the play experiences of the children and for myself to find pleasure from being involved, as well as watching their enjoyment of play. Whilst the girls were more prepared to accept the social rules associated with the playing of games, boys demanded the space to show off their boisterous energetic natures.

 

Many games provided channels for such outlets, where physical contact and aggression were the essential ingredients of the game at hand, such as football kick-about and other similar physical team pursuits. The play leader has to be aware of such needs, to ensure that there were opportunities for expression in many forms within the group and during the activities of child's play.

 

The primary concerns were of child safety, amongst not only the groups, but also of individuals who were continually monitored. Games like run out, chase and stuck in the mud, provided quality examples of how boys and girls could integrate positively within a group, particularly within a large sized activity.

                                                                                       

          Robert Baden Powell.              Lady Marjorie Allen.                     Drummond Abernethy.

 

 

Published literature to date on the subject of child's play, has included views from numerous authors, theorists, child psychologists, architects, reforming teachers and radical thinkers to play workers. Free thinkers like A.S. Neil of Summerhill, Michael Duane of Risinghill, William Barnes of Dorset, Homer Lane of the Little Commonwealth/Dorset, Arvid Bengtson, Lady Marjorie Allen of Hurtwood and Drummond Abernethy of the N.P.F.A.

 

All of these individuals played their own roles in the concept, that of the child's right to play, whilst it is apparent that earlier reformers and thinkers had influenced them. As well as the founders of organisations for children's activities, such as Lord Baden Powell, with his scout camps on Brownsea Island in Dorset. I was influenced to some extent by such local pioneers.

 

Since the initial development of play leadership, many of these full time and holiday activity programmes are still functioning and have expanded rapidly, even since the time of my initial period of intervention.

 

My contact with children and young people as young as 2 and youths as old as 20, has been exhilarating to say the least, as well as both rewarding and challenging. The numbers of children I have known has been countless, with full integration from all backgrounds, community settings, racial origins and interests.

 

In my account of play see the section entitled."What An Extraordinary Adventure."

You will pass through the periods in time when the physical and creative mind of children's organised play was planned, shaped and developed; all of which helped to shape the future of child's play.

 

Play work has changed enormously since those initial days, when leaders worked within a very small budget and usually very much alone and with very little managerial support. To work with children who were anxious and eager to play their games of pretence and fun, was for me, and still is an extraordinary adventure.

 

  

 Entering- Play Work. 

 

The term Play Work is commonly used today by professionals in the field of Child Care provision to cover a variety of supervised out of school leisure and play related provision for children. These have included a range of facilities such as After School clubs, Holiday play schemes, Adventure Playgrounds and Play Centres. Originally such leisure provision was known as Play Leadership, until the growth of Adventure Playgrounds influenced the term Play/Work. And the recent development of government support  for the growth of Out of School clubs and Projects.

 

Recently there has been a marked increase, interest and public support for these new initiatives, particularly during recent years, with an emphasis on encouraging mothers to return to the workplace. Numerous new national and local initiatives have been encouraged to provide training for Play Workers with an emphasis on their attainment of a nationally recognised vocational qualification. Prior to operating and supervising these new play/work initiatives.

 

However, there have over the years been many within the field of play/work are opposed to the N.V.Q avenue, as being of true value to the training of play worker's. However, my own view is that there is a need for the recognition of the value of all types of training initiatives for play people from a variety of backgrounds. Regardless of the professional training methods used to determine the student's suitability and attainments. Children's play needs must not be neglected through petty squabbles over methods, but all areas of play provision should be encouraged to meet the demands of the modern era.

 

Play Work should also include pre school play provision, nurseries, as well as junior youth clubs within Youth Centres, or community, or leisure centres. As well as such facilities, within outdoor activity centres, theme parks or holiday clubs. All of which are accessible avenues for children to enjoy their playtimes.

 

The opportunities available for those wishing to enter the profession are there. The basic and fundamental requirements for entering the field of Play/Work remain as ever the ability to relate well to young people. To have a natural flair for the work, along with energy, enthusiasm, patience and imagination.

 

I believe that any training should be secondary to these basic essentials, providing knowledge and understanding of all aspects of child's play development. Including health and safety issues, psychology, supervisory or management skills, games and activity programmes co ordination.plus community and welfare knowledge.

 

Childhood and play

Play is freely chosen, intrinsically motivated and personally directed. Playing has been long recognized as a critical aspect of Child Development.

 

Some of the earliest studies of play started in the 1890s with G. Stanley Hall, the father of the child study movement that sparked an interest in the developmental, mental and behavioral world of babies and children.

Many of the most prominent researchers in the field of psychology (including Piaget,William James, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Vygotsky have viewed play as endemic to the human species; indeed, the attributions projected upon an imaginary friend by children are key to understanding the construction of human spirituality and it pantheon(s) deinication and demonization.

 

  Spencer (1873)

 

He declared that play activity, driven by surplus energy is directed towards activities which have a prominent role in the animal's/person's life. He emphasised a close relationship between art and play saying that  "..art is but one kind of play."

The form that the play takes is dependent upon the level of development of the player, but he distinguished divisions of forms of play; as being,

 sensory-motor play.

 

games with rules

.

 

Schiller (1875)

 He believed that "play had no real purpose other than to use up excess energy".

Schillier said that "..play is the aimless expenditure of exuberant energy....children and young animals, not concerned with self preservation, have surplus energy which they expended through play."

 

Freud, Piaget and Vygotsky developed theories which relate play to the world of children and many others have restated the significance of play within a child's life.

 

Bruner (1972);

 

Nature and Uses of Immaturity; identifies play of having various different functions, such as minimising the consequences of action, therefore learning in a less risky situation, and the opportunity to try combinations of behaviour that would not otherwise be tried. Others, have since taken on board the therapeutic nature and the ability of play to help identify problems.

 

Freud identified his theories of play as a repetition of symbolic games being the ego's attempt to repeat actively a traumatic event, previously experienced passively, thus allowing the child to gain mastery over the event. From this, a psychoanalytic approach to child analysis developed which used play to interpret the child's unconscious motivation.

 

The two people, on the whole, who were responsible for this development are Anna Freud and Melanie Klein, through their work with neurotic children.

   

Anna Freud

 

Freud looked for the unconscious motivation behind imaginative play, drawings and paintings, dreams and daydreams. She emphasised the importance of the relationship between the therapist and the child, in particular, the initial stages, She pointed out that this relationship was problematic because the parents (the original love object) are still very much active in the child's life, thus leading to strong positive transference, but difficult negative transference and a transference neurosis does not develop

   

Klein

 

Took this a step further and believed that behind every playful action, there is a symbolic meaning. Thus she furnished direct access to the child's unconscious.

Klein believed that spontaneous play in a child was equal to free association of an adult.

This theory is problematic, because it relies on an adult interpretation of a child's actions -

 

"the child who runs towards a visitor and opens her purse, need not thereby as Melanie Klein thinks, have expressed symbolically its curiosity as to whether or not a new little sister is concealed within the body of its mother. It might be associating in its mind the experience of the previous day in which someone who had entered had brought in a small gift in a bag."

 

Others have taken the view that, contrary to the psychoanalytic approach which relies on the medium of play to indicate the source of problems,  the play is the therapeutic process itself.

   

Winnicott

 

Developed an approach to working with children, which saw play as central to the therapeutic experience, believing that children's play has a direct continuity with what he described as an 'intermediate area' in adult experience, such as art and religion, where the strain of managing the transition between inner and outer reality is relatively unchallenged and therefore anxiety free. Play was therefore the means whereby the child manages the transition between the inner world of the psyche and outer reality and thus "always on the theoretical line between the subjective and that which is objectively perceived" (Winnicott 1988:59)

 

Non-directive play therapy looks at play as a healing process. It gives the child the opportunity to 'play out' feelings and problems and learns about themself in relation to the therapist.

Play in this model is not seen as stimulation for other kinds of therapy, rather as the therapeutic intervention itself. The focus of this theory is on the healing process of play.

   

Virginia Axline (1947/69)

 

Has been instrumental in the development of this approach. She believed that the child has within them the ability to solve their own problems. She emphasised the use of play therapy to allow a child to reach for independence.

Non-directive therapy allows for the acceptance of the child without judgement or pressure to change. Play is the child's natural medium for expression and in play therapy, the child can play out feelings of tension, frustration, insecurity, aggression, fear, bewilderment and confusion.

 

Axline defines eight guidelines for practice;

 

 

1) The therapist must develop a warm friendly relationship with the child, in which good rapport is established as soon as possible.

2) The therapist accepts the child exactly as she is.

3) The therapist establishes a feeling of permissiveness in the relationship so that the child feels free to express feelings completely.

4) The therapist is alert to recognise the feelings the child is expressing and reflects those feelings back in a manner that gives the child an insight into her behaviour.

5) The therapist maintains a deep respect for the child's ability to solve problems if given the opportunity. The responsibility to make changes and institute change is the child's.

6) The therapist does not attempt to direct the child's actions or conversations in any manner, the child leads the way; the therapist follows.

7) The therapist does not attempt to hurry the therapy along. It is a gradual process, recognised as such by the therapist.

8) The therapist establishes only those limitations necessary to anchor the therapy to the world of reality and to make the child aware of her responsibility in the relationship.

Axline also states that the above principles are interwoven and interdependent on the others.

   

Clark Moustakas (1953/74)

 

Children in Play Therapy; talks about child-centred play therapy and defines the relationship needed to ensure that the therapy is a growth experience, particularly that the therapist needs to respect and accept the child.

He identifies four stages in the therapeutic process;

 

the child's emotions are diffused  and feelings are generally negative.

the relationship develops and attitudes of hostility become more specific and anger is expressed against particular people/experiences. As the negative feelings are expressed and the therapist accepts them, they become less intense.

the child becomes less negative. S/he still has anger but is no longer ambivalent towards the peope in her/his life.

positive feelings emerge. The child sees her/himself, and the relationship with others in a more balanced way.

The levels of the process occur in individually varying sequences with some overlapping. The key elements in this method are the security of the child with the therapist.

The conditions necessary for 'self-actualisation' to occur through non-directive and child-centred therapy can be characterised by three elements or core conditions;

 

   

These three elements are

 

genuineness and authenticity - that is the capacity to be real, to be themselves as opposed to adopting a role or defensive posture with the client.

non-possessive warmth - an attitude of caring and engaged and friendly concern, without becoming overly emotionally involved or offering help for self-serving reasons.

 

accurate empathy - the ability to feel with those who are seeking help, and articulate these feelings.

 

So what about the actual therapy itself? What does it entail?

 

 

Sensory/embodiment Play

 

Different mediums have a different place with each child. Tactile materials such as gloop are used by children to represent a number of things, such as the world falling in on top of you, small creatures being buried under a mound of slime. Or it can be used to regress to babyhood and messy play, touching, smearing, throwing, or representing their own bodies through the material, where it becomes 'snot' or 'sick' or other body fluids etc.

The child explores and experiences the world through the senses, then begins to explore objects, materials and toys outside herself.

   

 

 

The child begins to discover the external world through the exploration of toys and objects external to herself. It can take a narrative form, making up stories around the objects, but sometimes takes the form of embodiment play where the objects are used as a form of sensory experience. So a child may make a monster out of play dough and structure a story about it, or take pleasure in playing with the material , smelling touching, hitting, poking; enjoying a bodily reaction to the material.

 

Symbolic Play

 

Children often represent their social world through symbolic play. Children signal that they are about to start, or change playing, by various methods such as saying  "do you want to play with me,?" "now I'm a monster" and close the playing by negating the roles "I'm not dead any more" marking boundaries of when children enter and leave the play.

Symbolic play enables the experience of subjective realities in alternative environments, whilst also sharing this experience with others. The participants agree to create an alternative reality.

Abused children find symbols or metaphors to describe their pain, thus allowing them to to explore past relationships in a multi-dimensional way and make some meaning and resolution of their past.

  Actual techniques of play therapy vary between schools of thought, and also between therapists within these schools. What is clear though, is that play is crucial to the development of children, and given that, it can be utilised to identify and resolve trauma that the child may have experienced in their lives.

 

Play is explicitly recognized in Article 31 of The Conventions on the Rights of a Child (adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations. November 29, 1989). which states:

1. Parties recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.
2. Parties shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activities.

 

The American Society of Paediatricians (AAP) published a study in 2006 entitled: "The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds".

 

 The report states: "free and unstructured play is healthy and - in fact - essential for helping children reach important social, emotional, and cognitive developmental milestones as well as helping them manage stress and become resilient.”

 

Childhood 'play' is also seen by Sally Jenkinson (author of The Genius of Play) to be an intimate and integral part of childhood development.

"In giving primacy to adult knowledge, to our 'grown-up' ways of seeing the world, have we forgotten how to value other kinds of wisdom? Do we still care about the small secret corners of children's wisdom?"

  Modern research in the field of 'affective neuroscience' has uncovered important links between role playing and neurogenesis in the brain. Sociologist Roger Callios coined the word "ilinx" to describe the momentary disruption of perception that comes from forms of physical play that disorient the senses, especially balance.

In addition evolutionary psychologists have begun to expound the phylogenetic relationship between higher intelligence in humans and its relationship to play.

 

 

 

 

Click on the boy