Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Play in Early Childhood Education: An Historical Perspective

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Play: A Theory of Learning and Change

Abstract

Play is currently under threat and challenge in early childhood education. This chapter provides the history of play, demonstrating its role and legacy in learning cultures beyond the current imperatives for standards and standardization.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Sluss [1].

  2. 2.

    Press and Wong [2].

  3. 3.

    Campbell and Proctor [3].

  4. 4.

    Anderson [4], p. 1.

  5. 5.

    Wong [5].

  6. 6.

    Halpern [6]. Frances Press, What about the kids? Policy directions for improving the experiences of infants and young children in a changing world, report prepared for Commission for Children and Young People (New South Wales), Commission for Children and Young People (Queensland), and National Investment for the Early Years, 2006.

  7. 7.

    Lillard [7].

  8. 8.

    Bodrova [8].

  9. 9.

    Bodrova [8], p. 357.

  10. 10.

    Halpern [6].

  11. 11.

    Australian Government Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations [DEECD] [9].

  12. 12.

    Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2010. http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/.

  13. 13.

    For instance, please refer to “Foreign Language Immersion,” http://www.careforkids.com.au/childcarenews/july09/story2.html.

  14. 14.

    Wong and Sumsion [10].

  15. 15.

    Elkind [11].

  16. 16.

    See for instance: “Warringah Council to remove cherished slide from Wentworth Reserve, Belrose.” The Manly Daily, March 25, 2014. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/northern-beaches/warringah-council-to-remove-cherished-slide-from-wentworth-reserve-belrose/story-fngr8hax-1226864569227 (accessed 25March, 2014).

  17. 17.

    Elkind [11].

  18. 18.

    Witherspoon and Manning [12].

  19. 19.

    Hughes [13].

  20. 20.

    Yelland [14].

  21. 21.

    Zevenbergen and Logan [15].

  22. 22.

    Brown and Patte [16].

  23. 23.

    International Play Association [17].

  24. 24.

    See for instance: Braun and Edwards [18], Frost et al. [19], Wolfe [20].

  25. 25.

    Cohen provides an exception to these processes, Cohen [21].

  26. 26.

    Van Hoorn et al. [22].

  27. 27.

    Lascarides and Hinitz [23].

  28. 28.

    D’Angour [24].

  29. 29.

    Strandell [25].

  30. 30.

    Vary [26].

  31. 31.

    See for instance Hughes, Children’s play and development; Shipley [27].

  32. 32.

    Bodrova [8], p. 359.

  33. 33.

    Ailwood [28], p. 95.

  34. 34.

    MacNaughton [29].

  35. 35.

    Ailwood [30].

  36. 36.

    Rousseau [31].

  37. 37.

    Braun and Edwards [18].

  38. 38.

    Braun and Edwards [18].

  39. 39.

    Rousseau [31], n.p.

  40. 40.

    Wolfe [20].

  41. 41.

    Blake [32].

  42. 42.

    See for instance: Anti-Slavery Society: http://www.anti-slaverysociety.addr.com/slaverysasia.htm and World Vision: http://www.worldvision.com.au/issues/Human_Trafficking___Slavery/What_exactly_is_child_labour_.aspx.

  43. 43.

    Darwin [33].

  44. 44.

    Cohen [21].

  45. 45.

    Chick et al. [34].

  46. 46.

    No author, “Granville Stanley Hall ,” A reprint of an article first published in The American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 35, No. 3, 1924, 4,” The American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 100, Nos. 3–4, 1987, pp. 365–375.

  47. 47.

    No author [35].

  48. 48.

    Parten [36].

  49. 49.

    D’Angour [24].

  50. 50.

    D’Angour [24], p. 299.

  51. 51.

    D’Angour [24], p. 301.

  52. 52.

    D’Angour [24], p. 300.

  53. 53.

    Dewey [37].

  54. 54.

    Chappell [38].

  55. 55.

    Gunn and MacNaughton [39], pp. 121–134.

  56. 56.

    Chappell [38].

  57. 57.

    Vygotsky [40].

  58. 58.

    Lascarides and Hinitz [23].

  59. 59.

    Piaget [41].

  60. 60.

    Lascarides and Hinitz [23].

  61. 61.

    Vygotsky [40].

  62. 62.

    Vygotsky [40], p. 85.

  63. 63.

    Vygotsky [40], p. 74.

  64. 64.

    Lascarides and Hinitz [23].

  65. 65.

    Groos [42].

  66. 66.

    Cohen [21].

  67. 67.

    Cohen [21].

  68. 68.

    Ryan and Grieshaber [43].

  69. 69.

    Cannella [44]

  70. 70.

    Lascarides and Hinitz [23].

  71. 71.

    Sluss [1].

  72. 72.

    Lascarides and Hinitz [23].

  73. 73.

    Lascarides and Hinitz [23].

  74. 74.

    Locke [45].

  75. 75.

    Lascarides and Hinitz [23].

  76. 76.

    Pestalozzi [46].

  77. 77.

    Fröebel [47].

  78. 78.

    Fröebel [47], p. 55.

  79. 79.

    Fröebel [47], p. 55.

  80. 80.

    Blow [48].

  81. 81.

    Wong [49].

  82. 82.

    Lillard [7].

  83. 83.

    Lillard [7].

  84. 84.

    Lillard [7], p. 171.

  85. 85.

    DEECD [9], p. 46.

  86. 86.

    UNICEF [50].

  87. 87.

    UNICEF [51].

  88. 88.

    UNICEF [50], n.p.

  89. 89.

    International Play Association [17].

  90. 90.

    International Play Association [17].

  91. 91.

    See for instance the British Play Charter, http://www.playengland.org.uk/media/71062/charter-for-childrens-play.pdf.

References

  1. Sluss, D. (2005). Supporting play: Birth through age eight. New York: Thomson.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Press, F., & Wong, S. (2013). Early childhood Australia: A voice for children for 75 years. Canberra: Early Childhood Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Campbell, C., & Proctor, H. (2014). A history of Australian schooling. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Anderson, M. (1912). The story of the free kindergartens. Sydney: Kindergarten Union of NSW.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Wong, S. (2006). Early childhood education and care in New South Wales: Historicising the present. Doctoral thesis, Macquarie University, Sydney.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Halpern, R. (2013). Tying early childhood education more closely to schooling: Promise, perils and practical problems. Teachers College Record, 115(1), 1–28.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Lillard, A. (2013). Playful learning and Montessori education. American Journal of Play, 5(2), 157–186.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Bodrova, E. (2008). Make-believe play versus academic skills: A Vygotskian approach to today’s dilemma of early childhood education. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 16(3), 357–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Australian Government Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations [DEECD]. (2009). Belonging, being & becoming: The early years learning framework for Australia, Canberra.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Wong, S., & Sumsion, J. (2013). Integrated early years services: A thematic literature review. Early Years an International Research Journal, 33(1), 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Elkind, D. (2007). The power of play: Learning what comes naturally. Philadelphia: Da Capo Press.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Witherspoon, L., & Manning, J. (2012). Active gaming: The future of play? American Journal of Play, 4(4), 464–487.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Hughes, F. (2010). Children, play and development (4th ed.). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Yelland, N. (2011). Reconceptualising play and learning in the lives of young children. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 36(2), 4.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Zevenbergen, R., & Logan, H. (2008). Computer use by preschool children: Rethinking practice as digital natives come to preschool. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 33(1), 37–44.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Brown, F., & Patte, M. (2013). Rethinking children’s play. London: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  17. International Play Association. (2014). IPA summary of united nations general comment No. 17. http://article31.ipaworld.org/article-31/a31-general-comment/

  18. Braun, S. J., & Edwards, E. P. (1972). History and theory of early childhood education. Worthington: Charles A. Jones Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Frost, J., Wortham, S., & Reifel, S. (2008). Play and child development. New Jersey: Pearson.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Wolfe, J. (2000). Learning from the past: Historical voices in early childhood education. Mayerthorpe: Piney Branch Press.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Cohen, D. (1993). The development of play. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Van Hoorn, J., Nourot, P., Scales, B., & Alward, K. (2011). Play at the center of the curriculum (5th ed.). New York: Merrill.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Lascarides, C., & Hinitz, B. F. (2000). History of early childhood education. New York: Falmer.

    Google Scholar 

  24. D’Angour, A. (2013). Plato and play: Taking education seriously in Ancient Greece. American Journal of Play, 5(3), 293–307.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Strandell, H. (2000). What is the use of children’s play? Preparation or social participation. In H. Penn (Ed.), Early childhood services: Theory, policy and practice. Buckingham: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Vary, A. (2013, June 26). Inside Steve Jobs’ mind-blowing Pixar campus. http://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/inside-steve-jobs-mindblowing-pixar-campus

  27. Shipley, D. (2008). Empowering children. Play based curriculum for lifelong learning (4th ed.). Scarborough: Nelson Education.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Ailwood, J. (2002). Governing preschool: Producing and managing preschool education in Queensland government schools. Ph.D thesis, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, p. 95.

    Google Scholar 

  29. MacNaughton, G. (2003). Shaping early childhood: Learners, curriculum and contexts. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Ailwood, J. (2003). Governing early childhood education through play. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 4(3), 286–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Rousseau, J. (1762/2011). Emile: Or, treatise on education (B. Foxley, Trans.) (Project Gutenburg [EBook # #5427]). http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5427/pg5427.txt

  32. Blake, W. (1794). Nurses’ song (Innocence). http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/nurse-s-song-innocence/

  33. Darwin, C. (1901). On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favored races in the struggle for life. London: Ward, Lock & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Chick, G., Yarnal, C., & Purrington, A. (2012). Play and mate preference testing the signal theory of adult playfulness. American Journal of Play, 4(4, 2–12), 407–440.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Stanley Hall, G. (1991). Founder of the journal of genetic psychology. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 152(4), 397–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Parten, M. (1932). Social participation among preschool children. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 28, 136–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Dewey, J. (2014). Democracy and education (Project Gutenburg [EBook #852], 1916/2008). Accessed on April 17th, 2014 from: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/852/852-h/852-h.htm#link2HCH0015

  38. Chappell, D. (Ed.). (2010). Children under construction: Critical essays on play as curriculum (Vol. 45). New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Gunn, A., & MacNaughton, G. (2007). Boys and boyhoods: The problems and possibilities of equity and gender diversity in early childhood settings. In L. Keesing-Styles & H. Hedges (Eds.), Theorising early childhood practice: Emerging dialogues (pp. 121–134). Castle Hill: Pademelon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: Development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Piaget, J. (1962). Play, dreams and imitation in childhood (C. Gattegno, & F. M. Hodgson, Trans.). New York: W.W. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Groos, K. (1898). The play of animals (E. Baldwin, Trans.). New York: Appleton. https://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Groos/Groos_1898/1898_chapter_1.html

  43. Ryan, S., & Grieshaber, S. (2005). Shifting from developmental to postmodern practices in early childhood teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 56(1), 34–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Cannella, G. (1999). The scientific discourse of education: Predetermining the lives of others – Foucault, education, and children. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 1(1), 41.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Locke, J. (1692). Some thoughts concerning education. http://www.fordham.edu/HALSAll/MOD/1692locke-education.asp

  46. Pestalozzi, J. (1907). How Gertrude teaches her children: An attempt to help mothers teach their own children: And an account of the method (L. L. Holland, & F. C. Turner, Trans.). Syracuse: Swann Sonnenschein. http://studentzone.roehampton.ac.uk/library/digital-collection/froebel-archive/gertrude/Gertrude%20complete.pdf

  47. Fröebel, F. (1826/1885). The education of man (W. N. Hailmann, Trans.). New York: Appleton-Century, p. 55.

    Google Scholar 

  48. Blow, S. (1895). The mottoes and commentaries of Friedrich Fröebel’s mother play (H. R. Eliot, Trans.). New York: D. Appleton.

    Google Scholar 

  49. Wong, S. (2013). A ‘humanitarian idea’: Using an historical lens to reflect on social justice in early childhood and care. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 14(4), 311–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. UNICEF. (1989). Convention on the rights of the child. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx

  51. UNICEF. (2014). Path to the convention on the rights of the child. http://www.unicef.org/crc/index_30197.html

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Teacher Education, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW, Australia

    Sandie Wong & Helen Logan

Authors
  1. Sandie Wong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Helen Logan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sandie Wong .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Teacher Education, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia

    Tara Brabazon

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Wong, S., Logan, H. (2016). Play in Early Childhood Education: An Historical Perspective. In: Brabazon, T. (eds) Play: A Theory of Learning and Change. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25549-1_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation