Supporting playful drawing in Foundation Stage settings

Abstract

The work of Kress (1997) and Pahl (1999) shows the young child using drawing as one of a range of interrelated modes across which they make and transform meaning. Kress’s interest in a broader view of literacy, which takes account of young children’s ‘multi-modality’, recognises young children’s use of what is to hand within the environment. For Pahl (2002) young children’s drawings, as part of their free-flowing ‘text’ making in home settings, is lost to adults, subsumed under the heading of ‘play’.Ring’s (2003) small-scale longitudinal study of seven young children drawing across home and pre-school/school settings takes a socio-cultural approach to drawing. It shows how the routines and rituals within settings can both enable and discourage young children’s use of drawing as a tool for making meaning. Supported by Howard’s (2002) study of the cues young children use to distinguish between ‘play’ and ‘work’, this article draws attention to the importance of practitioners in Early years Foundation Stage settings ensuring young children have experiences of drawing that they perceive to be playful.The article uses data extracted from Ring’s (2003) study to analyse one child’s changing perceptions of the usefulness of drawing as a tool for carrying and representing meaning. It contrasts ‘playful’ and ‘workful’ approaches to provisioning and interaction taken by adults as the child moves across home, pre-school and school. The article highlights the importance of Early Years Foundation Stage practitioners’ better understanding of playful drawing as a tool for making meaning and transforming thinking. This requires an examination of their role in creating an environment in which playful drawing can flourish.