‘THEY ARE MY FRIENDS!’ FINDINGS FROM AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY ON YOUNG CHILDREN’S EXPERIENCES OF NURSERY PLAY AND LEARNING

Abstract

Young children’s nursery play has been the focus of attention for years now focusing on the relationship between play and learning as well as the role of play in children’s overall development. In previous years most ‘play studies’ were concentrated on observing, recording, and analysing young children’s play from the adult’s perspective. However, recent studies aim to give young children voice and ownership on their play and learning experiences. In this respect, this paper is based on a small-scale ethnographic study and seeks to address the need for young children’s voices to be heard with regard to their nursery play experiences. A variety of audiovisual research methods (video camera, tape recorder, and still photographs) were employed for the collection and analysis of the data. The thematic analysis of the data suggests that young children’s play dialogues and comments on their nursery play can provide practitioners and other significant adults with rich and valuable insights into their views on play and learning within the early years’ settings. The themes that emerged included children’s experiences of play in terms of ownership, negotiation, learning, and preferences among others. In this respect, it is highlighted that young children’s voices added to the perspectives of their significant adults can help us form a complete picture of nursery play and learning with implications for the implementation of the early childhood curriculum.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0004/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>