On ‘becoming social’: the importance of collaborative free play in childhood

Abstract

There is increasing concern about declining mental health amongst children in the UK and the USA. Evolutionary and anthropological theorists have begun to build a theory linking this situation to decreasing opportunities to engage in free play. This paper will explore typical contexts for children in these nations, concluding that a range of recently emerging environments have decreased opportunities for collaborative peer free play and 'discovery' activities for the current generation. We will draw the theoretical analysis from a broad area of research encompassing psychology, anthropology, education, sociology, marketing, and philosophy to offer a new blend of practical and theoretical perspectives that may shed further light upon this topic.

The Hantown Street Play Project

“…Participants identified fear of traffic accidents and strangers, parental time poverty and distraction from schooling as barriers to children's outdoor play (Carver et al, 2008;Fisher et al, 2008;Hunt, 2009;Jarvis et al, 2014). However, concerns about anti-social behaviour, teenagers, on-street drinkers and fear of crime that emerged from the present study are less commonly reported and may relate to Winterborough's low socio-economic status (Eyre et al, 2014).…”

“…Nevertheless, findings that children play outside regardless of the HSPP differ from literature indicating that opportunities for western children to play freely outdoors have decreased (Hunt, 2009;Mayall, 2007;Jarvis et al, 2014;Valentine and McKendrick, 1997). However, lack of suitable outdoor play space was highlighted as problematic for children living in Winterborough, suggesting they are denied spaces to engage in autonomous social play near home (Beunderman et al, 2007;Horton et al, 2011).…”

“…In recent years, although adult-organized physical activity for children has increased (Beets et al, 2011), a significant decrease in children's autonomous free play outdoors has been observed (Jarvis et al, 2014). Reasons suggested for this trend include distraction from schooling (Fisher, et al, 2008), parental time poverty (Hunt, 2009) and parental concern for children's safety because of traffic and strangers (i.a.…”

“…Gill, 2014). However, recently there has been a steep decline in children's autonomous outdoor play in many western contexts (Jarvis, Newman and Swiniarski, 2014). Numerous reasons are suggested (i.a.…”

Creating pretence and sharing friendship: modal expressions in children's play

“…Peer interactions provide unique opportunities for children's language use; opportunities that are not evident in child/adult interactions (Cutting and Dunn 2006;Jarvis, Newman, and Swiniarski 2014). Furthermore, friends are interaction partners who support children's well-being and learning (Howes 2009;Ladd, Kochenderfer, and Coleman 2000;Ledger, Smith, and Rich 2000;Danby et al 2012).…”