Last Sunday it snowed round our way. For the first time in years my neighbourhood – like much of London, the South East and beyond – woke up to a blanket of fresh, snowball-perfect snow. And guess what: children went outside and played. They sledged. They made snowmen and snow angels. They had snowball fights.
To repeat: children went outside and played.
Posted in Outdoor play, Technology
Tagged Aldo van Eyck, outdoor play, parenting, snow, social media, technology
Just before Christmas, I was helping out at an after-school play session in a community centre in Tower Hamlets in East London. Eight-year-old Jane arrived, took a plastic mug from the kitchen, sat down at a table near me, and started clapping her hands and the table, and tapping and flipping the cup, in a repetitive, rhythmic routine.
Posted in play, Technology
Tagged children's culture, cups game, Iona Opie, media, Peter Opie, technology, traditional games, video
Technology has an ever greater role in children’s lives, and its effects are the focus of ever more heated debate. It is easy for advocates of nature, outdoor play and everyday childhood freedoms to think that screens and gadgets are our enemy. But the truth is that things are a little more complicated than that.
Posted in Child development, Education, Health, Learning, Technology
Tagged child development, education, learning, technology, well-being
I’m devoting my 100th blog post to a look back over the previous 99, and over the 20 months or so since my first post. It is a chance for me to think about the process of blogging – and an invitation to you to check out some material that you may have missed.
Rethinking Childhood 