Children are growing up in a society where digital technology is ubiquitous and smaller, virtual worlds form part of the broader everyday environment, Emily Campbell writes.
Even in our digital world, many early childhood education staff may remain reluctant to embrace digital play and embed it within educational contexts.
Benefits of play
Professor Louise Paatsch from Deakin University and Chief Investigator at the Australian Research Centre’s (ARC) Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, said in a contemporary digital age, play is still fundamental to every child’s thriving development.
“Play is at the very heart of childhood, and is a central tenet of early childhood education and, in more recent times, has become a focus for the early years of schooling curriculum and pedagogy,” Professor Paatsch said.
“Children live in a digital society where digital play is part of their everyday diverse worlds, including home, education settings and within the contexts of informal learning such as museums, galleries and theme parks,” she said.
Play is important for children’s learning and development, including activities from physical play to block and game play, as well as pretend, imaginative or symbolic play.
“Play, particularly pretend play, involves multiple areas of the brain, including areas responsible for higher-order thinking, creativity, imagination, self-awareness, emotion, pleasure and motor control,” Professor Paatsch said.
“There is a strong link between a child’s pretend play abilities and language acquisition, narrative, literacy and social and emotional development because these abilities develop through social interactions with others in the play.”
Professor Paatsch said when children engage in play, their stress and anxiety levels decrease and their happiness, joy and social awareness increase.
“Digital play can encompass that and is there to support children to socialise, co-construct, problem solve and provide all those benefits too,” she said.
Digital play categories
According to Professor Paatsch, the term digital play includes a range of activities.
“When we refer to digital play, people tend to think it means online gaming, but it can involve the use of digital technologies and non-digital resources where children create, explore and actively engage in meaningful activities,” she said.
“Digital play can include working digital technologies or non-working technologies, such as children playing with a broken keyboard or old mobile phones.
“Another category we refer to is representational digital play, where young children might pick up a block and pretend it’s a mobile phone or use a piece of paper and pretend there’s a QR code or that it’s a tablet,” Professor Paatsch said.
Children who have additional needs or are living with a disability can also benefit from digital play.
“Digital play has the potential to support young children with communication and visual difficulties too because it opens up accessible learning and play opportunities for children with diverse needs,” Professor Paatsch said.
Professor Paatsch said many adults, including early childhood education staff, tend to avoid exposing children to digital play despite the potential benefits.
“This occurs even though early childhood education frameworks and curriculum guidelines mandate that teachers support young children to explore, use, design and produce digital technologies for personal and social needs that encourage confidence, problem-solving, creativity and new ways of thinking,” Professor Paatsch said.
Concerns about screen time
There are many factors that could explain adults’ apprehensiveness about helping facilitate children’s digital play.
Professor Paatsch said uncertainty regarding how much screen time is appropriate for young children and whether the benefits outweigh the risks is a common concern.
“Concerns around excessive screen time is something of which early childhood education staff are probably mindful,” she said.
“There’s a focus on the philosophy of technology regarding the good versus bad, rather than looking more broadly and from a critical perspective to ask how digital play can support and add value to children’s lives.
“It could also be their reluctance to confidently know how to embed digital into play, whether through the working, non-working or representational digital forms,” Professor Paatsch said.
Nervousness and negativity around digital play can close off opportunities.
“Understanding children’s digital play in their diverse social worlds and the pedagogical implications of the digital aspect of digital play is now an urgent challenge for all,” she said.
PD essential
Early childhood education staff should be afforded more professional development opportunities to combat anxious and negative attitudes towards digital play.
“There is a need to support early years educators, parents and the community to develop a more confident and dynamic understanding of digital play and its role in children’s learning,” Professor Paatsch said.
“I believe there is a need to create a suite of professional development opportunities for early childhood education staff to support them to understand what digital is.
“Digital networks enable people to connect, share, communicate and retrieve, and play-based learning can support children’s understanding of that,” she said.
Digital technology offers immense opportunities for learning in play but presents risks for young children.
There are plenty of avenues for early childhood education staff who want to learn more about digital play and improve their confidence in incorporating it into children’s play.
Professor Paatsch said a great starting point was for staff to familiarise themselves with Early Childhood Australia’s (ECA) Statement on young children and digital technologies, which was launched in 2018 but is currently being updated to reflect the rapidly evolving landscape of childhood in the digital era.
“The Statement provides an overview of existing research relating to young children and digital technologies covering four known areas of importance in early childhood education:
- relationships
- health and wellbeing
- citizenship, and
- play and pedagogy.
“It was developed in response to an increasing need for guidance for early childhood education professionals on the role and optimal use of digital technologies with, by and for young children,” she said.
Professor Paatsch suggested some other useful resources for staff to improve their understanding of digital technology in the context of play-based education.
“The Playing IT Safe program run by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner has some excellent resources to educate children of all ages and support them in developing online safety and digital literacy skills,” she said.
“ECA’s website also has plenty of helpful information, as does the ARC’s Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, which can be freely accessed online too,” Professor Paatsch said.
