Childrens Play In The Age Of COVID Screen Games Stillreal Play

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Children's play is adapted to their environment. Children have been incorporating themes related to pandemics in their play lately including coronavirus-related tags, where the aim is to infect the most children possible. It is also possible that play can aid children in coping with the grief that comes with the pandemic.



With playdates, playgrounds and playcentres frequently not on the agenda parents and kids are relying on digital games to play. However, the use of screens by children is a source of anxiety for many parents.



Recent research suggests that children play like real people in the digital world. This means screen play can be a substitute for what children may be missing out on during the epidemic.



Digital play can still be played



Research suggests that playing with screens develops many of the same abilities as playing off screen. This includes spatial and cognitive skills as well as learning and creativity.



But compared to non-digital play, we still have a limited understanding of play in digital spaces.



We conducted a survey of 753 parents in Melbourne to find out what digital games their children were playing on what devices and with whom. It showed 53% of children 6-8 and 68% of kids aged 9 to 12, were playing actively Minecraft. More than half played Minecraft more than once a week.



In Minecraft the players can create the world, fight for survival, or engage in imaginative play by using the digital world as a sort of virtual playground. It can be played online or offline and with or without others, on a variety of devices.



Since the survey, we've been studying in depth the Minecraft game played by 6-8 year old children from 10 families across Melbourne. We spoke with children as well as their parents and recorded hours of Minecraft play. We observed children engaged in many types of important play.



In 1996 theorist Bob Hughes identified 16 different kinds of games. These include



sociodramatic play where children act out situations from their daily lives, like playing "school" or "families" symbolic play in which children play with objects to stand in for other objects, like the broom becoming a stick or the sword Creative play is where children play with color, shape and texture to construct art or structures. Dramatic play where children incorporate media content such as pop stars into their play. Locomotor play is when the joy of movement, and a sense if vertigo, are the key to the action. For instance, swinging or climbing trees. Here's a look at what we saw children playing in Minecraft, and how it fit into these categories of play:



Two children build a town with the movie theater and Bunnings hardware store. They pretend to be a couple with twins (sociodramatic play). - Children designated "emeralds" on screen as phones. One player must "hold" an emerald to talk to other players in game space. They used telephone conventions such as "ring rings, rings," and then waited for someone to say "hello". Children broke out into spontaneous song and dance on-screen and teasing their siblings via text chat (communication play). When building, the kids made thoughtful choices about aesthetics and design. Redstone is a form of electricity in the game, can be used to move structures or glow. They also created some incredible machines using it (creative playing). Children were able to fly their screen characters into the sky, and let them fall down, crying "whee!" We also saw them riding a Minecart track-made "roller coaster", which gave them a sense of vertigo and a thrill of motion (locomotorplay). - some kids pretended to be YouTubers and commentated or dramatizing their own play in the manner of YouTube videos. just another wordpress site YouTube video (dramatic play). There are obvious differences-both positive and negative-between playing on a computer screen and playing in a physical space. "Making cakes" in Minecraft doesn't involve the same sensory and fine motor activities as baking real cakes. Nor does running around Minecraft terrain work major muscle groups. However, children who jump off structures that are high in Minecraft also aren't at risk of physical injury.



It's also important to remember that there is no digital or other play activity that offers every range of experience. A "varied diet" of play activities is recommended.



Digital freedom, physical lockdowns



Parents can keep track of what's happening in the worlds of Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite and whatever other digital spaces their children are in to get an picture of their children's virtual worlds of play.



It can be done by playing with them. Parents might not be eager to join in with their children, and some children might not want their parents with them. Parents can ask questions about their child's favourite games and the events that occurred during the play time. They can also note the connections between non-digital and digital play and occasions.



Children have the right of play. It is up to adults to ensure that we respect the right of children to play. This is particularly important in a time when children's play environments have been drastically altered.



The eSafety Commissioner website offers a great range of tools for parents to make online play as safe and enjoyable as it can be. Continue reading



This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.