Læring for lek i barnehage og skolefritidsordning.

The purpose of the study is to contribute to the debate on the content of Norwegian daycare facilities, and to examine how play can affect learning among children in daycare.

On the basis of the study’s results, the authors conclude that, through play, children interact with their physical surroundings and this generates learning in a broad sense. The things that children explore through their play and interaction with the surroundings are important for their feelings of happiness and well-being. The authors conclude that this seems to lead to developing large motor skills and social behaviour, both of which are crucial for interaction in the children’s further play. The study shows that the daycare facility’s management documents place great emphasis on play, however a shift toward a more focused approach to learning was also observed. This is seen in that, the way in which children play is increasingly being expected to support school-related learning activities. The analysis primarily focuses on two themes: 1) play in the interaction between the child and the physical surroundings and 2) play in the interaction between children. On the basis of empirical examples of children’s experiences with the physical surroundings in the daycare facility, the study shows that playing can lead to learning in a broad sense in that the way in which the children play can seem spontaneous and coincidental. The study also shows that when children decide themselves what they want to play, this can potentially lead to meaningful experiences as the children become engrossed in their interaction with the physical surroundings. Moreover, the study also shows that play has the potential to contribute to the development of mutual understanding between children, however the children can also experience the challenges and problems of social interaction through their play. The authors emphasize that when educators participate actively in the interaction and offer recognition, this can strengthen learning through play. Thus the study reveals that it is important that educators help children who for some reason find it difficult to enter into a play situation with other children.

The data material is based on field work carried out at two daycare facilities. A total of 20 children under the age of three, one educator and three childcare assistants participated in the study. The material consists of observations of the children’s free play and activities controlled by adults, such as mealtimes, washing hands and getting dressed. Both field notes and video footage and sound recordings were used to document the observations. The observations include 38 hours of video footage and sound recordings in which the main focus was on two-year-old children, and 25 hours of video footage and sound recordings focusing on one-year-olds. A handheld camera was used to record both indoor and outdoor activities, focusing on one child at a time. At the same time, the researchers also focused on capturing the relationships that the children entered into during the observation period. Each observation lasted between 30 minutes and two hours.

Greve, A. & Løndal, K. (2012). Læring for lek i barnehage og skolefritidsordning. Nordisk Barnehageforskning 5(19), 1-14.