Articles that cover global views on child development, and Kitcamp’s contribution. Including research articles, international projects and broader discussions on children’s social, cognitive and physical development.
We know play is important. It is a child’s work. But is there more to it? With current media awareness around mental health, we reflect on how play can make a difference for a child’s long-term mental wellbeing. Mentalhealth.org tells us that 1 in 10 children and young people are affected by mental health issues.
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Nearly three decades ago when I was knee-high and full of bounce, I used to spend most days outside. Wind-beaten and pigtails askew, I had the best schooling experience in a state school that embraced its outside spaces. When it was raining the mentality of ‘you won’t shrink’ meant that play times were unperturbed by
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How has something instinctive become a right we have to knowingly make time for? Circumstance should not decide kids’ right to play, feel safe and explore the world. Every child has the right to play. Through play, we learn. I don’t mean giving a child a set of brightly coloured objects and telling them the
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Now fall off… As a kid, at the end of a riding lesson I was always encouraged to fall off my pony, learn to tumble, and getting up unhurt, dust off my knees and get back on again! What I was learning was that falling off wasn’t a big deal. For kids, learning to “fall off”
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Kids; creative opportunists! Seems like they can spot opportunity where adults struggle to. And turning junk, or waste products, into valuable resources is one glorious way children do this. Unleash potential through junk modelling In my view, it’s the most wonderful and uplifting creative activity. I love how it unleashes the huge variety of possibility
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I rarely say “be careful” to my kids… only “concentrate” or “awareness…” (in a sterner voice). It’s the most effective way of getting them to slow down and think about what they are doing. I don’t want to make them fearful of what they are doing. Moreover I feel it puts the responsibility in their
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Usually when we post a blog it is with reference to a western understanding of childhood and playfulness. Capturing hard evidence of free play’s benefits can be hard, though. Much of it is subtle and intangible, with it filtering through in the child’s character as they mature. Without doubt, the impact of creative free play on
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We have all experienced kids insatiable drive to learn. How can we prove it though? What do you think it takes to create a learning opportunity? And how far is the human mind designed to learn against the odds, in almost any condition? We try to create ideal working and playing conditions for our children. But
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The fact that children need to play is truly universal and goes to the heart of society’s success and failure. The Telegraph published an article in 2013, Children as young as five suffering from depression. In the same article the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) said that 8,000 children below the age of 10
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Kiwis are renown for their self sufficiency due to the remoteness and limited resources available to this farming land. The legendary status of the no. 8 gauge fencing wire, sums up the “Kiwi ingenuity”. As is 2×4 wood (“World famous in New Zealand”)! But you could add the remarkable story of the Playcentre Federation to
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