Tag Archives: play

The importance of play for children’s development and learning has long been recognized by parents, educators and researchers.1 Much of our lives are now being lived in digital contexts, and this is true for children as well. With the global popularity of video games such as Minecraft and Angry Birds, a great deal of children’s play these days includes digital games. This has raised some concerns about possible negative effects of digital technology, and it is important that parents help…

So often the digital world of children is stated in binaries – on or offline, good or bad actors, opportunity or harm – but the lived reality of children is more complicated.  Where on and off can be seamless and simultaneous, too much of a good thing can be bad, or something meant for one purpose can be hacked for another, sometimes with harmful outcomes and sometimes joyous. On November 4, 2021 the Digital Futures Commission will launch its new…

The following excerpt is from Why Play Works: Big Changes Start Small by Jill Vialet and appears here courtesy of publisher Jossey-Bass. The book is designed to support schools, educators, and parents in promoting play as an essential tool to help children learn to manage risks, develop greater self awareness, and build confidence while strengthening social connections. Power of Play One of the most important things the extended youth development community agrees on is that caring adult relationships significantly contribute to…

This post originally appeared on the Digital Futures Commission website and appears here with permission. Like everything else in their life, children’s play has shifted online almost by default due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents, teachers and professionals who work with children, on the other hand, have scrambled to advise children on play with digital technologies; resources have been hard to come by, making it hard to figure out what free play in digital contexts looks like! So, what are the…

This is a moment of unprecedented transition for the United States–and for the world more broadly. Reopening schools requires decisions based on incomplete information that must be made in an environment that, at best, would be described as uncertain. But while it might seem unlikely, our oldest form of connection, play, may be one of our best hopes for helping us to navigate this uncertainty. Play has everything to teach us about managing risks, generating new possibilities, dealing with the…

For the fourth part of this series, we asked experts to focus their predictions on digital play by answering the question, “How will the way children play with digital media change in the coming months and/or years as a result of the coronavirus pandemic?” A call for caring and care-full play communities Katie Salen Tekinbaş, MFA, LHD, is a Professor in the Department of Informatics at the University of California at Irvine, as well as Chief Designer and co-founder of…

For the fourth part of this series, we asked experts to focus their predictions on digital play by answering the question, “How will the way children play with digital media change in the coming months and/or years as a result of the coronavirus pandemic?” The future of play is…bringing the world together As VP of Digital Civility for Roblox, Tami Bhaumik leads Roblox’s groundbreaking digital civility initiative focused on providing kids, teens, parents, and caregivers with the skills needed to…

For the fourth part of this series, we asked experts to focus their predictions on digital play by answering the question, “How will the way children play with digital media change in the coming months and/or years as a result of the coronavirus pandemic?” Parents and kids will learn to play together Jesse Schell is CEO of Schell Games and Distinguished Professor of Entertainment Technology at Carnegie Mellon University. Videogames represent a significant divide between parents and kids. Kids are…

In this third installment of the series, we asked experts, “How will childhood play change in the coming months and/or years as a result of the coronavirus pandemic?”  Play makes children more equipped for the future Bo Stjerne Thomsen, PhD, is the Vice-President and Chair of Learning through Play in the LEGO Foundation. The uncertainty and rapid societal change affecting all domains of children’s lives will bring greater attention to the fundamental role of play for children to learn across…

For Part 3 of the Voices on the Future of Childhood series, we asked experts to offer their insights and predictions on what play will—or better yet, should—look like when families are released from isolation.  From pandemic disruption to social reconstruction Makeda Mays Green is Vice President of Digital Consumer Insights at Nickelodeon. Arguably, communal play has faced no greater adversary than COVID-19. This pandemic has aggressively disrupted kids’ daily routines and recklessly challenged face-to-face interaction. From canceled playdates to…