Contents

pp iii-iv

List of figures

pp v-v

Notes on contributors

pp vi-xi

Acknowledgements

pp xii-xii

Foreword

pp xiii-xvi

One - Perspectives on play research: the practice-theory-research entanglement

pp 1-16

Part One - Then and now: historical perspectives

pp 17-18

Two - Nostalgia and play

pp 19-34

Three - Debris and delight: children’s play during the second world war

pp 35-52

Four - Adventure playgrounds and me: bringing the past into the auto-ethnographic present

pp 53-74

Part Two - Here and there, this and that: spatial and creative perspectives

pp 75-76

Five - Dancing with strangers: observing play in an English urban square

pp 77-94

Six - Researching children’s play and contemporary art

pp 95-112

Seven - Play and value: determining the values of a nature play setting

pp 113-130

Eight - Your space or mine? Play in out of school clubs

pp 131-146

Nine - Co-creating spaces on an adventure playground: using participatory action research as an approach to continuing professional development

pp 147-166

Ten - Children, mobile phones and outdoor play

pp 167-184

Part Three - Playfulness and wellbeing

pp 185-186

Eleven - Understandings of play for children with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD)

pp 187-202

Twelve - Therapeutic playwork: exploring playworkers’ perceptions of therapeutic playwork training and its usefulness in supporting children in afterschool clubs

pp 203-220

Thirteen - Play, playwork and wellbeing

pp 221-242

Closing thoughts

pp 243-244

Fourteen - What do we want research in children’s play to do?

pp 245-264

Appendix: The Playwork Principles

pp 265-266

Index

pp 267-272