Children’s play and creative experiences
TMA 02 involves:
Watching a video of the group of children playing in the Forest School. Then, writing an essay from your study of Chapters 1–6, answering the question:
What play and creative experiences are the children participating in? (1500 words)
Write an essay, from your study of Chapters 1–6, answering the question: What play and creative experiences are the children participating in? (1500 words)
Relate the video to aspects you have learnt so far in the module. This should include:
perspectives on play, which you learnt about in Chapter 1
theory of play and considering ‘Where does creativity fit in?’, from Chapter 2 a pioneer of play, from either Chapter 3 or Chapter 4 a child’s perspective on play, considering the section on ‘views on play’ in Chapter 5; you should focus on what the children are doing in the video for this purpose the significance of the context of the play, from Chapter 6.
You have 1500 words in total to complete this TMA. You may want to think about breaking the assignment down into manageable chunks of writing that focus on different aspects of the assignment.
Top tip: use the subheadings below in your essay to help you structure your writing. You may also find it helpful to use the essay grid for TMA 02 to help you structure your thoughts.
Introduction (200 words)
A brief outline of what you are going to include in your essay.
Top tip: You could start your introduction with ‘This assignment will discuss … ’
Perspectives and theories of play (400 words)
Include the perspectives and theories of play from your reading of Chapters 1 and 2 which best fit with what we see the children doing in the forest environment. Your feedback from your tutor on TMA 01 will help you with this section of your assignment.
Top tip: get started by thinking about what is play for? (Canning and Goodliff, 2017, Chapter 1). Extend your thinking by considering how theories help you understand play and creativity (Skvortsov, 2017, Chapter 2). In this subsection you should try to include a minimum of two references, one from Chapter 1 and one from Chapter 2.
How pioneers of play help you understand the children’s actions (300 words)
From your reading of McKeogh, (2017, Chapters 3 and 4), can you link what the children are doing to any one of the pioneers and what they considered important about children’s play?
Top tip: link what you have read to the video. For example, ‘In McKeogh (2017, Chapter 3) I read about … ’, ‘A good example of this in the video is when … ’. Try to include at least one reference in this subsection from either Chapter 3 or Chapter 4.
The significance of the play (400 words)
Why is playing in the forest environment important for the children? Link something you have read from Hancock and Goodliff (2017, Chapter 5) and Douthwaite (2017, Chapter 6) to support the points you are making.
Top tip: You may find it more challenging to link to Chapter 5 than Chapter 6. The authors of Chapter 5 (Hancock and Goodliff, 2017) give examples of children’s views of play, so try to think why it is important for you to have an idea of what children are thinking and feeling when they are playing.
Top tip: Chapter 6 (Douthwaite, 2017) is all about the different situations children play in.
Conclusion (200 words)
A brief overview of what you have included in your essay.
Top tip: You could start your conclusion with ‘In this assignment I have discussed … ’
Use these subheadings to help you structure your essay. Remember – the video is the focus of the TMA. You should attempt to show your understanding of what you have read from the module materials in Chapters 1–6, and how they relate to the child’s play and creative experiences. So, in your references list at the end of the essay, you should have a minimum of four references (Chapters 1, 2, 6 and one reference from either Chapter 3, 4 or 5).
