Paying Attention to Play

by Kim Atkinson

Picture this: a couple of three-year-olds in a sandbox. They are digging, figuring out how to make the best use of the shovel, at what angle to shove it into the sand, how to push. Then, where to put the scooped sand? Hey! Let’s put it into the bucket… but wait, the bucket is really heavy now. Can the two of us lift it? That takes a lot of cooperation, especially agreeing on where to take the bucket. Dump it? More cooperation. What happens if I step on the dumped pile? Oh-oh, my friend didn’t like that one bit. What to do?

A common, seemingly simple scenario played out in one form or another by three-year-olds everywhere. But if we look closely we can see there is a lot going on. The social complexities of communicating ideas, negotiating solutions, the joy of working as a team to accomplish a shared goal, the satisfaction of stomping in a pile of sand, the recognition that not everyone thinks your ideas are the right ideas, and the physical discovery of lifting, shoveling and exploring the properties of sand. Theories are being developed and tested about how sand behaves, about working together, about using language both verbal and physical to communicate. A narrative is played out.

This scenario is an ordinary one in the day of a three-year-old. But if we as parents and educators look and listen carefully to the words, the gestures and facial expressions, we understand a lot is going on in that ordinary moment. In isolating and recording this moment, we can recognize the extraordinary. This is known as pedagogical narration.

At its simplest, pedagogical narration is recording through photos, video or transcription the ordinary moments of children’s play. It is a tool that allows us to reflect on the theories and strategies that children develop, the way social relationships are explored, the constant process of learning, of “making meaning” that children undertake. In examining the ordinary moments we can see children as competent and complex, as explorers of their world. We can observe and reflect on children’s thinking and then we can create opportunities and experiences to support and expand on that thinking.

Pedagogical narration is being used as a tool in many child care centers and schools around the world, and is otherwise known as documentation or learning stories. In B.C. the term pedagogical narration has been adopted to reflect the idea of a “method of teaching influenced by ongoing narrations of observations.” It is a means by which children can be listened to in the broadest sense of listening, so we as teachers and parents can develop our own hypothesis about the children’s interests and consider directions we can go to assist them.

Lella Gandini, an educator and scholar of the Reggio Emilio schools in Italy, says “All children have the potential, albeit in different ways, to learn and to develop their own ideas, theories, and strategies. All children also have the right to be supported in these endeavors by adults. Teachers and parents therefore, should observe and listen to them. In my view the most powerful tool for giving that support, in a way that respects them as individuals, is documentation.”

For me, as an ECE, pedagogical narration gives value to children’s play. In our culture children’s play has been trivialized, marketed, sexualized and marginalized. By making visible the complexities and competencies of children’s play we are giving voice to children themselves. We are giving play the worthy attention it deserves, our thoughtful serious reflection. And when we recognize the competencies of children it leads us to rethink the roles of educators, teachers and schools. It leads to discussions of how children learn and how we adults—and society—can support them.

So get out your camera, a pencil and paper and sit at the edge of the sandbox and watch and listen. Listen deeply to all the languages. Take a moment to see the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Kim Atkinson is the mother of two boys and an Early Childhood Educator at Lansdowne Co-op Preschool.