Invitation: Spatiality as a Construct for Early Childhood Play, you are invited to contemplate how spatial theory helps us make sense of the play lives of children and the reciprocal relationships between space
and play. Here are some questions you may wish to mull over as you read: What parts of the reading do you find useful for your own thinking? What parts spur disconnection? What new understandings about play &
space did you encounter? What questions do the readings bring up for you? Part 1: Historical Groundings Everyone will read: Gukdi, J. (n.d.) Intro-What is the spatial turn?
http://spatial.scholarslab.org/spatial-turn/what-is-the-spatial-turn/ Harker, C. (2007). Playing and affective time
spaces. Children’s Geographies, 3(1), 47-62. Part 2: Theoretical GroundingsEveryone will read: Chapter 1
from Massey’s For SpaceHorton, J. & Kraftl, P. (2006). What else? Some more ways of thinking and doing
‘children’s geographies’. Children’s Geographies, 4(1), 69-95. Part 3: ViewingEveryone will watch:Edward
Soja interview-Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MdkNMk9R6U Edward Soja interview-Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dK_aZnW4ek Part 4: Theories in Use Everyone reads to the top of page
11 ONLY:Bolling, S & Millei, Z. (2018). Spaces of early childhood: Spatial approaches to research in early
childhood education and care. Journal of Pedagogy. Choose TWO (2) from the following: Cowan, K. (2020).
Tracing the ephemeral: Mapping running games. Designs for Learning, 2(1), 81-93. Jones, S, Thiel, J. J.,
Davila, D., et. al. (2016). Childhood geographies and spatial justice: Making sense of place and space-making
as politics acts in education. American Educational Research Journal. Lyttleton-Smith, J. (2017). Objects of
conflict: (re) configuring early childhood experiences of gender in the preschool classroom. Gender and
Education. DOI: 10.1080/09540253.2017.1332343 OPTIONAL-Part 5: Other ways of thinking about space in
play research Choose ONE (1) from the following: Sherfinski, M. & Slocum, A. (2018). Playing the festival
queen in Appalachia: influences of local culture on classroom play. Journal of Research in Early Childhood,
32(4), 455-471. Burke, C. (2005). “Play in focus”: Children researching their own spaces and places for play.
Children, Youth, and Environments, 15(1), 27-53.
Part 6: Try-it-out 1 Exploring the Spatial and PlaySpatial AnalysisThis week, you will analyze spatial
happenings. For this try-it-out, you will: Watch all three of the following videos:VIDEO 1: AnjiPlay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EujRlX65jmsVIDEO 2: Outside Time for Quite Play:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnaMrIvAI7o VIDEO 3: Discovering Making Music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G0GEsZ6JnY Choose one of the videos to analyze by engaging in the
following questions:What are the bodies doing?Where are the bodies?How are the bodies interacting with one
another?How are the bodies interacting with material objects?What are the material objects?Where are the
material objects? What do the material objects do? What spaces are used for learning? How are spaces
organized? What does the space do? What are the people saying to one another? What kind of language is
being used? How are the people interacting with one another through language? Where else do you see the
language that is valued? How is the language connected to the material objects and space? How are spatial theories helping you make sense of the videos? Part 7: Try-it-out 2 Exploring the Spatial and Play For part 3,
you will create a plays pace by building a fort in your home. You can use any materials you have available
(sheets, blankets, boxes, twinkle lights, etc.) be creative. There are only a few rules: 1. Make a fort.2. Get in
the fort and spend at least 20 minutes inside. If you live with others, invite them to create and get in the fort
with you. 3. Do whatever you want when you are inside the fort. Using digital photos, document your process of
making the fort, how the fort looks outside and inside, and what you did in the fort. Using this week’s readings,
craft a photo essay analyzing your fort. (Use Hofsess et. al.’s work as an example of a photo essay.)
Resources for further study—NOT required:*** If you are interested in other ways folks have thought about
young children and spatial turn, you might be interested in a special issue on the spaces of early childhood:
https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/jped/9/1/jped.9.issue-1.xml
Special issue in Children’s Geographies on museums and space:
https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cchg20/16/5?nav=tocListSpecial issue in Children’s Geographies on
museums and space: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cchg20/16/5?nav=
Sample Solution
