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Category: Children's Perspectives

It’s a Pandemic in the Playborhood: An International Perspective of Play Therapists on the COVID-19 Pandemic

7 January 2025

The COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns and beyond, impacted many professions and workplaces, including therapists and their therapy rooms.

Supporting Learning Through Play

11 December 2024

A Play Commission Submission by Dr Soizic Le Courtois, Manogya Sahay and Qiming Liu

Using young children’s perspectives in research and practice

3 December 2024

In this PEDAL Conference 2024 recording, PEDAL staff present research which uses playful methods to elicit the perspectives of young children to better understand their experiences of school and hospital.

Learning through play in Global Majority countries: Reflections from the PEDAL Centre on understanding and adapting the concept in four different contexts

9 September 2024

This paper in the International Journal of Play interrogates the concept of learning through play in different global contexts.

Centring children’s lived experiences in understanding the importance of play in hospitals

8 July 2024

We wanted to understand what playing in hospital is like from the perspectives and experiences of young children themselves.

Listening to children with empathy – the ethical case

30 May 2024

In this piece, Soizic le Courtois argues that advice given to parents should draw on scientific evidence about children's subjective wellbeing, children's perspectives and the contribution of any practice to children's development and outcomes. We should also be attuned to our empathetic responses to children, which can give us clues about the "right" thing to do.

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Prisons, hospitals and schools: challenges and opportunities introducing play in different settings

5 December 2023

In this PEDAL Conference 2023 recording, Dr Paulina Pérez-Duarte (PEDAL), Dina Fajardo (PEDAL) & Mercedes Castañeda (Reinserta) explore and advocate for the use of play in challenging settings, as well as those opportunities where play can enable a powerful change in children’s mental health.

Play in the face of adversity

1 November 2023

Read our paper for the Scottish Children's Commissioner about the value of play for children in the asylum seeking system.

Diversity in autistic play: Autistic adults’ experiences

12 September 2023

In this research, we take a neurodiversity-informed approach to understanding autistic play. This means understanding autistic play in terms of differences, strengths and difficulties rather than simply deficits. We also focus on what autistic people say about their play. We were interested in how autistic adults experience play, as well as how they think their play is different to non-autistic play. 

Exploring play in hospitals in Spain, Australia and England

9 May 2023

In this article, Paulina reflects on her travels and what she has learned about Health Play Specialists and their importance to children in hospital.