ABSTRACT

This paper presents data from a multi-year ethnography of a rural preschool in the United States in which children engaged in substantial free and structured imaginative play. An unexpected parent death during the course of the data collection period was followed by a spate of death-related play and storytelling by the children, with varied adult reactions. These analyses explore this death play, problematise the adult responses to ‘inappropriate’ play and stories, and question the sanitised and curated nature of what play – and by extension what children – are valued and valorised in preschool. Implications for how children’s unruly or uncomfortable play is understood and acted upon by adults, and the complex importance of play in early childhood learning contexts, conclude the paper.

摘要

本文提供了来自美国农村学前班多年民族志的数据，其中儿童参与了大量自由和结构化的想象力游戏。在数据收集期间父母意外死亡之后，孩子们开始了一系列与死亡相关的游戏和讲故事，成年人的反应各不相同。这些分析探索了这种死亡游戏，将成人对“不适当”游戏和故事的反应问题化，并质疑在学龄前儿童中哪些游戏——以及哪些儿童——受到重视和重视的净化和策划性质。该论文总结道，成人如何理解儿童不守规矩或不舒服的游戏并对其采取行动，以及游戏在幼儿学习环境中的复杂重要性。