All articles

Role play has a crucial role in early childhood education. Through play important changes take place in the children’s psyche. During the age of 6 the role play changes. The children become more conscious of the imaginary play situation and a growing awareness of the purpose of play comes into existence. The development of this new level of play makes it possible to introduce a new type of play: frame play. Here children and educators together decide a general theme and formulate some dimensions of content, they plan the setting, they discuss the different roles, the rules within the roles, and possible actions attached to some specific roles. Through this shared planning gradually the context or frame of play manifests itself. The problem is whether this more planned play will spoil the characteristics of role play and with that the child’s experiences of meaningfulness and flow.