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Nordic Social Pedagogical Approach to Early Years pp 95–114Cite as

The Role of Play in Danish Child Care

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Abstract

Children’s play is an immensely central part of child care in Scandinavia. This chapter describes how children’s play with peers and friends is supported by the pedagogical environment of Danish child care. It is argued that play is an existential project for children and that opportunities to play freely teach children to become part of the social order, to become good friends, and to solve differences through negotiation. Throughout the chapter the environment facilitating children’s play is illustrated with reference to typical Danish child-care practices and research results on the quality of child care. To illustrate how play is a developmental activity for children, an example of a social fantasy play episode is analyzed in order to substantiate the claim: that children’s self-organized play activities propel social development, authenticity, and democratic values.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Danish School of Education, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark

    Ditte Alexandra Winther-Lindqvist

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  1. Ditte Alexandra Winther-Lindqvist
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Correspondence to Ditte Alexandra Winther-Lindqvist .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Charlotte Ringsmose

  2. The Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Grethe Kragh-Müller

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Winther-Lindqvist, D.A. (2017). The Role of Play in Danish Child Care. In: Ringsmose, C., Kragh-Müller, G. (eds) Nordic Social Pedagogical Approach to Early Years. International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development, vol 15. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42557-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42557-3_6

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