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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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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