Play attitude and moods of play: a design-based inquiry into the affective nature and importance of play

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to clarify the relationship between the affective nature of play and the importance of play for being and becoming human. The inquiry focuses on the relationship between the affective processes of play, creativity and the formation of character, also referred to as Bildung. An intervention study is presented that explores this relation by applying a design-based research approach. The intervention took place in a Danish daycare centre and was part of a project, which aims to promote children's play and formation through art and culture. The play process is found to comprise four affective traits: the play attitude, characterized by being open to what happens; the flow of play, characterized by being lifted into a state of heightened energy; the moods of play, in the form of cheerfulness and enthusiasm; and the relationships in play, which concerns its bonding function.

KEYWORDS:

• Play
• play attitude
• moods of play
• design-based research
• Bildung
• creativity

Acknowledgements

Nordea-fonden has provided financial support for the preparation of this article. Nordea-fonden supports activities that promote good living in Denmark and has supported PlayArt, which is a national project of which the present research is part.

I would also like to express my deep gratitude to all those who participated in co-creating the intervention on which this research is based, including the daycare teachers, the play agent artist, the daycare manager, the PlayArt consultants, the additional researcher and, not least, the children at the daycare centre.

Finally, I am grateful for the reviewer’s comments, which have been a great help in improving the manuscript and clarifying the relation between the affective traits and the characteristics of play.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work is part of project Legekunst (PlayArt), which has been supported by Nordea-fonden under Grant number 02-2018-02422.

Notes on contributors

Lars Geer Hammershøj

Lars Geer Hammershøj, Associate Professor in Educational Philosophy at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, PhD in sociology from University of Copenhagen. Lars has published books and articles about creativity and innovation, the future of education, and diagnosis of the times. He is currently Research Coordinator of Legekunst (PlayArt), a national project aiming at promoting children’s play and character formation through art and culture. Lars is also a former director of the research programme Diagnostics of Contemporary Education and a former director of undergraduate studies, at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University. Furthermore, he is organizer of sessions within the research committee Futures Studies at the International Sociology Association (ISA).