Play spaces support sense of belonging in early childhood

Children are shaped not just by the people who surround them, but also by the places and spaces in which they play.

This is the message Pearl D’Silva shares with ECE academics, practitioners and researchers in her article Here, there and everywhere: A place-based approach to nurturing children’s identity and autonomy in play, featured in the October issue of New Zealand Tertiary College’s free online journal He Kupu.

For Pearl, it was her own childhood experiences that inspired her to look into how the spaces in which young children play can impact their sense of belonging and self-identity.

Growing up in one of the world’s most densely populated cities, Mumbai, Pearl spent the early years of her life in a two-bedroom apartment shared with her mother, father and three siblings. She believes the time she spent in this space still has an impact on her identity today.

“Because there was so little space, I’d use my imagination and creativity to find areas to escape. There was an area where we had a blackboard wall so I’d spend hours there teaching my dolls,” Pearl said.

“I always wanted to be a teacher, so having this space to role-play and develop autonomy definitely filtered into my identity and helped to shape me into the person I am today.”

Now a New Zealand-based early childhood education lecturer and passionate play advocate, Pearl encourages teachers to pay close attention to the areas in which children play, so they can understand what makes that child feel secure and how they can help them to establish a sense of belonging.

“Our early childhood centres are growing more and more diverse every year. As teachers, it is our ethical obligation to promote play but we must also consider the spaces in which children play, and how we can support each child to feel safe, secure and empowered,” she said.

Read Pearl’s full article in the latest issue of NZTC’s fully-refereed early childhood education e-journal He Kupu.