In character

Imagine three children of similar ages playing on a beach and digging in the sand. The first child may start to dig their hole just for the sensation of digging - the physical exertion. The second child may engage in what seems comparative of the first child, but instead may be hunting for treasure, while the third child, similar to the other two, may be digging their way to the centre of the earth in some frantic attempt to escape reality.

All three children are showing external behaviours (digging a hole) that on simple observation are identical in content, but their individual approaches are reflective of an internal state of mind, or state of play.

When children approach a task they will do so based on numerous internal and external factors. For example, prior experiences and knowledge of similar tasks, access to appropriates resources, a conducive play environment, emotional state of being at the time of play, but more importantly, their own sense of playfulness. Every individual child brings something unique and different to the play context, they have their own playful style or disposition.

CHILDREN'S PERSONALITIES

A child's playful disposition will be an aspect of their 'regular'

personality and will be shaped and influenced in much the same way.

Moreover, some researchers suggest that the 'true' playfulness of children should exist in a way that transcends tasks, materials, environments, contexts and situations and therefore predisposes the child to a mode of playing which should be consistent across settings, objects and play partners (Barnett 1998). Therefore a child's 'true' playful disposition is neither shaped nor altered as a result of differing contexts.

While for a general sense of playfulness this may be true, I cannot believe that the environment, resources, or other players do not have an impact on a child's developing sense of playfulness. Children's personalities are often reflective of both internal and external factors; they are shaped and moulded through a multitude of interactions, some pleasing and some less so. You only have to consider play deprivation and you can understand what devastating consequences this can have on a child's social, emotional and cognitive welfare, all of which have been shown to influence an individual's disposition.

However, while subtle changes in disposition due to other factors may be true, there is still enough observable material in children's play that warrants some appreciation for certain personality traits which do transcend many contexts, and no more notable than in children's play. For example, Barnett's research has concluded that there are five domains of playfulness that each lead to a potential type of play disposition. These are:

* Manifest joy

* Physical spontaneity

* Cognitive spontaneity

* Social spontaneity

* Sense of humour.

These domains have further influenced the construction of Barnett's Children's Playfulness Scale, a tool that has been developed to help determine the playful disposition of individual players.

However, other researchers (Rogers et al 1998) believe that a more general perspective of playfulness is more useful, in the sense that some children are playful, which includes being able to explore in different ways, begin activities for own enjoyment, invent new games, have fun doing things, always having ideas, whereas some children rely heavily on external influences, such as requiring reinforcement, seeking approval, using toys in typical or specified ways or asking questions about what to do.

Furthermore, their research suggests that individual differences in the play disposition of children interact with contextual factors to produce intra-individual variation - therefore it is the interaction of a child's playful disposition in a range of play environments, with a range of players, and with a range of play materials that enables the child to develop multiple hybrid versions of their 'general' playful disposition.

The idea of multiple hybrid play dispositions is not too difficult to understand - just consider how children behave differently depending on the context they find themselves - sometimes rude and difficult at home, but 'angelic' when at their friend's house. They are still the same child, and still have a general disposition; it just alters and adapts depending on the context.

HOW TO RESPOND

Whether children's playful dispositions can be divided up into neat 'types'

or more general assertions of playfulness is not necessarily important to most playworkers. However, some understanding of children having their own unique style of play will better equip playworkers to respond more personally rather than generally to specific play issues.

Take a form of social play like a board game. These types of games have highly elaborate rules and codes that require higher cognitive capacities than would be expected of, for example, digging a hole in the sand.

Board games require a grasp of the complexities of social interaction, including turn taking, negotiation, fairness and competition. The playworker may be asked to 'police' the game and act as the 'referee'. But if you bring into this context that each individual player has their own playful disposition then the dynamics become even more complex.

SENSITIVITY TO ALL PLAYERS

The playworker's role will involve an appreciation of the 'gaming laws' so as to benefit all the players, but they will also have to be sensitive to the dispositions of individuals, especially where a particular temperament is likely to be more volatile during this type of play. A thorough understanding of players' dispositions may afford the playworker a predictive advantage when 'policing' games, at the very least to prepare them for potential disruptions.

What is even more complex in this situation is that the whole frame of play will induce each player into a shared form of playful disposition, one that typifies certain behaviours or expected behaviours during board game type play. Therefore you have a 'third' and shared disposition, not belonging to any particular individual, and not necessarily belonging to the nature of the play, but rather formed as a result of the coming together of all the variables involved in this entire situation.

If you take the beach scenario then what you may have is three children digging in the sand, but all with the same intentions and potential outcomes. They may all be searching for seaside artefacts, so framing the task as a form of exploratory play. They may all approach the task with the intent of finding marine treasures, perhaps with the intention of turning these into a shell necklace. They may even use an identical plastic spade and bucket, and may be dressed identically. But while the intentions, resources, artefacts and environment are identical, each player will use their own specific way or approach for fulfilling the task.

One player may dig frantically in a competitive way to beat the other two in finding the 'best' or 'most' shells. Another player may take their time, revelling in the enjoyment of just finding whatever appears as each shovel of sand is removed, while the third player searches with a particular shell in mind - discarding all others in the process.

Each player is displaying a playful disposition different from their playmates, while also sharing a disposition that has been engineered through the context (digging in the sand), the artefacts (seashells), their intentions (making a necklace), the environment (the beach), and the content of the play frame (exploratory play), which has to a great extent created a third and somewhat 'artificial' shared disposition.

This 'third' disposition creates itself as a result of all of the variables coming together and is as much fuelled by each child's individual disposition as they are fuelled by the shared 'third' disposition. The playworker therefore has to react and be reflective of all these variable dispositions if they are to operate effectively and sensitively to children's playful needs.

RECOMMENDED READING

* Barnett, LA (1998) The Adaptive Powers of being Playful. Appears in Reifel S (ed) Play and Culture Studies, vol 1. Greenwich: Ablex Publishing Corporation.

* Rogers et al (1998) Measuring Playfulness: Development of the Child Behaviours Inventory of Playfulness. In Reifel S as above.

Philip Waters is a playwork lecturer and freelance trainer, based in Cornwall