By Pat Broadhead
(Routledge Falmer, 17.99, ISBN: 0415303397, 01264 343071)
Reviewed by Penny Tassoni, early years consultant
This interesting book takes the reader on a multi-faceted journey which considers the way in which children learn through play and the importance of observing children.
Pat Broadhead skilfully shows how children's play and social interactions can be observed through the Social Play Continuum, an observation tool she developed. The book gives examples of observations carried out in schools and some nurseries, and the subsequent reflections are riveting. I particularly enjoyed reading about the emergence of an area within the provision of the settings where children were able to create their own backdrop to play. This area is brilliantly dubbed the 'whatever you want it to be place', and the book is worth reading just to pick up on this as an idea.
This is a book that invites the reader to reflect, rather than giving advice and instructions. It provides readers with a potential new way of looking at children as they play. The author puts early years education in context and draws upon historical perspectives as well as the works of theorists to show how our current practice has evolved.
