MASTERY PLAY
As I reflect on my own memories of play I am often drawn to a single theme - that much of my play took place in and around natural habitats, either in a wood or coppice, a forest, an open moorland, a field, a stream, a river, or, of course, living in Cornwall, a beach.
What often unites these wild spaces, however, is the idea of conquest. I had to conquer each environment as though it was some kind of quest of childhood, a quest that was both expected and 'natural' for someone growing up in a rural area. This idea of conquest is embedded in what is called mastery play, what Hughes suggests is the mastering or control of physical or affective ingredients in an environment.
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