Superhero play: Caped crusaders

Practitioners and parents need to appreciate why boys often prefer 'superhero' play. Wendy Scott looks at some thought-provoking research

Parents and practitioners can worry about boisterous play in the nursery, especially when it involves groups of boys rushing around outside apparently playing about rather than engaging in 'structured play' that is commonly perceived to lead to learning. But staff at Fortune Park Early Years Centre in Islington, London have looked into this common experience, with thought-provoking results.

Action research

Under-fives education worker Valerie Driscoll has based action research, for an Early Childhood Studies degree at London Metropolitan University, on her observations at Fortune Park of how children of three or four often choose to play in same sex groups, especially in the garden.

Her interviews with children confirmed that the boys chose to play with other boys, 'because I like boys to be Superman', and were disparaging about girls' games 'like Barbie'. All the boys said they preferred to be outdoors with 'toys to use outside... and we play Batman and Superman' or 'I use nothing because I just catch Christopher... because Batman doesn't use anything he just does things to make people die, baddies die'.

Valerie focused on the boys' activities and how they were learning in the outdoor environment. Mindful of Vivian Gussin Paley's admission that she found it easier to work with boys when they were not acting like boys but acting more like girls, Valerie confronted some deep felt views on equality of opportunity and access. She decided to look at what was happening in a setting where staff acknowledge that banning toy weapons is not an adequate response to boys' tendency to engage in superhero play. Valerie's action research affirmed their view and showed that, although guns were often central to the play of the boys, their dominant concerns were with good and evil. The boys frequently had highly skilled negotiations informed by their considerable knowledge of machines. They were also aware that they were playing, not really shooting.

Boys will be boys?

Valerie reviewed academic literature and found some evidence of differences in the physiology of boys and girls which may influence their different approaches. But she found more concerning the ways that adults' responses to boys and girls influence their social development.

One reason she found to explain why children choose to be with same sex playmates around the age of four is to deepen and reinforce their understanding of what boys do and what girls do.

Although boys and girls are not born predisposed to behave in gender-specific ways, they do appear to approach learning through different styles. Helen Bilton, in Outdoor Play in the Early Years, points out that girls' early capacity for language and their willingness to participate in table-top activities as part of their play makes school learning easier for them. Boys have a more active way of playing and thus a different way of learning and should feel that their interests in action and adventure are seen as an effective model of learning.

Project in practice

In light of her reading, Valerie decided to participate in the play of a group of boys during a term. She did a series of observations which were recorded in notes, photographs and video recordings. Then she took a more active role in the boys' play. She started by asking who they were pretending to be and what they were doing. This showed the boys that she was interested in what, where, and how they were playing. They gave her an insight into their fantasy world.

The children at Fortune Park have ready access to a resourced garden allowing them free play and to extend it at their own pace.

Boys' role play is generally louder and more physical than the girls, and makes use of a bigger space, making it more difficult to observe. However, Valerie saw that it was rich and dynamic, involving serious drama. By joining in, she showed that she valued what the boys were doing, and was able to assess the knowledge they were drawing on in their play. She realised that they were developing and extending their thinking and over time she was able to help them to explore other ways of representing their ideas through drawing, writing and using ICT. She emphasises that her priority was to show them that she wanted to join in and become involved in their preferred ways of expressing themselves.

Evidence of learning

Valerie's final evaluation of her findings concludes that she had seen examples of development across all six areas of learning during the boys' outdoor play. They were confident and independent and were able to share ideas, negotiate skilfully, talking through ideas, and resolve conflicts. They were learning about parameters of acceptable behaviour and willing to accept rules and boundaries. Their personal, social and emotional development extended into the moral and spiritual sphere as they enacted themes with significant meaning for them. The presence of a sensitive adult helped them to explore what happens when you die, and to revisit themes of good and evil in their symbolic play.

The boys were articulate, and able to express difficulties and share ideas with each other. They made creative use of language to develop their play. They liked to have their stories written down and read, before acting them out once more. Valerie made a book about Batman with the group, which they read to the whole class as well as sharing it frequently among themselves. She suggests that their evident enjoyment of reading would be enhanced by the use of more material which reflects their interest in action and adventure.

Through their play, the boys showed well-developed awareness of space and its possibilities as well as its limitations. They explored their developing concepts of enclosure and envelopment when they were imprisoned in a cage, building dens or dressing up with cloaks or goggles. They used positional language frequently in their play, and sequenced events mathematically.

Their knowledge and understanding of the world was supported by their developing sense of investigation and experimentation. The boys made 'batplanes' with engines, guns that could shoot bullets from different outlets and mobile phones. One boy, describing his spaceship, demonstrated the engine, and showed where the fan for the engine and the water supply connected. With his friends, he explored how to fit things together, and how to improve the model's design. They hypothesised 'what will happen if...?' and checked cause and effect.

The boys' physical development was very advanced. When engaged in superhero role play, they showed great skill, stamina and dexterity. Marjorie Ouvry has commented that being motionless is a very advanced physical skill for young children, and the boys were able to lie very still (even if they were tickled) when they were playing dead - they showed great control in a context which had real meaning for them.

The boys' socio-dramatic play was the basis for all the learning, evoking their acting ability and drawing on the different scenarios they devised and developed. When given the materials, which needed to be available outdoors, they became playwrights, set designers, directors, editors and costume designers in the service of their creative play. Over the summer months there was clear evidence of their developing ability to tell complex stories and confidence in dictating them.

Insights

Valerie points out that in a predominantly female workforce, staff's recollection of play is likely to be akin to how girls play in the nursery. She believes practitioners need to learn to value how boys play and to share their understanding with colleagues and parents.

Valerie has discussed her findings with colleagues and parents at Fortune Park and developed a questionnaire to help people clarify their attitudes to gun play.

To find out more about the issues raised contact Valerie Driscoll at Fortune Park Early Years Centre, tel: 020 7638 1272, or e-mail earlyyears@fortunepark.fsnet.co.uk .