Att "bara" få leka : En vetenskaplig essä om barns fria lek i naturen

Sammanfattning: The name of this essay is “’Just’ go play – A scientific essay of children’s free play in nature”. Its purpose is to investigate what happens to us educators, and what we can see in children’s free play in nature, when we adopt a more observing and inquiring attitude and when the children steer their own play. The background to my interest in this is that I have been reflecting over the fact that my team organizes many activities, organized by us educators, and that I have a feeling that I am missing something in the children’s play and learning. My starting point consists of three essays, where I first depict two activities, organized by educators, and after that a situation where I follow and participate in the children’s play on their terms. Based on this I ask the following questions: Which learning and what experiences can we observe in the children’s free play in nature, by interpreting their actions, when us educators take a more flexible approach? What practical knowledge does an educator, who encourages free play, need? What abilities need to be strengthened, unlike an educator who is focused on the measurable, or what can be shown outwardly to others? Except reflecting over my experiences I have used participant observation of the child group. I was was filming the child group while playing, and taking notes on conversations between us educators. During the process, I decided to also let my colleagues film. My theoretical approaches are the theory of practical knowledge and theory of play, and my study has the form of an essay. I reached the conclusion, that we discovered new things in the children’s play; that the play went more harmonically, when we didn’t take the lead, and that us educators got calmer and more concentrated. The practical knowledge which us educators need is a responsive attitude towards children’s play, and a gaze which not only sees what’s apparent, but also perceives that which is not immediately obvious.