Last updated: 29 Apr 2009

Play promotes young children's personal, social and emotional well-being. It helps develop their social skills as well as promoting their linguistic and cognitive development. Well-planned play opportunities are an essential part of the EYFS curriculum. 

Understanding children's coping through their play

For very young children the effects of a traumatic experience may be manifest in their play. Although there are cultural differences in the way that children play, certain aspects transcend cultural variations. Refugee children who have survived persecution and are experiencing distress may display some of the following factors in their play:

• a preoccupation with war and violence
• an identification with the oppressor: a child may re-enact war, taking the role of the oppressor, perhaps being violent towards other children
• aggressiveness in play
• rigid and/or emotionless play, with a lack of elaboration of their experiences, or simply an inability to play
• characteristic drawings, showing violence or featuring very small children.

Opportunities to play

Some children have missed out on play opportunities. Asylum-seeking and refugee children who have had long and difficult journeys to the UK may have missed opportunities to play. Children living in temporary hostel accommodation with stressed parents are likely to be missing most or all of what they need for play.

Teaching and learning suggestions

Teachers should consider what children need in order to play.

• Space: children living in bed and breakfast hotels or hostels may be very confined.
• Time: play evolves and develops over time.
• Privacy:  children need to know that they have privacy in certain play situations.
• Favourable attitudes: adults around them need to have favourable attitudes towards play.
• Materials: also useful are small toys, figures and other objects that facilitate the telling of stories, and puppets, props and clothes for role play.

Therapeutic uses of play

Play can be used to help all children settle into their new environment. Access to well-planned play opportunities is of particular significance to young children who are newly arrived in the UK. 

Play can be used therapeutically with asylum-seeking and refugee children and others who have had traumatic past experiences. Play:

• offers a means of healing
• gives children the chance to explore reality
• helps children make sense of the world and their reactions to it
• offers children the chance to gain confidence through interacting with peers and exploring their environment.

As many refugee children have lost self-esteem and trust in peers and adults, play can help them regain lost confidence and make new trusting relationships with adults or other children.

Key workers

To facilitate play as a healing process, a key-worker system can be put in place. The key-worker system enables a child to develop a close and trusting relationship with one adult, crucial for children who may have been let down by adults or have lost parents or other carers.

Sensory and exploratory play

Sensory and exploratory play is useful in helping new arrivals settle down. Such play might include sand, water play, cornflour, slime and noise putty. A treasure basket containing materials of different textures or objects that make different noises will also encourage sensory and exploratory play.

Projective play

As children grow older, they begin to develop projective play: using toys and objects to replicate the real world. Refugee children can use projective play to represent events in their lives.

For this to be useful children will need lots of small objects, human figures, puppets and so on. Children can use puppets, props and dressing-up clothes to act out emotions or events.

Play in home corners allows children to interpret stressful events that have taken place in their lives. Another useful intervention involves using stories, followed by discussion, acting and play.

Play resources and books used by such projects should, where possible, reflect the cultural backgrounds of the children.

A key issue to consider is the extent of adult intervention in projective play. Adults will need to help establish some ground rules – violent play and the destruction of toys should be prevented. Adults can intervene, acting out roles during role play and providing guidance and verbal prompts, perhaps to explore particular avenues.

Painting and drawing

Opportunities for painting and drawing are also important for newly arrived children. Some ideas for activities are given in the Art and design area of the site.

Role play

Role play can also be used with young children. For example, A Bear Called Paddington could be used to help children act out a storyline on the theme of being new.

Out-of-school play opportunities

Some schools have developed out-of-school play opportunities for newly arrived children. Home from home gives information about how schools can fund and plan such projects.

There is much evidence to suggest free and low-cost play opportunities are under-utilised by newly arrived families, for example toy libraries and soft play in leisure centres. This could be because parents are unaware of them. Teachers could make a list of local play provision to give to parents new to the area.

Working with parents

Parents may not understand the importance of play in a child's development. Families newly arrived in the UK may also have missed inputs about play and child development that other parents receive from health visitors. A number of early years settings have organised meetings about promoting children’s learning through play for particular groups of parents, providing interpreters if they are needed.