Page 1 of Need your thoughts on how play has changed?

Need some help please I`m taking my child care level 1 and would like your thoughts on how much children`s play has change since the mid 70`s, compared to today's world of play, I know it has changed a lot but would like some thoughts from people please. :/

What age range are we talking here?


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Am I the only one who thought this was a thread about the long-established Jersey e-tailer?

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What age range are we talking here?

one to ten years of age!!

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Am I the only one who thought this was a thread about the long-established Jersey e-tailer?Nope & I know shes doing the course!!!!



I consider myself an optimist, albeit an optimist with cynical tendencies and a dark side that Lucifer himself would find a little creepy. (Perhaps you've noticed.) You don't normally associate cynicism with an upbeat pov. But I have exactly that combination and will defend it.

Never has so little had to be explained by me to so many so often.

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Non referal link.Am I the only one who thought this was a thread about the long-established Jersey e-tailer?

there was a documentary on how toys, games have changed over the the years on BBC3, or BB4 ages ago, i can`t remember what it was called though, sorry.

but really not that much has changed. Children watch more tv now and play video games, but still play board games, card games, and with dolls and action figures, admittedly they`re more sophisticated.

I think one of the biggest changes mentioned was that kids are less likely to play football etc in the streets due to cars, and safety.

I personally think things have changed fairly significantly since the 1970s in terms of children`s playing habits.

The explosion of the media (specifically, but not exclusively, the Internet) has meant that news stories of attacks on or the abduction of children are captured easily and broadcast to a much wider audience, meaning that the innocence that both children and parents once had has been (or is being) eroded away, making them more fearful of their environment, which in turn affects what they will allow their children to do.

The Internet itself has also changed the way adults interact with the `outside world` - often making them more confident in communicating (virtually) with people...but also having the effect that they don`t bother to (or can`t?) communicate with their close neighbours in the `real world` making them, in effect, strangers. This again re-enforces a fear of the local environment.
I remember in my childhood (growing up in the late 1970s/early 1980s) that my parents knew all of the neighbours very well and were quite happy for me and my siblings to disappear around to their houses without any concerns. I guess that the frequency of people moving home also enhances that particular issue.

The late 1970`s/1980`s also saw computers and other forms of readily available pre-made entertainment entering the mainstream (in homes)...but they were still pretty new and unavailable (financially) to a lot of people.

Many children would have previously needed to use their imagination when playing (and many still do). However, now that there are easily available (and affordable) computer games and vast numbers of children`s movies/TV Shows which children are exposed to (often from a very early age), many children are not engaging their imaginations but relying on what they have seen/heard and merely repeating that. That is (of course) better than those who simply rely on the movies/TV Shows/computer games completely, but it`s a far cry from the behaviour that existed before these were widely available.

I now realise I`ve been rambling...so I`ll stop now!

Cor, you don`t half sound intelligent, Miles!

If I compare my childhood (growing up through the 70`s) to my childrens (growing up through the noughties)...

If I didn`t have any homework, I would be outside, in all weathers, either playing with balls (football or catch), roller skates, skipping, cats cradle, conkers, marbles, cycling etc, with all the local children. We were all out there until we were dragged in by our parents, having a whale of a time.

Now, I never see any kids playing outside, and due to the constant threat of traffic, paedophiles, and goodness knows what else, we all encourage our children to stay at home. So they watch TV or plays computer games during their leisure time. They might play the odd board game or card game, but most of the time, if it isn`t multimedia (video etc) it doesn`t interest them enough.

I completely agree that in the past we played imagination games. We often played war, cowboys and indians, or even the Doctor Vs the Daleks or something, and would act out lengthy fight scenes that we had seen on TV at the weekend, or whatever. I have never seen modern children play like this.

It`s quite sad when you analyse it all.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 28th September 2010, 09:36

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smurfette says...
Cor, you don`t half sound intelligent, MilesI`d hope so with an IQ in the 150+ range ;) (Although I hide it well!)

My two kids play outside a lot. They also watch a lot of telly, use the PS3/Wii/PC, draw pics, read, play in football teams...

Replace the electronic stuff with Action Man/Matchbox cars etc and it`s pretty much the same as when I was a kid although I was just a fat kid so didn`t do the sports...

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