Testing takes the magic out of education – playful learning may be the answer.
German director Jette Steckel has bought an urgent, vivid and highly phyiscal version of Woyzeck to the Sydney Festival.
Woyzeck, Sydney Festival 2016.
Jette Steckel has bought the Sydney Festival a version of Woyzeck that is as exciting, uncompromising and disturbing now as it was when it was first premiered in 1913.
The new conversational Barbie doll may be good at keeping children entertained, but do we really know who’s listening in?
The great detective’s purchase on popular culture was not always so assured.
Benedict Cumberbactch and Martin Freeman in Sherlock, courtesy of Channel Nine
As Benedict Cumberbatch prepares to return to 221B Baker Street for a Sherlock Christmas Special, a great, unsolved mystery remains: what is the source of the detective’s enduring appeal?
A boy in the Ivory Coast practises reading his letters. Children can learn a lot about reading from each other during the “School Game”.
EPA/Legnan Koula
The benefits of learning through play are well documented. In rural communities in South Africa, “playing school” produces passionate lifelong readers.
Calm down, kids. You don’t want to end up short like uncle Harry now do you?
Pixabay
Infant monkeys who play more develop better motor skills even though they grow more slowly, a study has found.
To grow into healthy adults, children need lots of exercise. The best kind is when they are playing freely – even better when it is with their parents.
Shutterstock
New research has found that fears of playground accidents such as falls have led to considerable changes in school playgrounds, reflecting a climate of over-policing and surplus rules and regulations.
A miniature orc from the popular role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.
Bart Heird/flickr
The summer holidays are well and truly over. The magic of Christmas is back in its box. Sales of champagne have plunged. The customary dribble back to work across the stretch of January, and now early…
I am always repeating the mantra that we should “work hard and play hard”. But is having fun professionally productive? As someone who studies animal behaviour I sometimes look to my experimental subjects…
Whether kids play pickup sports or organized sports may have varying effects on their development.
Tony Baldasaro/Flickr
Youth sports are viewed as a rite of passage in a child’s development. If the clichés that permeate sports broadcasts and locker room speeches are to be believed, sports participation teaches children…
Kids don’t always play with toys according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Charles Roark/Flick
On Tuesday Greens Spokesperson for women, Larissa Waters, lent her support to No Gender December – a campaign spearheaded by the group Play Unlimited that aims to highlight the gendered marketing of toys…
Evidence shows children are getting less unsupervised time outdoors.
Brian Yap (葉)/Flickr
Earlier this year, an American mother was arrested for allowing her nine year old daughter to play unsupervised in a park while she finished her shift at work. Even though this story got a lot of press…
Kids don’t spend enough time outside, meaning critical skills in decision making and risk assessment are stunted.
Flickr/Lotus Carroll
Parents are often told they need to get their kids outside to play to combat childhood obesity - which is more widespread than ever. But outside play isn’t only important in combating childhood obesity…
Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts and Design; Coordinator, Play, Creativity and Wellbeing Project, Centre for Creative and Cultural Research, University of Canberra