Ludemos
“a playful community”
the home of therapeutic playwork
|
|
The Integral Play FrameworkExtract from The Value of Play (Else 2009)
Building on the work of philosopher Ken Wilber (Integral Psychology 2000), The Integral Play Framework shows that the internal world of feelings for the child is as relevant as the world of objects shared with others. Figure 1 shows the Integral Play Framework and balances the experiences of the child in the tangible world of structures with the insubstantial world of feelings and beliefs. As children are playing they are using their bodies to move through and experience the world, either solitary or with others. Those sensations are processed internally and inform the child’s self awareness, feelings and beliefs, which may be shared with others. For example; a group of children are playing chase, a physical game involving running around on the ground and over obstacles to evade capture. Ethan is ‘it’; he is trying hard to pass the role to another and races round energetically. Initially frustrated that he cannot catch the others, he becomes elated when he tags his friend Sohail and manages to escape onto a high platform. Later he and Sohail talk about the game and what it felt like to be ‘on’ and what it was like when they were running away. Like all humans, the playing child has an experience of the world that is both emotional and physical at the same time; we live at the boundary of the personal and shared worlds. And as has been commented by many writers, this integrated model recognizes that humans create their own world in relation to that of other people; we are social animals who see our identity and status in relation to others. We should note that these are mutual worlds, different sides of a similar coin – we shape and are shaped by our lived experience of mind, body and environment, as we integrate our different experiences of the world, they have an effect on who we are. Figure 1 shows the Integral Play Framework and how the various aspects of the child’s world are inter-related. Figure 1 - The Integral Play Framework
As described through the
play
cycle (see Psycholudics),
children enjoy and explore these aspects though their play. |
|
|
