ABSTRACT
Children are increasingly seen as gene carriers, or as cultural entities, and more ‘cosmic’ views of children that describe children in terms of their planetary, astronomical or psychic/spiritual context tend to be unfashionable. And yet, children are members of one of many evolving species; they live on a living planet and look out to a galactic backdrop which is as overpowering as it is beautiful. To provide an analysis of anything children do without putting their actions into that context not only insults them but also avoids a great deal of what makes children what they are. Therefore, whilst some forms of out of school provision may use education, containment and entertainment rationales, evolutionary playwork attempts to draw from this ‘cosmic view’ – as its starting point, as a way of determining what support children need, if any, and how that support should be delivered.
