ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a rich analysis of role-play drawing on research that has been conducted in a number of different countries. Throughout the text, the inter-subjective nature of role-play has been established, demonstrating that in order for it to be enjoyable and for it to work, children need to engage with other players. In role-play, play partners co-construct the play, they use language and actions as well as negotiating roles and themes. Children’s role-play with digital objects demonstrates the ways in which they develop imaginative ideas and new relationships, sometimes with robots or other digital toys. Creativity can be considered to be a central tool in children’s play. Children engage creatively, to re-enact something that they have previously seen but to re-work those impressions into something new. Children have the right to participate and role-play offers a participative approach in which ideas are welcomed and developed.
