ABSTRACT
As digital devices have become commonplace in our communities, and as their interface has become more intuitive, there have been more opportunities for children aged birth to 5 years to engage in digital play (Ernest et al., 2014; O’Hara, 2011; Wohlwend, 2011; Zevenbergen and Logan, 2008). Over this time, a parallel amount of research has also been undertaken (Plowman et al., 2010), which focuses on the value of these technologies (Moore, 2014), the place of home-based
technologies (Stephen et al., 2008), the relations between home and school use (Gronn et al., 2014; Marsh, 2003), the nature of children’s interactions with these devices (Plowman and Stephen, 2005), and the applications available for preschool children (Kjallander and Moiian, 2014), such as for literacy learning (e.g., Wohlwend, 2011). We know from this body of research that children’s engagement with digital
devices can make a positive contribution to children’s capacity to imagine (Singer and Singer, 2006). We also know that tangibles are valued, as they afford embodied interaction, tangible manipulation, and physical mediation of digital data (see Abeele et al., 2012). We understand a lot more about how children aged 2 to 12 years interact with gestures and interface design, such as tap, drag-and-drop, slide, pinch, spread, spin/rotate, and flick on touchscreen applications (Aziz, 2013). We also understand more about how mothers and toddlers interact (Kucirkova et al., 2014), and how applications allow for creative expressions (Verenikina and Kervin, 2011) when a variety of modes are available for making new meanings (Kjallander and Moiian, 2014). The term digital play has sought to capture the special way that children interact
with digital devices (Zevenbergen, 2007 in Burke, 2013), describes how online and offline play are becoming increasingly intermeshed (Marsh, 2013), and shows a realisation that more needs to be understood about the special ways children are now playing in virtual play worlds (see Burke and Marsh, 2013). The studies reviewed in this chapter include various technologies, including apps and touchscreen devices. All these technologies support digital play, which, as Radesky and Zuckerman argue in this volume (Chapter 2), can promote higher-order thinking and socio-emotional skills. However, what has been missing from research and commentary has been a theoretical discussion about what might constitute digital play with apps. To fill this gap, this chapter draws upon Vygotsky’s (1966) theory of play to
better understand the psychological nature of digital play for children from birth to 5 years, with apps and touchscreen devices. The theoretical analysis seeks to support researchers, educators, and, potentially, app designers, about what are the unique psychological determinants of digital play. It is in line with the important work of Kucirkova et al. (2014) who have also sought to theorise interactions with digital devices and young children, but only in the context of shared story reading. This chapter seeks to go broader by using a cultural-historical analysis of digital play with apps and touchscreen devices for very young children.
