ABSTRACT
Observations of children’s play have been recorded since the times of Ancient Greece and since the twentieth century it has been used in many aspects of research in relation to children’s learning, health and development. This chapter focuses on ‘recreational perspective’ in offering a way of observing and recording the Play Cycle for individual children within playwork practice. It describes the Play Cycle Observation Method (PCOM) as a way of recording the process of play, based on the elements of the Play Cycle. PCOM aimed for participants to map play cues and play returns to identify a play cycle. In turn, the play frame is given a name or label to describe it and the length of the play cycles can be measured. The PCOM is designed to map an individual child’s play cycle. The chapter provides a brief background to observational research and also describes existing measures currently used in observing children’s play.
