Full Description
Play provides us with the autonomy to test out our ideas, experience appropriate risks and build relationships. In Play and Adolescence, Fey Cole explores how those working with teenagers can meaningfully incorporate play into the learning environment, demonstrating its critical contribution to cognitive development, emotional resilience, and social connection in this pivotal life stage.
Drawing on interdisciplinary research and international practice, this accessible and insightful book examines play across diverse settings—from formal classrooms to community spaces and digital environments. Through real-life experiences and case studies from across the globe, readers discover how playful learning fosters teenagers' sense of belonging while enhancing critical thinking and creativity. The book addresses cultural, structural, and policy-related barriers to play while offering actionable strategies for implementation.
This resource will particularly benefit those working in education, youth services, and community development. It serves both as a resource tool and source of evidence-based effective practice for anyone committed to creating more dynamic, inclusive learning environments that prepare adolescents for future success through purposeful play.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Play in the teenage years.
Chapter 2: Discovering who we are and gaining a sense of belonging through play.
Chapter 3: Developing playful skills for future success.
Chapter 4: The benefits of play for emotional health and wellbeing.
Chapter 5: Challenging assumptions of play.
Chapter 6: Taking a risk: physically and mentally.
Chapter 7: Never too old to play: being a role model and advocate of play.
Chapter 8: Do we grow out of play or is it taken from us?
Chapter 9: The seriousness of play.
Chapter 10: Play in the classroom.
Chapter 11: Using play to engage with the wider community.
Chapter 12: Using technology to play and prosper.
Chapter 13: True play: understanding the difference of play in and out of the classroom.
Chapter 14: Play at break-times.
Chapter 15: Play after school.
Chapter 16: Developing a lifetime commitment to play.
Conclusion
