The idea of ‘spontaneous playing’ (also called autonomous playing, or spontaneous and autonomous playing) is based on a quotation in the Paul Bonel and Jennie Lindon book, ‘Good Practice in Playwork’ first published in 1996.
“For play to take place in a free and spontaneous way the conditions have to be right.” (p.14)
Spontaneous playing refers to the ability of children to be in complete control of their playing from the very beginning to the end in which they do not need nor seek out the involvement of an adult. This could be further defined as:
If you are thinking that this description looks remarkably similar to the way children play when there are no adults present, you would be correct. The difference here is that spontaneous playing is being applied within a staffed setting as a deliberate policy to reflect as closely as possible the way children play outside of that setting.
The ‘conditions being right’ in this context simply means that the physical space and the objects (in that space), have been curated by the adults (in that space) in such a way that playing can begin, develop, and end without the direct involvement of those same adults.
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See also Initial Possibilities, Dynamic or Continuing Possibilities, and BOOK: Good Practice in Playwork (1996) (to come)
