Ways of listening
Children’s voices are multidimensional, often expressed through play, gesture and choice. Playful research listens in ways children choose.
The Playful Researchers conceptualise “voice” as being multi-dimensional and believe that children can communicate their voices through their gestures, silences, body language, non-verbal communications. One of the main ways we see children expressing their voices and views is often through their play, as you will see in the Gallery below. Children can communicate through blocks, clay, painting, cultural probes, Lego, sand, lightboxes, transient art, percussion instruments (to name but a few!), and these can provide us with opportunities to tune into and listen to what children are saying.
As every child is unique and different, there is no ‘one size fits all’ way of listening to children’s perspectives. For us as Playful Researchers, the key question to consider is, how would the children like to be listened to?
It is essential that the children have agency and can choose if they would like to share their views, how they would like to share their views, when they would like to share their views, and where they would like to share their views!
Here are some ways in past projects that the children have chosen to express their perspectives: