̽»¨Ö±²¥Cambridge report argues that play should be a recognised component of children’s healthcare in the Government’s forthcoming 10-year plan for the NHS.
A recently rediscovered play, Not for a Cat: A Play for the Nuclear Age, will be premiering at the Cambridge Festival. The play was originally written in the 1950s by Wallace R. Harper, a student at the Cavendish Laboratory at the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge in the 1920.
Children who learn to play well with others at pre-school age tend to enjoy better mental health as they get older, shows. ̽»¨Ö±²¥findings provide the first clear evidence that ‘peer play ability’, the capacity to play successfully with other children, has a protective effect on mental health.
Play-based learning may also have a more positive effect on younger children’s acquisition of important early maths skills compared with traditional, direct instruction.
Helping parents with depression or anxiety could also improve their ability to engage in potentially ‘protective’ forms of play with their children that can reduce the risk of behavioural problems, new research suggests.
Children are more likely to introduce violent themes into their pretend play, such as imaginary fighting or killing, if they are with playmates whom peers consider bad-tempered, new research suggests.
Children whose fathers make time to play with them from a very young age may find it easier to control their behaviour and emotions as they grow up, research suggests.
̽»¨Ö±²¥gendered play of children from two hunter-gatherer societies is strongly influenced by the demographics of their communities and the gender roles modelled by the adults around them, a new study finds.
Wanting your child to have the best chance in life is natural for any parent. But by focusing too much on the ‘skill’ of parenting, are we losing sight of things that matter more – how we talk to and play with children? Cambridge researchers are examining how parents can best help their children in their early years through nurturing rather than shaping.
Welcome to our new ‘Spotlight on children’, a focus on research taking place at the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge relating to children and childhood – from health to education, language to literacy, parents to playtime, risk to resilience.
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