Abstract
On the playground children collect snails. Suddenly a boy squeezes some of them into a plastic tube and shakes them roughly up and down and a girl uses a hard metal spoon to lift and poke the snails in the right direction in the wooden box. Similar situations with snails happened several times in a design-based-research project using play experiments in two Danish kindergartens (children aged 3-5 and their pedagogues). The aim of the research project is to create knowledge about children’s wellbeing and flourishing, but what about snails?
Written and visual field notes show how the researchers, positioned as co-players, were challenged as the snails became play tools in the children’s play and hands. Should the researchers intervene and how – and maybe destroy the play mood and the children’s engagement? And how could it maybe affect the researchers’ possibilities to be invited into the children’s play again? The study draws on play theory concerning play as mood practice and posthuman theories addressing affect and ethics. With the aim of exploring flourishing for humans and nonhumans entities and boundaries and dilemmas in childhood research with play, the presentation examines the following question: How can research involving play with children create knowledge and reflections about boundaries and dilemmas connected to ethical and eco-centric perspectives and
researcher positions?
The analysis and findings are still in-the-making but emphasize childhood studies as response-able practices recognizing both children’s play and caring for nonhuman species as equal and valuable participants.
The abstract links to the conference theme by addressing children’s play and boundaries between the researcher and the child participating in the play. Furthermore, it raises a critical and ethical perspective on
boundaries for children’s play.
The abstract links to methodological and ethical boundaries of childhood studies related to researcher positions in research with children and play and to rooted understandings of child centeredness in childhood studies.
The presentation draws on works by Donna Haraway and Karen Barad. Keywords: more-than-human world,
compassion, ethical attunement, flourishing, play
Written and visual field notes show how the researchers, positioned as co-players, were challenged as the snails became play tools in the children’s play and hands. Should the researchers intervene and how – and maybe destroy the play mood and the children’s engagement? And how could it maybe affect the researchers’ possibilities to be invited into the children’s play again? The study draws on play theory concerning play as mood practice and posthuman theories addressing affect and ethics. With the aim of exploring flourishing for humans and nonhumans entities and boundaries and dilemmas in childhood research with play, the presentation examines the following question: How can research involving play with children create knowledge and reflections about boundaries and dilemmas connected to ethical and eco-centric perspectives and
researcher positions?
The analysis and findings are still in-the-making but emphasize childhood studies as response-able practices recognizing both children’s play and caring for nonhuman species as equal and valuable participants.
The abstract links to the conference theme by addressing children’s play and boundaries between the researcher and the child participating in the play. Furthermore, it raises a critical and ethical perspective on
boundaries for children’s play.
The abstract links to methodological and ethical boundaries of childhood studies related to researcher positions in research with children and play and to rooted understandings of child centeredness in childhood studies.
The presentation draws on works by Donna Haraway and Karen Barad. Keywords: more-than-human world,
compassion, ethical attunement, flourishing, play
| Translated title of the contribution | Grænseflader i forskning med leg i danske børnehaver |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Publication date | 6 May 2026 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 6 May 2026 |
| Event | XI Conference on Childhood Studies: Childhood and Bounderies - University of Eastern Finland, Campus Jouensuu, Jouensuu, Finland Duration: 6 May 2026 → 8 May 2026 |
Conference
| Conference | XI Conference on Childhood Studies |
|---|---|
| Location | University of Eastern Finland, Campus Jouensuu |
| Country/Territory | Finland |
| City | Jouensuu |
| Period | 06/05/26 → 08/05/26 |
Keywords
- children and youth
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