When Penny Holland wrote her infamous book, We Don't Play with Guns Here, she challenged the zero-tolerance approach to gun and weapon play that was held by many early years professionals. It was in 2003 when Holland, a lecturer in early childhood studies at London Metropolitan University, published the findings of her action research with an under-fives centre in inner-city London where the ban on gun, weapon and war play was lifted. Speaking to Nursery World in 2000 about her initial findings, Holland said that far from being a slippery slope towards violent behaviour, it led to an outpouring of imaginative play. ‘Gun law and unbridled violence did not break out in the nursery,’ she said. ‘We saw a wealth of positive play.’
Although Holland is not a pioneer in the same sense as the great influencers Froebel, Montessori or Issacs, her legacy lives on and she has shaped the thinking around playfighting, acting out favourite superhero characters and making guns out of any item imaginable – one practitioner reporting that a group of children enjoyed biting their sandwiches into gun shapes.
RESISTANCE
Despite making headway into how to effectively implement a weapon play policy, gun play remains a controversial topic. While some practitioners grapple with the idea of a child building or intimating firing a weapon that has the potential to kill, others see it as a form of symbolic play along the same lines as a magic wand or a lightsabre.
Holland initially empathised with the former view. In fact, before completing the thesis for her MA in Early Childhood Education with Care, on which her book was based, she was convinced that boys should be discouraged from any exploration of violent play, views which she attributed to post-war anti-militarism and feminism.
She was an unlikely candidate to advocate reversing existing policy. But through working with Konstam Under-5s Centre in Camden, she saw that whatever the adults ruled, and whatever children asserted (‘It's not a gun, it's a thingy’), the policy simply wasn’t working.
She added, ‘Despite our most vigilant efforts, weapons were being made and superhero games were being played… we had got to the point where we felt that all we were doing was teaching a small group of young males to lie creatively.’
Staff grew increasingly worried that this zero-tolerance approach was blinding them to the impact on the children.
She told The Guardian, ‘We noticed an impact on the half a dozen boys who were persistently interested in weapons and superhero play. We started to notice the effects of our constant negative attention. They became more withdrawn – and set on a behaviour train.’
When staff lifted the ban, they found that boys gained confidence to move beyond bouts of gun play to more imaginative games, including dressing up.
NEGATIVE PLAY
Holland acknowledged that any aspect of play can become negative if there is an overlap between ‘real behaviours and the play’. But she states, ‘When you look at what's causing the aggression, is it about resourcing? Are there not enough capes? Or is it about relational differences between children?’
She says that a ‘minority’ of children may use this form of play to re-enact particular experiences that they might have observed, such as violence, but it is not a judgement that can be applied wholesale to this kind of play.
Her research also found that there is no evidence to suggest that superhero play, or war or weapon play, leads to real aggression. She says practitioners should examine their own understanding of ‘aggression’ so they can avoid using the term as a ‘broad spectrum to describe lively, noisy, physical play often associated with young boys’.
David Wright, former owner of Paint Pots Nurseries, says it is important to not project adult sensibilities about violence and guns onto children's imaginative play. ‘Most children are just playing out,’ he says. ‘They have no idea about war, violence and terrorism and the use of weapons to kill people.
‘I was a boy who played guns, bows and arrows with my friends. I grew out of it, as do most boys.’
BEING MINDFUL
Banning weapon play can also lead to withdrawal, Holland observed, as children become dispirited after constantly being told to stop doing something they enjoy. The key for practitioners is to ‘understand where gun play comes from’ in terms of children's development, says Alistair Bryce-Clegg, early years consultant and author of Creative Role Play in the Early Years.
‘It's not really about the gun – that's just a manifestation of the emotion of power and control that the children are rehearsing. They use such props to make sense of the world. So, if their world is full of talk or images of war, it is likely to feature heavily in their play. Trying to stop this doesn’t make a lot of sense. But, like anything, as a practitioner you would talk and scaffold around it – being aware of any other sensitivities that might exist.’
ACCEPTABLE LIMITS
Although it may be difficult for adults to condone the use of guns in children's play, particularly at a time when the war in Ukraine is a prominent feature of everyday life, it is important to keep in mind that children do not have the same associations. Acting out imaginary scenarios of conflict can help children's personal, social and emotional development and enable them to symbolically overcome potential causes of anxiety. High levels of engagement – particularly among boys – makes this a useful platform to develop their learning through the introduction of more complex concepts.
Here are some ideas for extending children's gun and weapon play:
- Value children's imaginative play. Images gleaned from the media are common starting points in boys’ play, in particular, and they often involve characters with special powers or weapons.
- Provide plenty of materials for children to construct weapons for imaginative play. Small white plumbing pipes and connectors work well. Or try Cosy's Coloured Pipes and Connectors, £74.77 (pictured). Unifix Cubes – pack of 100, £4.99, from Hope, or Lego Duplo Bricks Set, £169.95, are favourites for this. Or try Cosy's Tinkering Blocks (30pk), £42.99, for more advanced construction.
- Establish clear boundaries. For example, no one must get hurt; no touching; and if someone is unhappy, stop the game. Create a ‘licence’, with children's input – with rules such as, if you hit someone with a sword, your licence gets revoked.
- Be mindful of your cohort. For example, if you have Ukrainian refugee children, beware of potentially triggering traumatic memories. Ensure that your gun and weapon play policy is communicated to parents.
- Some children are familiar with guns used for sport or hunting and others have parents who use weapons as part of their job in the armed forces. Talk about gun safety and why it is important to not touch real guns. Discuss good role models that carry guns, for example, soldiers, and talk about people who help us, using resources such as Early Excellence's Complete Role Play Real Life Area, £915, or Cosy's Emergence Services Set (pictured below), £109.99.
- Observe what drives them in their play and provide meaningful learning opportunities. If they are interested in construction, broaden the resources on offer to include some intricate building opportunities. If they enjoy the social element of large-scale group play, set up some outdoor physical team games, such as hitting targets with suction arrows; or ‘shooting’ balls into a goal or net. Try TTS's Outdoor Twin Hoop Basketball Stand, £174.99, or its Multipurpose Target and Goal, £54.99.
- Bring language and literacy into the play: talk about the word ‘shoot’, the noises a weapon makes, and express interest in their creations. Watch them act out their own superhero story; encourage them to draw their favourite characters; and buy the Superhero Story Book Set, £20.95, from Early Excellence.
CASE STUDY: Northwick Park Primary and Nursery Academy
Northwick Park Primary and Nursery Academy in Essex first drafted a gun, superhero and weapon play policy in 2014, in order to support practitioners to respond appropriately to this form of play.
Nursery head, Lynne Keys, says, ‘The policy is renewed and reflected upon regularly and staff are sensitive to children's cultural and family background and whether or not they have experienced violence or moved to Britain to escape war. We follow the interests of the child and we assess children's emotional welfare and wellbeing in regards to the play. Through story, drama and appropriate discussion, we look at the positive attributes of the superhero and the negative aspects of weapon use and physical violence.
‘We discuss alternatives to hurting others through weapons and we introduce people who help those that are hurt, for example, medical staff or we make magic potions, if we are playing imaginatively. We ensure that any preconceptions about what children's play entails are discussed at staff meetings and with parents.
‘Enhancements and resources – particularly in the construction area – are put in place to specifically support this form of play. And staff are encouraged to think creatively about the environment – indoor and out – and how it can support weapon play.’
MORE INFORMATION
- Penny Holland (2003) We Don't Play with Guns Here: War, weapon and superhero play in the early years. Open University Press
- Alistair Bryce-Clegg (2014) Creative Role Play in the Early Years. Featherstone Education