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Case study: Batman!

Some boys have been repeatedly running around the garden, wearing their coats 'Batman style' and roaring at each other. Their play generally culminates in contact fighting. At a planning meeting, practitioners agree that a recent Batman TV programme has obviously become a strong focus of interest for these children, and should be acknowledged as such.

At a planning meeting, practitioners agree that a recent Batman TV programme has obviously become a strong focus of interest for these children, and should be acknowledged as such.

As a result, practitioners provide resources for making masks and 'secret weapons'. The boys are purposefully engaged for some time with this.

They head off into the garden, and are observed playing reasonably calmly for a short period of time. The play soon becomes 'stuck', however, with the boys running around, adopting aggressive poses, shouting and threatening other children.

The practitioner puts on a mask (kept in readiness for such a situation) and 'creeps' ostentatiously over to the children, indicating they should follow her. Although giggly, they follow and are led away from the climbing frame, where they had been causing problems, to a sheltered part of the garden.

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