A National Observatory of Children's Play Experiences During COVID-19

COVID-19对健康的破坏性影响导致儿童在何处、何时以及如何玩耍受到重大限制。游戏与儿童的福祉和社会发展密切相关，是儿童表达对周围世界的关切和反应的重要手段。伦敦大学学院教育研究所、谢菲尔德大学、V & A童年博物馆、大英图书馆和大奥蒙德街医院之间的合作将建立一个"国家游戏观察站"，以捕捉儿童对大流行病的体验。通过社交媒体、国家媒体和我们合作组织的网络，我们将邀请儿童、他们的父母和照顾者通过上传文本、图像、声音或视频文件，分享与大流行有关的故事、想法和短暂经历。天文台将儿童作为观察者和他们体验的记者，记录室内，室外和想象中的游戏，包括数字游戏，从电子游戏到社交媒体。它将阐明我们对儿童的社会，物质，语言，空间和时间世界的理解，在整个锁定和超越。与我们的合作伙伴，我们将开发一个在线展览，一个公共档案馆，一个广播纪录片，和“玩幸福工具包”的谈话和倾听孩子在焦虑的时候。我们是跨学科的学者，档案管理员和从业者，在探索当代和历史游戏形式方面经验丰富，与儿童，父母和护理人员合作，共同制作研究。我们的研究结果将为经常被忽视的游戏世界和同伴文化提供深入见解，为疫情期间的政策和实践以及之后的“新常态”提供信息。

The devastating health impacts of COVID-19 have resulted in major restrictions on where, when and how children can play. Play is strongly connected to children's wellbeing and social development and is a crucial means through which children express concerns about, and responses to, the world around them. A collaboration between the UCL Institute of Education, the University of Sheffield, V&A Museum of Childhood, British Library, and Great Ormond Street Hospital, will establish a 'National Observatory of Play' to capture children's experiences of the pandemic. Via social media, national press and our collaborating organisations' networks, we will invite children, their parents and carers, to share stories, thoughts and ephemera connected to play in the pandemic by uploading text, image, sound or video files. With children as observers and reporters of their experiences, the Observatory will document indoor, outdoor and imaginary play, including digital play, from onscreen games to social media. It will illuminate our understanding of the social, material, linguistic, spatial and temporal worlds of children, throughout lockdown and beyond. With our partners, we will develop an online exhibition, a public archive, a radio documentary, and 'Play Wellbeing Toolkits' for talking and listening to children in times of anxiety. We are interdisciplinary academics, archivists and practitioners, experienced in exploring forms of contemporary and historical play, working with children, parents and carers as co-producers of research. Our findings will offer insights into the often-overlooked worlds of play and peer cultures, informing policy and practice during the pandemic and the 'new normals' beyond.