På sporet af børns perspektiver– børnehavebørns leg med GoPro og iPad i børnehaven

The article investigates how digital media can help kindergarten staff gain a better insight into children’s play and creative processes, and therefore also gain knowledge about children’s perspectives and participation opportunities. Through the use of digital technology, the study seeks to capture what is important for the children in their everyday kindergarten life. The article presents two examples of how children’s play and creativity are investigated by adopting new digital technologies with the children themselves as co-researchers.

The results show that digital media can be used both to investigate children’s perspectives on play, as well as support the same play. The GoPro footage gave an insight into the spontaneous, euphoric play and children’s stories about why it was of value to them. The workshop project provided insight into how digital media can support, strengthen and develop children’s opportunities to participate in creative and aesthetic processes. The authors of the article believe that by incorporating the children’s perspectives, and following in their tracks, one gains insight into what they find valuable at the same time as gaining a more nuanced understanding of play in kindergarten. They emphasise that the kindergarten teacher must show sensitivity in relation to the play the children are interested in, and participate in it, in order to understand the play and the moods it creates.

The study is divided into two different empirical investigations. In the first example, the play and creative processes of four children are studied by attaching GoPro cameras to them that record while they play together. The four children in the study were between the ages of four and five and were filmed for a period of two weeks. In the second investigation, children’s perspectives and play culture were studied through experimental, analogue and digital workshop processes facilitated by adults. The sample consisted of 13 kindergarten children and two kindergarten teachers, who worked on workshop processes over a period of two months where the focus was on following the children’s tracks in the co-creating aesthetic processes. In addition, practice stories, drawings and paintings made up parts of the data material.

Hauge, L. J. & Jørgensen, H. H. (2019). «På sporet af børns perspektiver– børnehavebørns leg med GoPro og iPad i børnehaven». BUKS – Tidsskrift for Børne- og Ungdomskultur, 36(63):9-26.