Playing Minecraft: Young children’s postdigital play

The study investigates how children engage in ‘post-digital play’ and places particular emphasis on how digital and non-digital elements are interwoven through the play. The research question is: How are children’s post-digital play practices performed?

The study shows that children’s play with digital technologies, such as Minecraft, transcends clear boundaries between digital and non-digital play. The children combined elements of the digital game with physical play in the form of building activities with building blocks. The game was influenced by both the children’s knowledge about Minecraft and their interactions with physical materials. The results indicate a new form of post-digital play that challenges traditional perceptions of digital and traditional play.

The study is part of a major ethnographic research project in which three departments in a Norwegian kindergarten were observed and video recorded 64 times over a period of approximately 1.5 years. The study is based on video analysis of a 12-minute sequence in which two five-year-old children in kindergarten play with physical building blocks, inspired by the digital game concept Minecraft.

Pettersen, K., Arnseth, H. C., & Silseth, K. (2022). Playing Minecraft: Young children’s postdigital play. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 14687984221118977.