Rough and tumble, play fighting and other forms of risky play can be incredibly beneficial to children’s development, explains Tia Claridge…
The urge for physical play is an innate characteristic of young children. It is embedded in their nervous systems from birth.
Engaging in rough and tumble play (RTP) provides a fantastic opportunity for them to fulfil this natural desire.
Such activities are not only enjoyable but also play a crucial role in healthy development. They contribute to children’s physical, social, and emotional growth.
Through rough and tumble play, children can learn to navigate social interactions, develop gross motor skills, and begin to understand the boundaries of physical engagement with their peers.
Young children often engage in play that has an aggressive theme, such as superhero and weapon play. Some children appear preoccupied with these themes. However, it’s important for practitioners to understand that this is not necessarily a precursor to bullying or an aggressive nature.
It may simply reflect their interests and ways of exploring relationships and the world around them.
Rough and tumble is a vigorous, physical type of play that children willingly choose to engage in. It often involves play fighting, chasing, rolling on, and wrestling each other, as well as imaginary and risky play too.
This can at times look chaotic and aggressive on the surface to practitioners. However, despite its seemingly rough nature, this type of play is:
Sometimes, because we misunderstand rough and tumble play as violence, we stop or discourage it in early years settings. However, it can be so beneficial to children’s development.
There has been an increase in studies exploring the learning opportunities rough and tumble play can offer. It can promote:
There is also evidence that high-energy physical play can promote neuroplasticity and cognitive processing. It really is such a powerful (and fun!) play form.
While rough and tumble play has enormous benefits for both girls and boys, we all know who is likely to prefer this type of play above all others! However, girls very much benefit from rough and tumble play too, although it might look different.
The boys will tend to rely on the physicality and, at times, competitive nature of the play, whereas girls may be more reliant on spoken narratives to protect and rescue their friends.
Over my 20-year career in early years, I have consistently heard the term “boisterous boys”. The boys who don’t sit still, roll on top of one another, and want to engage in aggressive and fighting play themes for most of their nursery day.
People often ask me when I’m supporting settings how to help them “manage the boys”, so much so that it determined my most recent research study.
Last year, as part of a Psychology of Education (MSc), I explored whether there were gender differences in how educators view and facilitate rough and tumble play.
At present in the UK it is estimated that 97%–98% of the early years workforce is female. I was curious to see whether male and female educators viewed and facilitated this type of play differently, therefore having an impact on the rough and tumble play pedagogy in settings.
It was only a relatively small-scale exploratory study, but it was a really interesting process! Not only is a practitioner’s gender influential on this type of play, but cultural and community considerations are too.
Views and feelings from both practitioners and parents are highly influential in how settings facilitate this type of play across the UK.
The research confirmed that boys’ play can be misunderstood by female early years practitioners, which isn’t surprising when we consider the impact our own gender bias has on our outlook on practice.
While I have aimed to celebrate and facilitate boys’ play during my career, it isn’t necessarily an easy thing to do as a female who doesn’t have an innate desire to engage in rough and tumble play myself.
Female educators must adopt a reflective and reflexive approach to understanding boys and what makes them tick, as it may not be natural for us. Likewise, it is equally important that male educators work to understand girls’ play.
Skilful observation: Tune in to the content of the play, perhaps to suggest alternative strategies for heroes and heroines, making the most of “teachable moments” to encourage empathy and lateral thinking to explore alternative scenarios and strategies for conflict resolution.
Culture and community: Nursery culture and the local community will have an impact on practice. Therefore, each nursery will need to create a unique stance on various types of rough and tumble play to ensure it is suitable for their children’s experiences.
A whole-team approach: Ensure the whole team recognise that rough and tumble play is completely normal for young children. We should celebrate it like other forms of play (within the agreed limits). Joint observations are helpful, so the team know the difference between RTP and true aggression.
Safety first: Involve the children in the discussions about how to keep everyone safe when engaging in rough and tumble play; they are likely to have better ideas than us!
Join in: Encourage the team to join in, so they truly know what this type of play feels like for young children. Have fun!
While I was supporting on the DfE Early Years Experts and Mentors programme, the topic of boys’ play arose at one of the settings I was linked with.
It can be just as simple as giving children the permission and space to engage in rough and tumble play, as one educator explains…
“We were struggling with a boisterous group of boys in preschool who were showing high-energy behaviours. The play was chaotic, and we were struggling to get them to stop.
“They were rolling on top of each other, play fighting and generally playing roughly with one another for what felt like all day, every day.
“We also noticed that the boys weren’t really focused in their play; instead they were flitting, and we were struggling to get them engaged.
“Tia shared with us the myths and misconceptions of rough and tumble play and discussed developmental benefits too.
“She advised that the next time the children were rolling around with each other, instead of stopping them, we should make the space safe and allow them to play under close supervision.
“The children used the space brilliantly and enjoyed rolling around with each other, some pretending to be superheroes, others falling on top of each other in such a controlled manner, so they didn’t hurt their friends. It was wonderful to watch.
“The boys were laughing, having fun and just knew where the boundaries were with one another without an adult directing them.
“We have continued to support and facilitate this type of play. What is really fascinating for me is that after these periods of rough and tumble play, the children access the preschool provision with increased engagement and motivation and seem so much calmer.
“This is certainly something we will be facilitating in our setting going forward.”
Tia Claridge is regulatory, safeguarding & policy lead at Family First.
Immerse yourself in nature
Editors picks
