Play Provocations #8: Digital Play

Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Play Provocations podcast mini-series with host Linda Harrison! In this episode, Linda is joined by Dr. Kate Highfield, Head of School for the School of Teacher Education at the University of Canberra. As a co-author of Early Childhood Australia’s updated 'Statement on Young Children and Digital Technologies', Dr. Highfield shares ways digital tools can be used as open-ended loose parts that interact with the physical world to deeply enrich wonder, investigation, and creative agency.

The discussion unpacks vital planning considerations from the revised ECA statement, highlighting the four key pillars -  Relationships, Health and Wellbeing, Citizenship, and Play and Pedagogy. Dr. Highfield explains that intentional digital play should never be about passive screen consumption. Instead, technology must sit comfortably alongside gross motor and messy play, ensuring children remain content creators who control the technology rather than being controlled by it.

Listeners will walk away with three highly practical, EYLF-aligned digital play provocations. You'll explore ways to use digital backdrops to expand dramatic play, use a wireless magnifying wand to inspire detailed charcoal drawings of nature, and "Soundscape Architects" which embeds child-recorded audio directly into block construction. Tune in to discover how to merge the digital and physical worlds to build a truly holistic early learning ecosystem!

Find out more:

https://digitalchild.org.au/educators/

https://www.deakin.edu.au/faculty-of-arts-and-education/research/centre-of-excellence-for-the-digital-child

https://katehighfield.com/about-kate/

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Learn Play Thrive the podcast, the ultimate early learning podcast for educators and leaders in the sector. Let's learn, play, and thrive together.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

The Learn Play Thrive podcast was recorded on the land with the Dark and Jung people. We pay our respects to the traditional custodians, past, present, and emerging. Hands up, hands down, we're on Dark and Jung land.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Hello listeners and welcome back to Play Provocations. I'm Linda Harrison, and joining me for today's episode on digital play is a seasoned expert, researcher, and leader in the early childhood sector, Dr. Kate Highfield, who is head of school for the School of Teacher Education at the University of Canberra. Kate has an incredible wealth of experience looking at how technology intersects with learning, pedagogy, and play. And she was also one of the co-authors behind Early Childhood Australia's recently updated statement on young children and digital technologies.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

Welcome, Kate. Oh, thanks so much for having me on, Linda. I'm so excited to talk about this area of digital play. It's an ever-changing space for children and digital engagement, whether that be watching television or FaceTiming Grandma, is such a part of children's lives. So I'm thrilled that we now can talk about this from that perspective of intentionality and really consider our position in this space.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

So wonderful. And I think before we dive into all of that around digital play, let's just remind our listeners what we mean by play provocation, which is a thoughtfully prepared arrangement of materials. And it does invite young children to explore new concepts, test their ideas, and engage in those hands-on exploration, you know, without any predetermined outcomes. So they do act as a really great spark for curiosity. And when we think of play provocations for young children, we might often picture, you know, beautiful trays of natural materials with clay or mirrors. And bringing the digital into that space can sometimes feel a bit counterintuitive, though, can't it?

SPEAKER_03 2:10

Look, yeah, often it does because we think of provocations to be that aesthetically pleasing, the natural resources. And so often it's, you know, beautifully uh curated resources. And so some teachers say, well, digital play doesn't belong there. I would like to challenge that notion though, that we actually need to really think about what we could add from a digital space or what could we consider extending so that digital play is just one form of play. So a thousand years ago, when we talked about bringing the digital into our early learning spaces, we had these hideous, and I'm going back to when I started teaching, hideous plastic computers that took up a quarter of the classroom. And what happened with those computers was that they were such a big visual feature that they actually took over a lot of engagement. And it meant that the technology was leading the pedagogy rather than the teacher leading the pedagogy. So for me, this idea of a play provocation with digital gives us that chance to take back, to bring this in a way that aligns with our aesthetic and that doesn't uh take over the whole context, but just adds to and extends children's thinking.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

I love that. It's really another tool that early childhood educators can use within an early years classroom. And one that they should use with intentionality. Absolutely. I think that one of the biggest hurdles though, sometimes is kind of shifting our mindset around that. So, what does digital play actually look like in practice? To kick things off for our listeners, could you explain for us, you know, how digital play in early education isn't just about a child using a piece of digital technology in isolation?

SPEAKER_03 3:57

Oh, I'm so pleased that you're really highlighting that for us. Lots of people have falsely conflated digital play to be such a play that you have to have a screen in front of you. You have to have a big interactive whiteboard or a projector. But in fact, digital play can be with digital tools, it can be with screen-based tools, but can also be with non-screen-based resources, including any aspect of the digital. So that could be using simple robotics, using a digital magnifying glass, using a clip-on magnifying glass, but it can also be with non-working digital technologies. So that could be old devices, um, you know, an old keyboard that's not connected to anything, or perhaps an old phone. But increasingly, it's also with devices that children have made. So we've got working and non-working digital tools, but then we've also got made digital tools. So I know that we've all seen a child pick up a Lego brick or a duplo brick and hold it to their ear as a it's a phone. It's exactly that idea of what happens when a child starts making their own digital devices. And I wish I had brought it with me today, Linda. But um, my daughter, since the age of about two, recognized that the phone was an important part of our world and and has with cardboard created digital phones. And she's now eight and still can create digital phones out of cardboard. So they're definitely non-working technologies, but they're created non-working technologies. And what I love about that is that she gives me an insight into a digital space through her pretend phones that really show her understanding of the digital realm. We also have research that suggests that children need to have opportunities for imaginative play with non-working digital tools to help their understanding of well, how do digital tools work and what does this look like? And my colleagues uh Michael Henderson and Susie Edwards have done some beautiful work with Wi-Fi routers made out of wood. Um they're available through the Young Children in Digital Society website. Uh, there's opportunity to read about that. But what it does is helps children to understand this big digital concept, the internet, through play. So we are all connected, but our listeners today are listening via an internet connection, most probably through a Wi-Fi network that goes up to the cloud and then comes back to connect. And yet we expect children to understand this really complex concept without giving them a chance to play with it. So thinking through working, non-working, and made opportunities to engage with digital play.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

So important. I think you've really highlighted the importance of uh children's creativity and really, you know, supporting that through play. And it really leads down the path to that tinker play where children can tinker with technological devices that aren't necessarily plugged in, so they're not working, and finding out how they work and what are the different parts of those pieces of technology.

SPEAKER_03 7:17

That idea of tinkering with tech, pulling it apart, is so powerful because it gives uh children the chance to understand. The other form of tech that's incredibly powerful is clear box technology. So those tools, um, the probably most dominant one is a blue bot where the outside of the tool is clear. So you can see the components, you can see the buttons, you can see the wiring, you can see the motor, but it really gives children that chance to understand what's happening inside.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

That's so important. And I think when educators are sitting down to actually plan a play provocation that is centered around or whether they're thinking of integrating digital technology or planning a digital play experience that does involve that unplugged technology, what are some of the key things that they could consider?

SPEAKER_03 8:07

Oh my goodness, there's so many things that we could consider. Um, at the moment, we have a big focus on safety. We have a focus on safety as a sector, and we have a focus on keeping children's images safe. So, one of the pieces for me that I think we should be talking about is with children, why are we not taking so many photos at the moment? Or why are we sending photos differently? Or why are we, you know, exchanging that? So for me, there are things like consent, consent to take images, consent to share images, but also ideas around advertising. You've taken a photo, is there advertising around it, or we've watched a YouTube piece, is there advertising around it? Um I think there's also really interesting ideas about safety, but also about connectivity. Who are we sending the message to? Do we know this person? Are we connected to them? And giving children the chance to own and understand their digital footprint. I also think there's an idea around how does the technology work? And I touched on Michael Henderson's uh work around the um the wooden internet, this idea of how how to encourage people to consider is um uh people like uh playing IT Safe and playing IT Safe or Playing It Safe was uh a project through originally the Alana and Madeline Foundation and Early Childhood Australia and a few other bodies, including a number of researchers, but it created non-digital projects for early childhood educators to trial. My favorite one of those was a piece of string or a series of string creating a web where children could then send messages to their peers along a piece of string, highlighting that idea of when we send an image, we are sending it across a web, the world wide web, uh across a string, and to understand that sometimes you might be thinking you're sending your message to one person on the string, but in fact we're sending um messages uh uh through an open network and what that might look like. But that is completely non-digital engagement to understand a digitized concept. There are so many examples that we could talk about, you know, around uh real technologies that children see. The other one I've seen a lot of lately is connecting in with children's understandings of televised media, so television shows that they download or that they watch, and things like, well, how does a TV show work? How do you create a TV show? So it could also move into that creative space of, well, let's plan a TV show. If a child's come in with a real interest in, I don't know, bluey is probably one of the most popular at the moment, then you could go into, well, how is the animation made? Or let's record our own bluey music. So I think that idea for educators to step into intentionality in this space is really important. That it's not just children live in a digital world, but we want children to understand the digital world and we want to give them provocations that really extend that thinking beyond screen time or no screen time.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

Such a fantastic insight. And I know that you were involved in some of the updates for the early childhood Australia's statement on young children and digital technology. So I guess if we're going down that path of safety, what are some of the key aspects in that update that educators should be aware of?

SPEAKER_03 11:41

Well, firstly, remember that there's a the long version of the document and there's also a condensed version of the document. And the condensed version of the document is really intentionally written for time poor educators so that they can quickly and easily grasp uh what are we talking about and what are the key issues. And the document has four areas for us to consider, which is exactly the same as the previous version. And we we kept those in uh intentionally based on feedback that educators uh loved the idea that we put relationships first, then we looked at health and well-being, then we looked at citizenship, which to me is also online safety, and then we looked at play and pedagogy. And within each of those sections of the document, we see that there is a piece of practice advice, and then a number of things to ponder to consider. And I would really encourage our teams to look at the document, either in the full version or the shortened version, to really consider well, how are we doing this and where are we thinking intentionally in this space? Uh there are significant updates around online safety. There's some updates around AI use and how we ethically engage with AI and some concerns around AI and opportunities with AI, so not just concerns. And I think that's important because the document frames this for educators that it's not good technology or bad technology, but something for us to really come to a decision about. The other thing that the document is updated in is some new guidance around health and safety and physical activity in that space and really helping children to understand that we're not talking about technologies or digital play as a sedentary activity, but that digital play can be more than just sedentary behaviour.

SPEAKER_02 13:28

Such an important document for educators to have and yeah, unpack in their team meetings. Um, educational leaders, I think, should become familiar with it and yeah, have some uh bits and pieces that they can share with their team, um, uh, you know, focusing on different areas at a time. But uh I think in this part of the podcast now we get to get into the fun part. So we've looked at all of those big picture concepts for digital play and what it might look like in our practice. So our first play provocation for today is an idea around how we can merge light and shadow play with some basic digital tools. So, Kate, how does this one come to life?

SPEAKER_03 14:10

Oh my goodness, I love this idea of looking at light and shadow play because it's something that so many children are fascinated with and obviously something that we can all engage with. And this could be as simple as um having a blank wall, you know, a white, a white sheet and and then projecting into that space. And I love this idea around thinking about shadow play because it just uses a digital projector. Um, you could even use a torch for this, but it helps us really think about the idea of a stage and where children are in that space. You could, if you wanted to extend that, uh go into a green screen type app or do some simple recordings in this space. Um, but really it puts the emphasis on children as creators in a digital space and and promotes agency and promotes communication skills. And there are some lovely examples around that that you can extend on. Um, there's lots of science, lots of drama. But that idea of manipulating an object in front of the light source really helps us consider things like focus and engagement. There's opportunities here to use a digital device if you wanted to capture in that way so children can watch and then re-watch. You could use time-lapse or slow-mo in that space, or you could engage in things like green screen to understand well, what does that mean for a child? And and I think what's exciting about this idea of creating a digital puppet show or or a drama in that space is helping children unpack that there are things created on screens that might not be real, that computer-generated imagery kind of component. And maybe that's for our older children, but with even our twos, threes, and fours, we can um focus in on the notion of creating and secondly focus in on the science of light and shadow and and creating a recording to extend that play.

SPEAKER_02 16:13

Such rich learning, isn't it? So many wonderful opportunities just through that experience.

SPEAKER_03 16:19

Absolutely. I one of my favorite examples of this came from a centre where the children uh attended two and a half days each week. Uh, in the ACT, we have uh a very strong preschool program for that year before school. And what I loved was that the Monday-Tuesday children were sending messages to the Thursday-Friday children, and they were using the same backdrop and really engaging in digital production uh in that way. It was a beautiful example.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Well, our second play provocation focuses a bit more on scientific and numeracy inquiry. So I think uh, you know, we might put out a nature play tray and we might add a bit of a magnifying glass, you know, near some leaves or bark. But I think with this provocation, if we're wanting to maybe introduce some digital tech, we could include a digital microscope or even one of those wireless digital magnifying wands, you know, that can link by Bluetooth to a tablet that might be uh on the table. So I think for this kind of setup, um, we could have a variety of natural materials and the children could collect these. So it could be things like even banksia pods or leaves and you know, some of the really rough bark from the tree. So you get to see all those textures through um the magnifying glass. And then alongside those, educators could set it up with some drawing materials. So you could include things like fine liner pens or charcoal or even some texture paper. And when children are looking at the bark under the magnifying wand, the tablet screen then displays, you know, all those different fibres of the bark and even maybe some tiny insects that they might not see when they're looking at it with the naked eye. So again, this is a different type of play provocation that might invite children to kind of slow down and be researching, you know, through uh looking at those natural materials intently and they're seeing all that microscopic detail. And then with the paper and the drawing and writing materials, then that invites them to try and replicate those textures through different media. So in that way, the digital technology is enriching their play, and you know, it's also helping them develop an appreciation for the natural world.

SPEAKER_03 18:41

Oh, I love that example so much, Linda. And I love that the the digital, if you're using a digital microscope or a click-on magnifying glass, is an extension, it's not the whole focus. Oh, what a great provocation. I want to go to that space.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Me too. Now we've got one final play provocation to share today. And this is around exploring sound uh and construction.

SPEAKER_03 19:05

So could you walk us through this one, Kate? Oh gosh, I I I will confess this was not my idea, but gosh, when I saw it, I loved it. Whenever we watch anything, whether we're watching uh a YouTube streamer, not that I recommend that, or we're engaging with high-quality children's media such as Play School, sound is an essential part of setting the mood. Those of you who've watched Play School, you'd know that there's a beautiful piano engagement. That pianist is incredible and he really sets the scene. Um, but we see um music uh for adult viewing that might create suspense or or sound effects, and those ideas of soundscapes are really evident in lots of children's viewing materials. I will I will go back to the Bluey example and say, you know, we see it extensively in Bluey, where audio recording becomes a part of children's lives and understands the the digital. And I I think a really fun activity here might be to listen to a Bluey episode, not watch it, listen to it and see what children think it could be happening. And there are some beautiful examples of of Bluey that integrates music and sound. So, in this example, before the play starts, um we really um want to give children the opportunity to make different sounds, to experience different sounds, and maybe to give them a chance to explore what that might look like. So wind chimes or crunching gravel or even things like uh wooden blocks to be uh footsteps. And I love that different shoes sound different. Um, so hollow blocks, lots of loose parts, to really think through well, what do things sound like? And then adding in that digital layer of audio so that we're audio recording to explore how we can make these soundscapes. And uh, this could be obviously music and go into Ostinato, depending on your children, or it might go into um another layer of creating digital content where music becomes part of that ambience, or soundscapes become part of the ambience, and really intentionally think with that. And friends, there are hundreds of apps out there uh that allow you to audio record, and many that allow you to audio record and then overlay other video, like an animation uh that children could make or a time-lapse photography that children could make. So there are lots of layers to this activity where creating the soundscape, understanding how sound and music adds and enhances our digital experience, and then becoming creators with the tech.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

I love that. And I can imagine to uh say if they were building um within, you know, with wooden blocks or other loose parts, you know, they could actually use their recordings um as part of their play. So say if they did build a road and they made some sounds for how a car might sound, whether it was with their voice or other materials, then they could kind of add that recording into their play. So yeah, it's just endless, uh, you know, where that type of play could go, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 22:07

I love it. And sound engineers, audio engineers are such a beautiful way of thinking about STEM, aren't they? It's fabulous. And I I really do want to say uh thanks to the people who thought this one through because gosh, it sparked my curiosity. It's fabulous.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

Well, it's so great to see how educators can plan intentional and thoughtful uh play provocations with digital resources that could act as a tool for you know expression, creativity, storytelling, um, together with all of our favorite non-digital materials, whether the natural resources and all of our other favorites that we use in our early learning settings. So thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us today, Kate.

SPEAKER_03 22:49

Oh, thank you for having me, and thank you for coming on this journey of really thinking through what aligns with our pedagogy and what can enhance our pedagogy.

SPEAKER_02 22:59

So important to keep thinking about. And I think for our listeners, if you'd like to learn more, you can find more at www.learnplaythrive.com.au. And we'd love to know how you're blending digital tools within your early learning environment. So share your ideas on our socials. And until next time, keep playing, learning, and thriving.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

Thank you for joining us on this episode of Learn Playthrive the podcast. We hope you found inspiration and valuable insights to fuel your journey in early childhood education. Remember the key to fostering learning, promoting play, and empowering young minds lies with your dedication and creativity. Stay connected between episodes by following us on Instagram at learnplaythrive underscore and join the conversation on Facebook at LearnPlaythrive Australia. If you've enjoyed today's episode, please like, subscribe, rate or review our podcast on your favourite platform. Your feedback helps us to continue to deliver content that resonates with you. And don't forget to visit us at our website at learnplaythrive.com.au for additional resources, blog posts, and professional development opportunities. Until next time, keep learning, keep playing, and keep thriving. We'll see you in the next episode of Learn Playthrive the podcast.