Nursery World - Enabling Environments: Dens

With a view to introducing den play at her school, Louise Nicholls
carried out a research project looking at the impact this type of play
can have on young children. She shares her findings.

What effect, if any, does den play have on the way pre-school children learn and develop? And, more particularly, how does den play affect children's social, fine motor and language development? These were the main questions that I sought to address in my MA dissertation, and although my study was small I feel it provides an illuminating insight into the benefits of den play.

Research on the subject is remarkably limited, but my study was informed by the view of Sobel, who suggests that 'a den is the child's chance to create a home away from home that is secret and becomes a manifestation of who they are. The den is the chrysalis out of which the butterfly is born' (Barnard, 2006).

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