Play as a space of experience aesthetic educational processes

Abstract

This article examines children's play practices from the perspective of aesthetic experiences as core elements of educational processes (Schäfer, 2014) and consequently explains the significance of play for the educational path (Schneider, 2017). The starting point is the thesis that in early childhood education and care centres, children need guided play arrangements that open up a creative space for the child to gather and differentiate aesthetic experiences. In close connection to aesthetic education, play is described in terms of its sensual dimensions, analysed as a space for aesthetic experiences and its lasting significance for the educational process in elementary education is emphasised. The aim is to theoretically elaborate play as the ‘royal road of education’ (Buchardt, 2008, p. 517). In addition, pedagogical implications are described that can be assumed to be central influencing factors in favouring, differentiating and expanding the quality of aesthetic play processes. On the basis of this examination, the understanding of education within elementary education is to be reflexively expanded.