I had the privilege of presenting my paper on 'Developing Leadership in children using Superhero Play' at the NAEYC annual conference at Los Angeles. The idea started with a simple question, 'Can young children be taught leadership skills?' I have been fascinated with children's superhero play and its implications in their development. It struck me one day that the two can be married and it can be a happy marriage where we can expose children to desirable skills that lead to leadership development by using Superhero play. Below is a complete understanding of both these aspects; Superhero Play and Leadership Development.
Why Superhero Play?
As preschoolers grapple with the task
of making sense of the world, they use role-play or fantasy play as one of the
means to internalize their observations. We live in an era of children being
exposed to more media than ever before.
By definition,
superheroes are larger than life, courageous, powerful, and seemingly able to
overcome any obstacle with great physical prowess while doing great deeds at
the same time. Young children, facing the challenges of learning many new
skills, may often feel small, helpless, fearful, unable to accomplish what they
desire, or troubled—in other words, just the opposite of superheroes. It’s no
wonder that many preschoolers are drawn to superhero play. Through play they
can feel brave, fearless, in control of their world, outside of ordinary, and just
plain good.
What is included in Superhero Play?
•
War play
•
Rough and
Tumble Play
•
Wrestling
•
Play
fighting
•
Combat
•
Media-based
play (a scene out of Chota Bheem)
Superhero
Play: Hero or Villain
Superhero play
has long been thought of as violent, aggressive, and disruptive. Some argue
that aggressive play should not be allowed because it exposes children to
inappropriate concepts and attitudes and sends the message that the use of
aggression can achieve a desired goal. Early educators have grappled with banning superhero play
for decades, only to discover that children are strongly drawn to it and find
ways to engage in it regardless of the adult-imposed rules.
Educators know
that pretend play is an avenue for healthy emotional development. Pretend play
builds children’s understanding of emotion, which helps them regulate their
feelings. The idea that play is important for the
development of young children is a familiar one for early childhood educators.
Pretend play is believed to be critical for healthy emotional development in
young children. This belief has been used to explain the importance of
involvement in superhero play.
One body of
research suggests that rough and tumble play, which is one of the primary means
of superhero play, may serve important developmental functions for young
children, especially boys. Specifically, three functions: affiliation,
dominance and social skill facilitation have been identified as potential
functions served by rough and tumble play.
Caring adults
must acknowledge this is reality and accept responsibility for facilitating and
guiding children’s development by addressing superhero play in the classroom. As
teachers of young children, one must respect and allow their choices of themes
and roles, but that children must beprovided the boundaries in which these
themes and roles occur.
Leadership
Development in children
Despite the
extensive research about leadership, there is not much research addressing
leadership in young children (birth – 12 years). Even at a young age, children
exhibit leadership skills. Just as children learn other important skills,
children can learn and build on these leadership skills through their
experiences. Many developmental psychologists support the importance of experiential learning. At a young
age, children are much more prone to learning skills and retaining them
throughout their life. During childhood and adolescence, an individual’s
behavior, personality, and skills are more malleable than they are in
adulthood. Maria Montessori, a pioneer of early childhood education, believed
in this idea. She heavily supported and promoted the idea of sensitive periods,
the periods of a child’s life when skills are best learned.
Most of the
characteristics that leadership researchers have described can be explained
through the 5-factor model of personality or the “Big Five.” In 1961, Ernest
Tupes and Raymond Cristal found that five factors reoccurred within their
personality analyses of various subjects. Over the
years, the factors first described by Tupes and Cristal have been refined and
then eventually coined as the Big Five. The five factors are extraversion,
agreeableness, conscientiousness, (absence of) neuroticism, and openness.
As leadership
becomes one of the most wanted strategic qualities across professions such as
business and industry, technology, politics, medicine, and the arts’ around the
world — the role of parents, teachers and mentors becomes critical in
assisting with the development of leadership attributes, qualities and skills
in their children right from an early start.
Superhero
Play as a means of Leadership Development in children
Superhero play
provides a release from tension and frustration as well as achievable success
and accepted ways to exercise leadership .
The education
community should support a more
productive superhero play that incorporates children’s interests in ways
that promote leadership development. While the three dominant themes in
superhero play are capture and rescue, submit or vanquish, and attack or flee, there are numerous variations on these
themes, - Teachers can observe children’s superhero play and offer them
opportunities to expand on their current knowledge.
Constructing a
ready reckoner for parents and educators to safely practice superhero play and
further use it to develop leadership:
Table
1: Leadership
factors and associated Superhero Play
The Big Five
(Factors of Leadership)
|
Qualitites
|
Associated
Superhero Play Attributes
|
Extraversion
|
·
assertive
·
outgoing
·
enthusiastic
|
Superhero
play allows common ground on which conversations can begin. The resulting
role assigning gives children opportunities to show these qualities.
|
Agreeableness
|
·
kind
·
trusting
·
compassionate
|
While the
‘good guy’ rescues the people or attacks the ‘bad guy’, it is a wonderful
opportunity for the adult to inculcate the much needed qualities of
agreeableness.
|
Conscientiousness
|
·
reliable
·
productive
·
achievement-oriented.
|
With great
power comes great responsibility. As Superheroes, it is easy for the adult to
help the child understand that a critical role of the superhero is to get the
work done. This can prove to be a valuable lesson for life.
|
(Absence of) Neuroticism
|
Absence
of
·
anxiousness
·
selfconscious
·
impulsiveness
|
Superhero Play
gives many opprtunities for building self-confidence which is the opposite of
all the qualities of neuroticism. Donning a role makes it easier for a shy /
introverted child to open up and approach others with confidence.
|
Openess
|
·
curious
·
imaginative
·
insightful
|
Children
often construct their own story lines (with the charecteritics of the
superhero still in mind). Theis fantasy play has limitless opportunities for
creativity and imagination.
|
'You're learning how
important you are, how important each person you see can be. Discovering each
one's specialty is the most important learning.' -Fred Rogers.
Here are a list of activities that can be done at schools and at home for translating the Big Five attributes into bite sized behaviour attributes to children through superhero play.
- •
This Is Me, I’m a Superhero! –
Have the children draw / illustrate their own self, depicting themselves as a
superhero. A great opportunity to help the child understand himself/ herself
better. Ask probing questions (gently) about what super powers the child would
possess and why do they think it is important to have that power.
- •
Passing the Parcel of Superpower –
Make two separate sets of paper strips. On one set, write the some of the Super
Powers. On the other set, write down some problems that one may face in
everyday life. Put each set in a different box. Play music and pass the boxes
around, one clockwise and the other anti clockwise. When the music stops, the
child with the problem box reads out the problem (with the teachers’ help if
needed). The child with the super power box, reads out one of the super power.
The children use the super power and brainstorm ways to solve the problem.
Remember to teach children never to judge and that all ideas are
acceptable.
- •
Super Power Wall – Create a Wall
of Superpowers. Write down all the superpowers providing enough gap between
each (clearly demarking each power). Encourage children to use these
superpowers everyday. Provide children with stickers (preferably each child has
an unique sticker). Whenever a child feels that they have used any of the
superpower, they can put a sticker on the wall. When they have been able to put
up more than three stickers in a day, treat them to dressing up as the super
hero of their choice.
- •
Real Life Superheroes – Ensure
that the children are exposed to enough real life super heroes, who are
culturally relevant too. Parents can be invited to share stories of using each
of the leadership qualities in their personal lives. Often, grandparents are a
treasure trove of such stories. Stories from folklore are another important
source.
Below is a plan specifically meant for schools.
The
Plan:
- Teachers
discuss with children about favorite Super heroes and document the same.
- Teachers to
then introduce the class super heroes, ‘The Big Five’. Children can be
encouraged to contribute names and costumes for each super hero.
- Each
Superhero to have three super powers, as per the table above.
- Over the next few months, the special child of
the day will pick the super hero from the magic box. Children will try that
entire day to emulate the super powers of that super hero.
- Documentation
at each stage.
Materials:
- Superheroes
cutouts for the magic box. This will be animated after taking input from
children in the centers and the characters are illustrated as per the
children’s imagination.
- Capes, crown,
hand tags, wands, etc., that can empower children to use the super power for
the day.
- Camera for
recording and taking pictures of the process.
Points
to keep in mind:
- Activity is
aimed at developing leadership qualities. Teacher to allow children to display
leadership.
- Teacher to
observe and positively reward whenever a child expresses the mentioned
qualities with words of specific praise.
- If children
find any difficulty in understanding a power / imbibing a power, teacher to
provide scaffolding opportunities in the day. During transition times would be
an excellent opportunity.
References
•
Beresin E. (2012). Violent
Video Games and Movies Causing Violent Behavior.
Psychology Today.
•
Boyd B. (2007). Superhero Play
in the Early Childhood Classroom: Issues in
Banning Play from the
Classroom. Earlychildhood News.
•
Center for Inclusive Child Care
Podcast: Inclusion Matters
•
Enid L., Menkart D., Okazawa-Rey
M. (2002). Beyond Heroes and Holidays: A Practical Guide to K-12
Anti-Racist, Multicultural Education and Staff Development. Washington DC:
Teaching for Change.
•
Gerard J. (2002). Killing
Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Make-Believe Violence. New
York, NY: Basic Books.
•
Gelman P. (2012). Superhero
Play: Is it cause for Concern? Greatschools.org
•
Hoffman E. (2004). Magic Capes,
Amazing Powers: Transforming Superhero
Play in the Classroom. St
Paul, MN: Red Leave Press.
Research Quoted:
(Carlsson-Paige & Levin 1995; Bauer &
Dettore 1997)
(Gronlund 1992; Fonville & Afflerbach
1995; Bauer & Dettore 1997; Boyd 1997; Levin 2003; Barnes 2008; Logue &
Shelton 2008)
(Bodrova & Leong 2003)
(Carlsson-Paige & Levin, 1990; Curry,
1971; Ritchie, Johnson, & Zita, 1982; Slobin, 1976; Walder, 1976)
(Smith & Boulton,1990)
(Popper & Mayseless, 2007)
(McCrae & John, 1992)
(Walsh, 1995)
(Murphy & Johnson, 2011)
(Carlsson-Paige & Levin, 1990)