War Conflict and Play

War, conflict and play pb 9/15/04 2:42 PM Page 1
Debating Play
Series Editor: Tina Bruce
War, Conflict and Play

WAR, CONFLICT AND PLAY
‘This informative and compassionate book challenges the negative pic-

ture of refugees and asylum-seekers portrayed in the media. Tina
Hyder shows that despite the trauma that young children go through,
only a small percentage need specialist help. For the majority their
healing can be promoted through play, particularly in culturally appro-
priate and anti-discriminatory settings. I strongly recommend this book
to all practitioners working in today's early years settings.’
Babette Brown, author of Combatting Discrimination: Persona Dolls
in Action and Unlearning Discrimination in the Early Years War, Conflict
This book is about the experiences of young refugee children and asy-
and Play
Tina Hyder
lum seekers and their families. It describes how war and conflict can
interrupt the development of young children as relationships and com-
munities are destroyed, and looks at how play can help to restore
these children’s lost childhoods.
Tina Hyder highlights the importance of early years and pre-school

provision as a healing and restorative experience for young children
and their families. She sets work with refugee children into the context
of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and helps
readers to see beyond alarmist headlines and stereotypes presented
in newspapers. The book provides:
• Useful summaries of research on child development, theories of

play, and the impact of conflict on young children
• Practical examples of play-based activities to help young children
• A framework for early years practitioners to support refugee chil-
dren and their families
War, Conflict and Play is essential reading for practitioners in early

childhood settings and students on early childhood courses.
Tina Hyder has been working with young children and their families in
London for many years. She has written widely on a range of equality
Tina Hyder
and children’s rights issues. Formerly a lecturer in early childhood
studies, she is currently Diversity Adviser for Save the Children, UK.
Cover design: Barker/Hilsdon

ISBN 0-335-21299-9
www.openup.co.uk 9 780335 212996

Debating Play Series
Series Editor: Tina Bruce, Honorary Visiting Professor at University of

Surrey, Roehampton
The intention behind the ‘Debating Play’ series is to encourage

readers to reflect on their practices so that they are in a position to
offer high quality play opportunities to children. The series will help
those working with young children and their families, in diverse ways
and contexts, to think about how to cultivate early childhood play
with rich learning potential.
The ‘Debating Play’ series examines cultural myths and taboos. It

considers matters of human rights and progress towards inclusion in
the right to play for children with complex needs. It looks at time-
honoured practices and argues for the removal of constraints on
emergent play. It challenges readers to be committed to promoting
play opportunities for children traumatized by war, flight, violence
and separation from loved ones. The series draws upon crucial con-
temporary research which demonstrates how children in different
parts of the world develop their own play culture in ways which help
them make sense of their lives.
Published and forthcoming titles

Forbes: Beginning to Play
Holland: We Don’t Play With Guns Here
Hyder: War, Conflict and Play
Kalliala: Play Culture in a Changing World
Manning-Morton and Thorp: Key Times for Play
Orr: My Right to Play: A Child with Complex Needs
Tina Hyder
Open University Press

Open University Press
McGraw-Hill Education
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Berkshire
England
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email: [email protected]
world wide web: www.openup.co.uk
and Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2289, USA
First published 2005
Copyright © Tina Hyder 2005
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes
of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency
Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be
obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of 90 Tottenham Court
Road, London, W1T 4LP.
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0 335 21299 9 (pb) 0 335 21300 6 (hb)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

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Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk

Printed in the UK by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall
CONTENTS
Series editor’s preface vii

Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 Children and development: the importance

of play 5
2 Being a refugee: the loss of play 24
3 The impact of war, conflict and violence on young

children: the consequences for play 41
4 What works: first principles to promote play 60

5 Lessons from practice: the role
of play 77
6 War and violence in the wider world: issues

affecting play 90
7 Conclusion: play as a child’s right 100
Bibliography 102
Index 108
SERIES EDITOR’S
PREFACE
I was delighted when Tina Hyder agreed to write this book. She has,
through her work with Save the Children, developed great expertise
and understanding of the issues for children and families who are
living through war and conflict, and those who become refugees or
asylum seekers. She has a very measured approach to these deeply
distressing situations, and helps the reader to get on the inside of
what this means to children and families in ways which allow reflec-
tion and quietly thought through action, so that feelings do not run
so high that they constrain what can be achieved.
The book is holistic in its approach, but it gives a major focus to the
importance of play for children living through war, or as refugees, thus
keeping the spirit and emphasis of the ‘Debating Play’ Series. Play is as
important, if not more important than ordinarily for children living such
extraordinary lives. Tina Hyder sets the scene for the reader, addressing
questions such as who is a refugee, why refugees leave their home,
what happens to families when they arrive in the UK, and the problems
that relate to ensuring the children have opportunities for play.
Children and families are influenced by their experiences of war
and becoming refugees in ways which affect their relationship with
their parents, carers and their general development. Tina Hyder
shows how play has a restorative impact on development and rela-
tionships. Good early years practice, emphasising the importance of
play, are central in developing this. She outlines some of the theories
of play which are helpful in taking early years practice forward. She
gives case studies which demonstrate how, using various approaches
which bring healing through play, children affected by the direct and
viii War, Conflict and Play
indirect experience of violence can be helped to develop in positive

ways.
This book embraces the principles of diversity and inclusion and
consequently it will give readers a framework for play which will
benefit all children, but it will give particular help to practitioners
supporting children affected by conflict and war.
Professor Tina Bruce
Series Editor
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There are many children, families and colleagues who have inspired
and informed this book. I would particularly like to mention the
children, families and staff of Salusbury World; Lois Mutesi; Babette
Brown, and the early years service in Islington.
I would also like to say a very heartfelt thank you to Tina Bruce for
her support and encouragement throughout. This book really would
not have been possible without her.
Thanks also to my former colleagues at London Metropolitan
University; and also colleagues, past and present, at Save the Children.
And, as always, thank you to Charles and Yasmin.
Tina Hyder
July 2004
INTRODUCTION
This book is about the many ways play can make a positive difference
in the lives of an extraordinary group of children – the young refugees
and asylum-seekers from many parts of the world who are increasingly
part of our social fabric.
Every morning or evening in our homes, we listen to news about
war or civil unrest; these events, with their often devastating impact
on children as well as adults, are occurring in parts of the world that
seem remote – and yet are closer than we think.
Some of you will have had direct experience of such events, but for
many of us the plight of those affected by conflict is something we
observe from afar. However, as globalization impacts on all aspects of
our lives, war and conflict in what may appear to be far-flung parts of
the world are coming to affect all of us closer to home. The wars that
we see unfold in front of us on our television screens translate into the
presence of real families and children in our early years settings and
schools.
This book aims to examine the crucial importance of play for chil-
dren’s development. It then looks at the experience of being a refugee,
and the implications of war and conflict for young children’s devel-
opment. It goes on to consider how best we can support, through
play, the young children for whom we care.
Families with children seeking a safe haven have of course been
coming to the UK for many years, and some readers of this book will
already be familiar with the numerous issues that arise from working
with refugee and asylum-seeking families; the book aims to help you
reflect on your experiences.
For others, including those readers who are training to work with
young children and families, involvement in early years settings with
2 War, Conflict and Play
asylum-seeking and refugee children may be new, and you may be

looking for insights to support your practice.
Finally, the book aims to provide an additional perspective to
enable you to see beyond the frequent ‘scare story’ headlines and
stereotypes presented in newspapers, and understand that they do
not always give the full picture.
Asylum and the response of governments and their peoples to the
numbers of refugees in today’s world are controversial issues, politic-
ally, economically and socially. It is beyond the scope of this book to
comment on wider political issues in any detail. But it does take as its
starting point the firm commitment to the rights of all children
which was first articulated by Eglantyne Jebb, the founder of Save the
Children, precisely as a specific response to the suffering of children
affected by war and conflict in Europe in the early part of the last
century.
Jebb founded Save the Children in 1919, and some of the first chil-
dren she helped were the children of the ‘enemy’. At the end of the
First World War there were severe food shortages in cities such as
Berlin and Vienna, and reports that 6-year-olds were so malnourished
that they looked like 2-year-olds. An eye-witness account from 1919
by Dr Hector Munro invoked the following picture:
Conditions were indeed terrible. Children were actually dying

in the street. I saw in the Allgemeine Krankenhaus 38 women
who were suffering spontaneous fracture of the hips, their
bones having lost all solidity. The children’s bones were like
rubber. Tuberculosis was terribly rife. Clothing was utterly lack-
ing. Children were wrapped in paper, and in the hospitals there
was nothing but paper bandages.
(Save the Children 2003)
Jebb, along with her sister, Dorothy Buxton, sought to raise public
awareness of the plight of these children, and elicit sympathy and
support for the suffering inhabitants of the vanquished nations,
initially by producing leaflets highlighting the impact of famine
in Europe. Jebb was even arrested in 1919 in Trafalgar Square for
distributing copies of a pamphlet entitled ‘A Starving Baby’.
Undeterred, the sisters went on to found Save the Children, initially
as a temporary organization working to raise money for children’s
organizations all over war-torn Europe – and operating firmly accord-
ing to the children’s rights principles set out by Jebb: that children
should not be made to suffer for the actions of adults. This rights-
based approach continues to underpin the work of Save the Children
today, as children globally face the consequences of war and civil
Introduction 3
conflict. The organization works in accordance with Jebb’s belief that

humanity has a collective responsibility to provide for children,
whatever the nature of political conflict.
This focus on the rights of children, innovative as it was in the early
part of the twentieth century, came to be of increasing importance to
Jebb, and to her fledgling Save the Children organization:
I believe we should claim certain Rights for the children and

labour for their universal recognition, so that everybody – not
merely the small number of people who are in a position to
contribute to relief funds, but everybody who in any way comes
into contact with children, that is to say the vast majority of
mankind – may be in a position to help forward the movement.
This prototype of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child was adopted
and promoted by the International Save the Children Union in 1923,
and within a year was adopted by the League of Nations and achieved
lasting international significance.
The present United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
(UNCRC), adopted in 1989, is derived from Eglantyne Jebb’s early
statements (Save the Children 2003). It sets out a framework for gov-
ernments to recognize and actively pursue, through policy and legis-
lation, the rights of all children. The UK government ratified the
convention in 1991.
It is important to note the distinction between the concept of chil-
dren having ‘needs’ as opposed to ‘rights’. On the one hand, the
‘needs’ of one group are often defined by another more powerful
group, and meeting ‘needs’ can be an optional action by those who
are in a more powerful position – both to define a need and then to
decide whether or not to meet it. On the other hand, the concept of
‘rights’ suggests a set of legal imperatives or entitlements that gov-
ernments and other institutions have a duty in law to uphold. In this
formulation, and as the culmination of the process initiated by Jebb,
children are now seen to have internationally recognized human
rights. This is a shift from the idea that children are the property of
their parents – instead, the state has a duty to recognize the child as an
individual, and to support families to provide the best possible start for
their children.
The fundamental principles of the UNCRC, all of which work
towards enhancing children’s development, are:
• non-discrimination (all rights apply to all children);

• best interests (all decisions, actions and policies should take into
account their impact on children);
• participation (children have a right to express opinions on matters

that affect them);
• survival and development.
The rights set out in the UNCRC cover almost every aspect of chil-
dren’s lives. The Convention specifically requires governments to take
into account the rights of refugee and asylum-seeking children. The
relevant section is Article 22, setting obligations for governments to
offer protection to children seeking refugee status and to ensure that
those children enjoy all the other rights set out in the Convention.
In addition, the Convention also sets out the child’s right to play.
Article 31 states that ‘all children have a fundamental right to leisure,
play and recreation’ (United Nations 1989).
This book will bring together theories of children’s play with
information about the impact of war and conflict on young children –
with the aim of helping practitioners put Article 31 into practice for
refugee and asylum-seeking children. It also provides some practical
information about the processes and context of being a refugee in the
UK today. And it will offer examples of the ways early years services
can best respond to and support asylum-seeking and refugee children
and families. It will describe practical, play-based activities that prac-
titioners can undertake with young children. Finally, the under-
pinning argument of this book is that play is a healing experience for
young children affected by war and conflict. Moreover, this assertion is
not just about play in isolation, as a process in which the individual
child takes part. It is also about play as a part of the social fabric of a
community and as a dynamic exchange between the child and their
world. Play can return to the children of conflict their lost childhoods.
Terminology
The terms ‘asylum-seeker’ and ‘refugee’ have precise and distinct legal
meanings. An asylum-seeker is waiting to be recognized as a refugee –
that is, as someone with a well-founded fear of persecution under
international law (see p. 26 ff. for a fuller explanation). However, the
terms are not always used consistently in the media and elsewhere. In
this book the term ‘refugee’ is used to encompass both states, unless
specifically referring to conditions affecting one group or the other.
The terms ‘war’, ‘conflict’ and ‘violence’ refer to a vast range of
military and political crises. In many cases these categories cannot be
disentangled. For the purposes of this book what is meant are situ-
ations of civil, political and social upheaval characterized by armed
violence whether between or within nations.
1
CHILDREN AND DEVELOPMENT:

THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY
When we take care of children, we are also helping the human species
find the truth and understand the world.
(Gopnik et al. 1999: 211)
This chapter begins by looking at what elements need to be in place to

ensure that children develop to their full potential and have
opportunities to explore and extend all their capacities and capabil-
ities. It will further explore the generalized impact on children’s
development of social breakdown because of war and conflict – look-
ing in detail at the developmental processes of early childhood, and
noting what happens when that progress is interrupted.
The major theories of play will be outlined, with the emphasis here
on play not only as a necessary feature of childhood and essential
component of development, but also as a means to regain ‘lost
childhoods’.
The context for development
The starting point is an examination and exploration of the ideal

conditions for development. This rests on the simple question: What
do children need in order to develop?
What springs to mind if you pause for a moment to reflect on this?
Clearly there are some basic components: love, security, food, shelter,
a family and community, opportunities for play, self-expression
and interaction, healthcare and other welfare support, and education
in its broadest sense. These are just some of the elements that
can contribute towards a positive early childhood. Research into
child development does indeed reveal that the achievement of full

potential rests on the basic human requirements of food, shelter,
protection, care and affection being met by children’s caregivers.
At the same time, opportunities to explore the physical environ-
ment, interaction with others and induction into the rituals and
norms of their communities, through the structure of language, rela-
tionships, song, art and story, are also essential for all children.
It is through considering all these elements that we begin to
appreciate the full meaning of child development – that is, the hol-
istic growth and maturation of a child’s emotional, social, physical
and intellectual capacities, equipping them to participate in their
communities and cultures.
From their earliest days, children are also developing individual
skills, competencies and interests that form the foundation for all that
follows. What has been described above should not be an exceptional
experience for some children but is the right of all children.
In peaceful, affluent societies it can be very easy to take these build-
ing blocks for development for granted. But even in communities that
are relatively materially well off all these components are not always
in place for children. To give just one example, the rates of child abuse
in the UK point to the fact that, even within a society that is relatively
wealthy, this material security alone does not guarantee a positive
childhood. Nevertheless, material and practical support provides a
framework within which it is easier to operate a functioning com-
munity and family network, in which positive child development can
take place.
How war affects communities
In countries and communities where political, social and economic

instability leads to civil conflict, or when there is war between coun-
tries, the material aspects of a community, its institutions and
services, are disrupted and weakened. This in turn impacts on the
abilities of families and individuals always to maintain the emotional
focus on growing children, as attention instead has to be placed on
securing food, healthcare and so on.
It is sometimes easy to see the impact of war just in terms of loss of
life, injury and damage to the concrete environment, whether this is
in the destruction of buildings or the loss of services such as power
and water supplies. However, it is important to acknowledge that the
impact of the chaos caused to the social fabric of families and com-
munities can be as damaging for the development of the child as any
concrete impact. For young children, it is the fact that their carers are
Children and development 7
perhaps emotionally and physically exhausted, and unable to call on

the usual support normally available at times of family crisis, which
will have a profound impact.
From this perspective of social as well as physical damage, we will
begin to build the case for the importance of play as a restorative and
healing experience for young children. This is not just because play in
itself is a formative experience for the individual child, but also
because play is rooted in the experience and representation of events
and objects within a family and a community.
It is important to consider the everyday life of the developing child
in order to really appreciate and understand the ways that war, con-
flict and violence severely undermine and distort childhoods. Apart
from the obvious and direct material impact of violence in a com-
munity and the subsequent dangers of injury and death, there are
other, less visible, impacts on children.
These less visible pressures on children and children’s lives are
often the consequence of the destruction of the social networks and
mores that bind a community. This may be hard to imagine for those
of us who have never lived in such circumstances, as there is much
that we take for granted about acceptable behaviours in our daily
lives.
In most communities there are unspoken and codified norms of
behaviour and interaction that mediate all our daily experiences.
These norms are underpinned by tradition and custom, and are fur-
ther reinforced by stable political and social structures. Behavioural
norms are, day in and day out, reflected back in popular culture,
through television or in newspapers and magazines. These norms are
also transmitted to children in other ways – for instance, through
stories and religious and social practices.
When those norms are violated – for example in the UK today when
parents are neglectful or when partners are abusive – such behaviours
are condemned, and this process of social reinforcement (through
civil and social structures, whether they are religious, political or
social) can be seen in all communities worldwide.
What is acceptable and what is not acceptable will clearly vary over
time and place. Nevertheless, although there are exceptions, it can be
argued that there are universal norms, shared by most human com-
munities. These include sanctions against killing, taboos against
incest, respect for elders in a community and responsibility for the
young.
As already noted, one of the less obvious impacts of war, civil con-
flict and continual violence in a community is the erosion of social
and behavioural norms. The stress of having to cope with and adapt
to ongoing violence causes people to behave and react in extreme
ways. For some people, a coping mechanism will be to flout normally

agreed and acceptable forms of behaviour in an effort to regain con-
trol over an uncontrollable situation, or just because there is nothing
to stop them. An alternative means of coping might be the attempt to
regain control by exerting sway over those who have even less power.
This is why, again and again, one of the reported results of ongoing
conflict, whether due to war or civil conflict, is that rates of violence
towards women and children increase. This is the case within all
communities, including those that are under attack and those that are
the aggressors.
This may be manifest in increased levels of child rape and child
abuse. The normal sanctions and protective mechanisms that main-
tain order in societies are removed at times of social upheaval, and
vulnerable populations are therefore made even more vulnerable at
times of crisis.
Bronfenbrenner’s model of ‘ecological development’ (1979) sets
this out in a particularly clear way – describing four layers or con-
centric circles of society all of which impact on the child, and within
which the child is an active agent (although it was only some time
later that Bronfenbrenner acknowledged the agency of the child).
These layers start with the child in the centre surrounded by the
immediate and extended family. Next there is the direct community,
with friends and neighbours. Surrounding this are institutions such as
schools or health services, religious and other leaders, and at the out-
side are the larger national institutions and services, government and
media, all reinforcing values and beliefs.
Children are active participants in this model, caught in a dynamic
process where their lives are shaped by all the influences around them
and they in turn have an impact. Therefore, while it is important to
see how unusual and traumatic events affect the individual directly, it
is also important to realize that much of the impact on the individual
is due to the dismantling of wider relationships, social networks and
institutions. This chapter will go on to bring together thinking about
individual development against the context of wider social, political
and cultural connections, and look at the vital role of play in
development and in healing.
How children develop
There are increasing strides being made in the field of child develop-
ment. More is now known about the importance of the early years of
life, and how later patterns of behaviour are shaped by early experi-
ences, than ever before. This is demonstrated particularly by research
in the last ten years into the development of the brain in infancy. We
will explore this research later in the chapter.
Child development is a continuous process, but there are distinct
phases. The period from birth to the age of 3 sees children’s evolving
capacities at their most active. Children are learning to walk and talk,
to form relationships and to become part of a family and community.
The natural world also provides an area of enormous fascination.
The safety to explore and to overcome challenges is one of the key
features of this point in life – particularly through play. While this
may be taken for granted, when safety and security do not surround a
child and family the opportunities for children to test and extend
their evolving capacities are not available, and this has a negative
impact on the child’s development. Birth to 3, while being a key
period of development, is a time when children are particularly
vulnerable in terms of survival and damage if conditions are not
conducive (Molteno 1996).
From 3 onwards children lay claim to their wishes for independ-
ence and autonomy versus their roles and responsibilities in relation
to others. Children are testing their physical abilities and experiment-
ing with their physical and social environments. Linguistic develop-
ment is rapid at this stage. Friendships, treasured objects and interests
are all part of the assertion of self. The adult and natural worlds pro-
vide endless opportunities for investigation and learning – and if this
learning is supported and encouraged, children develop and gain
confidence in themselves and their competencies.
Taking this as a snapshot of the process of child development, the
academic focus in the past has typically been on the debate between
those convinced about the influence of genetic inheritance versus
those emphasizing environmental factors (nature vs. nurture). Evi-
dence now points to an interactionist perspective as offering the most
informed and accurate framework for child development at this
point. This means that the biological characteristics of a child are in
constant interplay with the child’s environment. One shapes and
responds to the other.
An acknowledgement therefore of the complexity of the child’s
social and environmental systems, as demonstrated in Bronfenbren-
ner’s model of ecological development, referred to above, is essential.
This is because children develop through social interactions and
social structures – all of which have an important influence on the
child’s overall individual development.
Early brain development
In the past, it was believed that the structure of the brain was genetic-
ally predetermined and largely in place before birth. Scientists were
not aware of the enormous and formative impact of an infant’s first
experiences.
Research in infant neuroscience (see Gopnik et al. 1999) reveals that
from birth, and before, the infant’s brain is full of cells that trigger in
response to their interactions and experiences of the world.
The nerve cells in the brain are called neurons, and they are in place
before birth. At the time of birth infants have approximately a
thousand billion brain cells. Each neuron has a long fibre (axon) that
sends information in the form of electrical impulses to other cells.
Information is also received from other cells through short fibres
(dendrites).
At birth, the neurons are not connected. As children grow and an
increasing amount of information is received in the brain, the den-
drites branch out, forming tree-like structures as they receive signals
from many neurons. Early brain development is about the formation
and reinforcement of such connections. The point at which neurons
connect and exchange information is called the synapse: ‘Connec-
tions among neurons are formed as the growing child experiences the
surrounding world and forms attachments to parents, family mem-
bers, and other caregivers’ (Shore 1997: 17). Therefore, an infant’s
early experiences create neural activity and subsequent neural
connections, that can be in place for life (Gopnik et al. 1999).
New technologies, such as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging –
showing the brain structure) and PET (positron emission tomography
– measuring brain activity) scans and other brain imaging technolo-
gies have revealed that the brain, from before birth and onwards, is
affected by environmental factors. And it is during the first three years
of life that the majority of developmental neural and synaptic activity
takes place – setting out the networks for later life.
From birth onwards there is a rapid and enormous growth in syn-
aptic activity that peaks at about the age of 3. At 3 children have more
neural pathways than adults, and children’s brains are two and a half
times more active that the brains of adults (Shore 1997: 21). This
synaptic density remains in place until about the age of 10, when
unused synaptic connections fall away.
Clearly, these research findings indicate that early experiences are
even more important than once believed. The neural pathways that
become established are those that are in repeated use. In this way,
early experiences have a decisive impact on how the brain becomes
wired. (Gopnik et al. 1999). What this means is that early experiences
have an overall effect on children’s abilities to relate to others and

to the external world, to learn, to express their feelings and to take
forward their overall development.
Of enormous importance appears to be the fact that an infant’s
early experiences are mediated by their primary caregiver. What
this means is that the quality of the infant-carer relationship is of
crucial significance for early brain development. Therefore, as Shore
(1997: 26) notes: ‘Neuroscientists are finding that a strong, secure
attachment to a nurturing caregiver can have a protective biological
function, helping a child withstand (and indeed, learn from) the
ordinary stresses of daily life. There is no single “right” way to create
this capacity; warm, responsive care can take many forms’.
It is also important to bear in mind that the brain can change in
response to new stimuli, so later experiences will also have an impact.
There are also critical periods in children’s developmental progress
that are crucial for certain parts of brain functioning. For instance,
those areas of the brain that regulate stress (the limbic system) are
wired early in life, perhaps before the age of 6 months (Shore 1997).
Negative experiences such as maternal depression can also impact
on the infant. It has been demonstrated, while not true in all cases,
that maternal depression can adversely affect healthy brain develop-
ment, particularly affecting the area of the brain associated with emo-
tions. There are other risk factors such as alcohol and drug abuse that
can be seen to have a long-lasting effect on the developing child
and are now demonstrated to influence cognitive functioning in a
negative way.
The predictability of the physical environment, access to health
services, family stress and continuity of care are all now seen to
have not just an emotional but also a biological impact on the
young child. It is also important to note that researchers such as
Greenspan and Wider, 1997 cited in Shore 1997, believe that
interventions can mediate and compensate for negative early
experiences.
Research (see Shore 1997; Gopnik et al. 1999) also makes a link
between early brain development and stress and the development of
the endocrine and immune systems. This means that if a child is
exposed to continual stress and trauma when an infant, and the care-
givers are unable to mitigate this impact, the child will become over-
sensitized to stress and will be on constant guard, responding to
threats and stresses even when such threats are not great.
It is important to pause for a moment here and consider in more
detail what we mean by ‘stress’ in relation to very young infants.
When we are adults, stressful situations are those when we feel we
have lost control, or when we are doing something for the first time.
Often what is helpful is that there is some part of the experience that
we are familiar with, that we can build on for reassurance. For
instance, if we are taking an examination, previous experience of tests
and examinations will help us determine what strategies we need to
put in place to reduce stress.
From the perspective of a very young infant, the world is full of new
experiences. This is why the routines and connections established in
the early days between the infant and the caregiver are so important.
The smallest interactions, whether in response to crying and being
held, being fed or changed, or tone of voice, are potentially life-
changing events for an infant, especially if the quality of that inter-
action is harsh or uncaring, or undertaken by adults whose own lives
are disrupted and insecure.
Trauma and neglect will impact in other ways on the development
of the young child. For instance, a child’s ability to form secure
attachments will be influenced by the quality of the caregiving that
they have had themselves.
It is also the case that the security of the attachment experienced by
young children will affect their capacity to form relationships, to be
empathetic and to express emotions and control behaviour. Gunnar’s
research, reported in Shore (1997: 28), suggests that ‘babies who
receive sensitive and nurturing care in their first year of life are less
likely than other children to respond to minor stress’.
At the same time, under-stimulation, emotional neglect and social
deprivation will also impact on children. Researchers in the USA (see
Perry 1996) suggest that a combination of experiences may affect the
brain’s development. Stress or under-stimulation result in a lack of
development of higher brain functions related to abstract thinking
and behaviours; instead, lower brain functions associated with
immediate survival responses are over-developed. This can lead to
over-aggressive behaviours in response to ordinary occurrences, such
as when someone raises their voice.
What then is the role of play in early brain development? Crucially,
it would appear that play can actually shape and structure the brain,
as researchers who have investigated the role of play in supporting
synaptic development have found (see Jambor 2000).
Not all types of play do this; the function is most apparent in
imaginative play characterized by engagement and interest. This play
includes those fantasies and dramas that children initiate themselves
and then choose to pursue and elaborate. It has elements of repetition
and is fun. It activates and encourages neural pathways, and because
it is often replayed, it promotes memory skills.
In conclusion, the current debate regarding brain development has
highlighted the importance of the first three years of life. Nevertheless,
researchers (e.g. Meade 2003) are now exploring the perception that,
notwithstanding the importance of these first three years for chil-
dren’s development, later childhood and adulthood also provide
opportunities for learning and development. Consequently, inter-
ventions such as daycare and early years services can be seen to be of
benefit for children who have not necessarily had the best start.
The implications of this for those children and communities
affected by war, conflict and violence are serious. Given what may be
a crisis situation in early infancy, if children are to reach their full
potential they need opportunities for secure and stable relationships
with early caregivers in an environment that fosters the development
of close and responsive relationships and opportunities for self-
expression. Play can be a key way in which childhood can be restored.
The role of play in early childhood development
Play has been notoriously hard to define and research, and there are
numerous theories about its purpose and form. This section will begin
with a brief outline of the major theories of play. This will provide a
backdrop upon which to reflect on what happens when opportunities
to play are denied to young children whose lives have been disrupted
by conflict. The section will then trace the impact of conflict on play
as well as the role of play in restoring childhood.
The development of theories of play
Ancient children played and, in a haphazard way, authors mentioned it.

But no one wrote on play. Plato, who described how clumsy children
were called donkeys, did not think that his philosopher-kings had to
play.
(Cohen 1993: 19)
Cohen’s useful review of the academic literature on play notes the

substantial absence of significant reflection on the subject until the
nineteenth century, and recalls the words of Johan Huizinga, who in
his pioneering text Homo Ludens (1949) criticized earlier writers on
play: all their theories, he said, ‘have one thing in common; they all
start from the assumption that play must serve something that is
not play, that it must serve some kind of biological purpose’ (Cohen
1993: 19). According to Cohen, Huizinga goes on to assert that play
is at the heart of all human development and is the basis for the
development of human communities.
Huizinga’s history of play reveals that interpretations of play are

very much subject to their time. Trends in investigations into play
tend to reflect wider cultural, political and scientific concerns. For
instance, students of child development are familiar with the views of
the philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) who was perhaps
one of the first people to argue the merits and importance of play. His
views were very much a product of the Age of Enlightenment, and
reflected concerns about the beginnings of technological develop-
ment and investigation and man’s autonomy in relation to nature
and God.
In turn, Rousseau’s views influenced other early educational
thinkers such as Pestalozzi, Froebel, Montessori and others, all of
whom saw play as a means by which children investigate and come to
understand nature and the spiritual and material worlds, therefore
emphasizing the notion of play with purpose.
Overall, these theories can be seen to resonate with the wider cul-
tural and political themes of their times – and what this tells us is that
writers are influenced not only by what has gone before but also by
what is current. Hence, definitions of play, investigations into its
function and purpose, and discussion of detail (e.g. the role of adults
in guiding, shaping and extending play) have been and continue to
be a source of debate, reflecting the wider debates of the age.
What is play?
There is great difficulty in using the umbrella term ‘play’. The focus
needs to be refined so we can establish what is meant by this word.
Many things called ‘play’ by those of us working with children are
not so.
(Bruce 1997: i)
It is useful to be aware of the main arguments and theories of play, as

all of them have continuing influence on the way in which we con-
ceptualize play today. This section will outline some of the major
theories of play.
Theories of play can be said to fall into five main categories:
• play as a means of ridding the body of surplus energy or as an

evolutionary phase;
• play as a means to understand the social world;
• play as a means of developing cognitive skills including language;
• play as means to come to terms with emotional and inner states;
• formal taxonomies of play.
What distinguishes play from other forms of human activity are its
qualities of spontaneity and self-initiation. Across human cultures all
children, in normal circumstances, have an intrinsic desire to play.
The features of play include the symbolic use of objects, its pretend ‘as
if’ nature, the construction of rules, and the fact that play is more
often than not fun and risk-free, and does not have to have an end
purpose.
Play enables children to explore the customs and roles of their dir-
ect community, to reflect upon their inner selves and their emotions,
to encounter abstract thinking and to develop communication
skills. Play is also often said to provide a vehicle for children to create
meaning from their experiences (Bruce 1997).
We will now briefly review a range of theoretical perspectives on
play. We can see that biologists, psychologists, anthropologists, soci-
ologists and others have all attempted to define play from their
particular theoretical standpoint.
Early theories tended to concentrate on global evolutionary
explanations with a focus on the physical features of play. Later
theorists have, in the main, focused on the internal, emotional
functions of play. The cognitive role of play came to the fore in the
mid-twentieth century, and has been a key feature of later
approaches to play, influencing the development of services for
young children.
More recently, there has been a consolidation of play theory, pro-
viding an overall holistic framework for child development within a
social context. The significance of play within the developmental
context has been increasingly recognized. Today, from a develop-
mental perspective, we draw on a rich range of theories and ideas
from a variety of academic disciplines, enabling us to value play as a
vital way of being in early childhood.
Historical views of play
Herbert Spencer, in 1878, drew links between children’s play and that
of animals. He noted that play occurred because of excess energy. He
also drew parallels between play and art, viewing art as a product of
surplus energy after basic human needs had been met.
Spencer’s ideas can be traced to those of Schiller (1845), who also
saw play as a means for children to use up surplus energy. He sug-
gested that it was because children did not have to work to survive, as
adults did, that they therefore had amounts of energy that were not
used. Play was important for adults too as it was linked to creativity
and beauty. Other writers of the time thought that play in fact
restored and did not deplete energy. These theories were known as
‘recreation’ or ‘relaxation’ theories.
Another interesting theory from the turn of the twentieth century
was that of Hall (1908), who proposed that in play humans progress
through all the stages of evolutionary development, and children’s
play is the evidence of this. For instance, the animal stage of human
development is repeated in children’s desire to climb and swing.
Hall’s ‘recapitulation theory’ rests on the notion that play provides an
outlet for instinctive behaviours, and that play lessens instinctual
urges.
Groos (1901), in The Play of Man, saw play as a preparation for
adulthood, with children acting out and pretending to take on adult
roles. He also began to elaborate the role of play as a means by which
children develop consciousness. Later on Bruner (1983: 43 quoted in
Bruce 1997: 31) extended this definition by describing play as ‘pre-
paration for the technical and social life that constitutes human
culture’.
Similarly, Maria Montessori (1870–1952) placed importance on
children learning about reality. She viewed pretend play as primitive
and felt that children benefit from adult guidance to enable them to
explore the properties of the real world through specially constructed
play materials.
Behaviourist perspectives on play such as that of Skinner
(1938) conceptualize play as a learnt response to a set of stimuli – for
example, toys. Play was also seen as a set of problem-solving
behaviours, because of its complex and investigative features.
More recently Bateson (1972), considered play as a means of devel-
oping children’s communication skills. This theory is based on his
observations of the shared ‘scripts’ that children create as they play
together. Children will often talk about what a character will say and
do, and then go on, in character, to act this out. This ability to reflect
on communication, as Bateson observes, provides children with
‘metacommunication skills’ – that is, the ability to reflect upon and
consider the functions and forms of communication.
In 1962, Jean Piaget was one of the first to shift the focus on play
away from social and emotional development and towards cognitive
development. Piaget argued that play contributes to intellectual
development through the processes of ‘accommodation’ and ‘assimi-
lation’. Assimilation is the dominant mode in play, with children
achieving it through play by taking an idea and making it fit with
what they know and understand. With the emergence of symbolic
play and abstract thinking, evidenced through a child’s ability to
represent the world, we see the basis for the development of later
symbolic behaviours. The symbolic nature of play can be seen as a

necessary precursor for other symbolic behaviours such as writing or
formal dance.
The theories of Lev Vygotsky (1978) stress the mental representa-
tion of symbolic actions and objects as one of the key features of play.
He went as far as to say that play is the leading activity of childhood,
as it supports all aspects of a child’s development. The ability to men-
tally represent experience, as happens during play, leads to the ability
to think in abstract terms, one of the most important facets of human
behaviour.
Added to this, Vygotsky stressed the importance of social and cul-
tural factors in the development of play. He noted that make-believe
play is socially and culturally determined, and as children explore this
type of play they are deepening their understanding of the social life
and rules of their communities.
Many others have written about play, and as well as proposing
explanations of its function, attempts have been made to categorize
play in all its forms. For instance, Mildred Parten, writing in the
1930s, categorized play into the following types: children as
onlookers; solitary play as a child plays alone; parallel play, when
children play alongside but not with each other; and group play,
when children play together.
Corinne Hutt (1979) created a taxonomy of play – attempting
to categorize play into different types. According to Hutt, broadly
speaking, the three main categories of play are:
• epistemic play – within which children learn and explore the world
and its properties;
• ludic play – when children are using their imaginations but are not
learning;
• games with rules – structured activities.
The notion of some types of play being of higher value as more is

learnt is not an uncommon feature in theories of play. Many theorists
describe play when children are engaged in imaginative exploration
and creation as lacking in structure and depth. It could be argued that
this ascription of lack of value is more about the fact that researchers
find, or have found until recently, it very hard to follow, understand
and encapsulate children’s imaginative free play. Adults, by their very
presence, will affect children’s play and the introduction of film and
video as research tools has provided an additional dimension of
investigation into play.
More recently, Tina Bruce (1997) draws on chaos theory as a model
for play. When play is at its most fruitful, it is in ‘free-flow’, she argues.
What this means is that children are solving problems, and symbolic-
ally representing their experiences, in ways that are highly creative
and spontaneous and of high intellectual order. This requires space,
opportunity and safety.
Bruce also offers a critique of the way many other theorists place
value on structured play and games with rules, without full appreci-
ation of the value of free-flow play. For Bruce, (1997, 2001) free-flow
play:
• is an active process without a product;

• is intrinsically motivated;
• exerts no external pressure to conform to rules, pressures, goals,
tasks or definite directions;
• is about possible alternative worlds which involve ‘supposing’ and
‘as if’, involving being imaginative, original, innovative and
creative;
• is about participants wallowing in ideas, feelings and relationships,
involving reflecting on and becoming aware of what we know or
‘metacognition’;
• actively uses previous first-hand experiences, including struggle,
manipulation, exploration, discovery and practice;
• is sustained, and when in full flow, helps us to function in advance
of what we can actually do in our real lives;
• requires the use of technical prowess and competencies we have
previously developed, allowing us to be in control;
• can be initiated by a child or an adult;
• can be solitary;
• can be in partnership, or groups of adults and/or children, who will
be sensitive to each other;
• is an integrating mechanism, which brings together everything we
learn, know, feel and understand.
Play and healing
From these perspectives, play can be seen as integral to the process of

child development. But what role can it have where development has
been interrupted through war, conflict or violence? In this context it
is to the psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic theories of play that
we turn.
The theories of the founder of psychoanalytic theory and practice,
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), have been well documented. His view of
play was that it allows children to express negative emotions and to
reconcile inner anxieties within the unconscious. The notion of
‘catharsis’ is central to Freud’s theories of play. Catharsis is the

reconciliation of instinctive urges with the demands and rules of
society as internalized by the individual. Play offers an opportunity
for children to reach catharsis and so come to terms with traumatic
experiences and events by providing a safe way to express difficult
feelings. In this way children gain control over their feelings and are
able to deal with situations that are stressful or traumatic. Repetitive
play is a particularly important part of this process; playing out a
situation again and again can lead to resolution of a problem or
feeling.
These approaches focus on the internal and emotional worlds of
children, and can therefore be seen as particularly relevant when
working with children who have been affected by the disruption
and disorder of war and civil conflict. Nevertheless, according to
Cohen (1993: 150), this focus again works against play being seen
holistically, as play is not valued in itself but is seen as a means to an
end.
Within the psychoanalytic approach, Susan Isaacs (1926) is an
influential figure in child development. Her interest in Freudian
analysis stemmed from an early focus on biological psychology. Isaacs
trained as an analyst herself. She ran the Malting House School in
Cambridge from 1924 until 1927, working with children between the
ages of 2 and 8. She meticulously observed the children in her care
and captured her observations in her publications. She went on to
found the Department of Child Development at the Institute of
Education, University of London, and exercised enormous influence
on the development of thinking about early childhood in the UK.
Isaacs saw play as means of expressing the total personality but also
noted its healing properties as well as its cognitive potential: ‘For
Isaacs, play was “a bridge”, both in the child’s emotional development
and in his intellectual development’ (Cohen 1993: 152).
Anna Freud (1896–1982), the youngest daughter of Sigmund, pion-
eered the field of child analysis. Having previously run a nursery in
Vienna where children were encouraged to play, she moved at the
beginning of the Second World War to London, where she founded
the Hampstead War Nursery and further developed her theories. Anna
Freud’s theories were based upon the fact that play reveals the
unconscious mind.
Before Anna Freud’s arrival in London, Melanie Klein (1882–
1960) had been developing work on child analysis, and her inter-
pretation of the therapeutic process differed from Freud’s. Freud’s
arrival led to a split in the British psychoanalytic movement which
was resolved when Freud and Klein established separate training
courses.
Anna Freud and Melanie Klein both wrote about the therapeutic
nature of play and can be seen to be the leading influences in
the development of child psychotherapy. Klein developed Freud’s
work by stating that there is symbolic meaning in all aspects of play.
The main point in the work of both Freud and Klein is that play
reveals tensions but is also the means by which such tensions are
resolved.
The work of both Freud and Klein heralded the creation of the
child psychotherapy movement and associated play, creative and art
therapies. The play therapy movement, as described by Victoria
Axline in the classic book, Dibs: In Search of Self (1990), which looks in
detail at the therapeutic process, can be seen to derive more directly
from the work of Klein.
Winnicott (1971), a paediatrician who later became a psycho-
analyst, was a colleague of Klein. He interpreted play as the inter-
mediary experience between the child’s inner world and the outer
world. He stressed that play is a normal occupation of childhood
which offers a safe space within which inner tensions can be explored
in the outer world.
In Winnicott’s thinking, play therapy sees play as a healing experi-
ence, within which children can solve their problems and resolve
inner tensions, hence coming to terms with difficult or overwhelming
feelings. Importantly, he noted: ‘It is good to remember always that
playing is itself a therapy. To arrange for children to be able to play is
itself a psychotherapy that has immediate and universal application’
(1971: 50).
From the work of Freud, Klein and Winnicott the play therapy
movement has developed. The approach stresses the benefits of a
dedicated time and space for children to play within the emotional
structure created by the play therapist. Many of the concepts and
methods of play therapy are now in wide general use in early years
and school settings.
A number of stages exist in the therapeutic play process that it may
be helpful for early childhood practitioners to note. The stages are:
• sensory play – within this type of play, children use a tactile medium
such as clay to explore the world through their senses; they can
dribble or shape or smear according to their needs;
• projective play – is where children use toys and props to tell a story
that will indicate their inner concerns and fears;
• symbolic play – is where children negotiate roles and stories, clearly
indicating when the play is stopping and starting; children can
explore difficult feelings, traumas and experiences through this
type of play (Cattanach 1994).
The relationship between the therapist and the child is crucial – it

has to be based on an empathy that is not intrusive, and a real con-
nection with the child must be present. The child’s concerns must be
paramount and the therapist must allow space for the child to express
themselves.
Cross-cultural theories of play
Finally – and particularly in the context of work with refugee children

– it is important to consider whether children’s play is a universal
phenomenon.
The majority of theorists would argue that it is – all children in all
societies appear to engage in activities that would fulfil some of the
criteria of play, as described above. That is, children explore and pre-
tend as a way of engaging with the world. More importantly, play
everywhere is an ‘enculturing’ process – that is, a means through
which children learn about their cultures: ‘Play, a dominant activity
of children in all cultures, is viewed to be both a cause and an effect of
culture. Play is an expression of a particular culture; play is an import-
ant context or vehicle for cultural learning/transmission’ (Roopnarine
et al. 1994: 5).
However, children’s play differs in its details in different cultural
groups (Roopnarine et al. 1994). Researchers into play have attempted
to identify those aspects that are universal and those that may be
culturally specific. For instance, Haight et al. (1999) claim that the
universal dimensions of play include the way objects are used, and
pretend play. More culturally specific dimensions of play include
specific play themes, the extent to which children initiate play with
caregivers and the choice of play partners. Haight et al. carry on to
argue that these differences in play will lead to different develop-
mental pathways for children.
Another important factor when considering cross-cultural dimen-
sions of play is the importance that parents will attribute to the role of
play in child development. Hyun (1998) describes how families from
European and North American backgrounds tend to emphasize the
cognitive importance of play, with an individual perspective on play
that is very object- and toy-focused. Meanwhile, families from other
backgrounds (although all those researched by Hyun were at that time
living in the USA), tend to focus on the social dimensions of play.
Therefore, the interactions within play, and the emotional significance
of play, are of greater importance.
In Hyun’s study, families not originating from a North American
background may also see play and learning as very separate activities.
This is in contrast with prevailing northern European and North

American perspectives on play as a tool for learning.
Roopnarine et al. (1994) provide a further perspective on the cross-
cultural approach, arguing that increasing numbers of researchers are
now beginning to question the commonly understood develop-
mental theories of play, especially in terms of children’s play as a
means to come to explore self in relation to others, with the
individual at the centre of development. Instead, Roopnarine and
colleagues suggest that in some cultural contexts children are so
integrated within a family and community that they may come
to understand the family and its web of social relationships before
realizing self. What they then argue for in relation to early years
services is a sensitivity to and integration of features of the play of
children from diverse cultural groups into the early years setting
(such as play themes and stories). This they see as an enriching
experience for all.
Finally, as Bruce (2001: 15) notes, ‘Play looks different in different
cultural contexts’. Notable differences include:
• whether or not adults play with children and especially whether

they initiate play;
• the point at which children are expected not to play any more –
ages will vary across cultures;
• the giving of toys – in some cultures toys are seen as essential
props for successful play and so are seen as a central feature of
childhood;
• play in mixed age groups away from adults.
Conclusion
We have traced the conditions for optimal development for the child
and noted how war and conflict destroy the conditions for child
development and erode children’s rights, including the right to play.
The importance of the early years has been emphasized via a review
of research on early brain development, wherein the earliest relation-
ships help shape children’s responses and ability to interact with the
world.
So what do these multiple perspectives on play tell us about the role
and importance of play in children’s lives? We can draw the following
conclusions.
First, play is a universal feature of child development and happens
in all communities which enjoy safety and security, although
attitudes to play and its details will vary.
Second, play is both the way that children express themselves and
the means through which they resolve issues. Moreover, play is a
means by which children learn and hypothesize about the world.
Cultural, social, emotional, cognitive and other areas of develop-
mental progress cannot be disentangled in this process.
We will focus in greater detail on how lessons from play theorists
can inform the ways that early childhood practitioners can support
young asylum-seeking and refugee children later in the book.
2
BEING A REFUGEE: THE LOSS

OF PLAY
I was happy in my country, but then the war started and I saw lots of
people die.
7-year-old Afghani boy (Save the Children and
the Refugee Council 2001)
Refugees and asylum-seekers may arrive in the UK or elsewhere

traumatized and disorientated, separated from family, forced by per-
secution to leave their countries and communities. What is the story
behind these images of loss and desperation?
Who is a refugee?
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

(UNHCR) there are just over 20 million refugees and people of
concern to UNHCR in the world (United Nations High Commis-
sioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 2004). At least 45 per cent – or more than
9 million – are children under the age of 18.
Techniques of modern warfare mean that civilians are increasingly
likely to be the victims of war and civil conflict. It is interesting to
note that in the First World War only about 5 per cent of all casual-
ties were civilians. Changes in the capacity and scope of modern
weapons now mean that one person can potentially kill many
others.
For instance, an automatic rifle such as a Kalashnikov can fire many
rounds per minute. This, coupled with the fact that terrorizing whole
populations is now seen as a legitimate form of war, means that in
today’s conflicts almost 90 per cent of casualties are civilians (UNICEF
Being a refugee: the loss of play 25
1996). Genocide, human rights abuses and gender-based violence are

all common features of contemporary conflicts.
Children are not spared. It is estimated that 500,000 under-five-

year-olds died as a result of armed conflicts in 1992 alone. In
Chechnya, between February and May 1995, children made up
an appalling 40 per cent of all civilian casualties; Red Cross
workers found that children’s bodies bore marks of having been
systematically executed with a bullet through the temple. In
Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina, almost one child in four
has been wounded.
(UNICEF 1996)
Children can also be particular victims of the technological devel-

opment of modern weaponry. Landmines now pose a great threat to
children in areas of war and civil conflict around the world. According
to Amnesty International United Kingdom (1999: 22):
Millions of the ‘anti-personnel’ landmines lying unexploded

in Cambodia, Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia, Vietnam, Somalia,
Iraq and elsewhere, were spread on or near roads, tracks and
footpaths – usually in the countryside. Millions of others were
dropped from the air as ‘cluster bombs’, covering huge areas
of land with tiny explosives waiting to be detonated by
anyone passing by – soldier or civilian, adult or child. . . .
Children are especially susceptible, and the tasks given to chil-
dren – gathering firewood, tending animal herds or collecting
water – make it more likely they will disturb unexploded mines.
Some mines are small, the size of a small ball, and are brightly
coloured. They are therefore very attractive to children and bound to
arouse their curiosity. The makers of these weapons and the armed
forces that employ them are well aware of the nature of their impact
and their fatal attraction for children. What commitment is this to
the rights of children?
Once war or civil conflict erupt, most refugees will only take flight as
far as another part of their own country. Only a small number of those
who become refugees reach Europe, and even fewer arrive in the UK.
The term ‘refugee’ has a specific legal definition. Under the 1951
United Nations Convention on Refugees a refugee is someone who has
had to leave his or her country ‘owing to a well-founded fear of being
persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a
particular social group or political opinion’.
An ‘asylum-seeker’ is a person who has crossed an international
border and is seeking safety or protection in another country. In the

UK, asylum-seekers are those who have claimed asylum and are
waiting a decision by the Home Office, the responsible department of
the UK government, as to whether they can remain in the UK or not
and be recognised as refugees.
There is a popular view that the UK takes more that its ‘fair share’ of
refugees. Numerical evidence compiled by the voluntary agency
working with refugees and asylum-seekers (the Refugee Council 2002)
refutes such claims. The Refugee Council argues that ‘If you consider
global refugee and asylum seeking populations in relation to the host
country’s size, population and wealth, the UK ranks 32nd. Taking the
greatest burden are Iran, Burundi and Guinea’. Even in Europe, the
UK was ranked just eighth in terms of numbers of asylum applications
calculated in relation to the overall population in 2002.
As must be obvious on reflection, most of the world’s refugees will
in fact seek safety in the nearest secure place, which is often another
part of their own country or a neighbouring country. This means
that some of the world’s poorest countries are having to cope with the
largest number of refugees.
Applications in the UK are received from people from areas of con-
flict and instability around the world. Most recently, according to the
Home Office (2003), the highest number of applications was received
from Iraq and then Somalia, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan.
Applications are assessed by the Integrated Casework Unit at the
Home Office Immigration and Nationality Directorate. Applicants
have to demonstrate that they meet the stipulations of the 1951
Convention as described above.
Why do people flee?
Imagine yourself in this situation. You are a mother of four children,

11, 7, 5 and 2 years of age. You live in an area of the world that has
experienced increased political instability over the past few years.
Civil unrest has recently erupted. Soldiers are now approaching your
village and you know that you must gather your children and a few
possessions and leave the village in the next hour. You will have to
walk into the mountains and so cannot carry very much. What do
you feel? What do you tell your children? What few items do you
decide to take with you?
Even a few moments contemplating a situation like this enables us
to begin to imagine a small fraction of the horror of being forced out
of one’s home because of circumstances beyond one’s control. When
considering the fraught circumstances facing many asylum-seekers
on arrival in the UK, it is important to be able to step back and take

note of why people seek refuge in the first place.
Case study
Mrs X and her three young children left her country after being subject to
imprisonment and torture because of Mr and Mrs X’s political activities.
Mr X was arrested, tortured and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment
for his peaceful activities against the military regime. The security organ-
izations are empowered to arrest without charge and to imprison without
trial. After three years of imprisonment, Mr X managed to escape and
went into hiding.
Mr X went to prison at a time when Mrs X was pregnant. She too was
routinely arrested and tortured both physically and mentally. When she
was 8 months pregnant, her torture was to stand on her feet for up to
12 hours a day for a number of days at a time. The result of this was that
she developed severe problems in the blood vessels in her legs as well as
anaemia. Due to her health problems she had to have a caesarean section
without anaesthetic.
Mrs X and her three children tried to seek refuge in Syria where they
spent 11 months. Mrs X became ill but the hospital refused to treat her
without a passport. The authorities also threatened to take her children
away.
Eventually they moved on to the Ukraine where the family were detained
again for four days and then sent back to Syria. Some friends of Mrs X’s
husband managed to get a new (false) passport issued to the family and
they returned to the Ukraine. Once again they were unwelcome, so
they finally moved to the UK. They had spent one year and three months
travelling by the time they arrived. Mrs X’s husband is still in hiding.
The effect of the war on the children has been extreme. The eldest son
dreams regularly about guns and violence and still sleepwalks, some two
years after arrival in the UK. He was referred to a psychiatrist and has also
received treatment from a specialist agency working with survivors of
torture. The second child also has bad memories and has had a series of
behavioural problems at school. The youngest child does not remember a
great deal but misses her father. All three children miss their father and
have been through periods of blaming their mother for the separation.
The family lived for two years in one room in a large dirty hotel where
they experienced a multitude of problems, ranging from mould on the
walls (exacerbating asthma in the eldest child), to a broken window (not
fixed for six months) to the general overcrowding of sharing a bathroom
and kitchen with several other families, with no space for the children
to play.
This case study, one of several compiled by the Salusbury World

refugee project, based at a school in North London, is not unusual in
any way. Torture and harassment are carried out in a routine and psy-
chologically damaging way in many parts of the world. Although the
physical experiences can be extreme, survivors of torture also talk
about its inevitability, the way it breaks the spirit and the overwhelm-
ing feelings of helplessness that come to dominate one’s existence. The
impact of parental torture on children, while secondary, is still
immense. Parents who have been physically and spiritually broken
through the experiences of torture may not be able to respond to the
need for intimacy and love that children rightly express. Children may
become psychologically the strongest members of the family and in so
doing forego their childhoods. It is therefore vitally important that
children are able to enjoy the safety and security of an environment
that will enable them to be children and have opportunities to play.
How many people?
The Refugee Council again notes that people in Britain tend to vastly
overestimate the numbers of asylum-seekers and refugees in the UK.
According to research conducted by the Refugee Council, on average
people think that about a quarter (23 per cent) of the world’s refugees
and asylum-seekers are in the UK. The reality is that the UK has less
than 2 per cent of the world’s refugee population.
The Refugee Council goes on to state:
When comparing the numbers of asylum-seekers granted pro-

tection in the UK with those in Canada, the UK emerges as far
from being a ‘soft touch’. In 2001, Canada granted protection to
97 per cent of Afghan asylum applicants, where the UK granted
only 19 per cent. Somali applicants had a 92 per cent success
rate in Canada, where in the UK it was only 34 per cent.
85 per cent of Colombian applicants in Canada were granted
protection, against a mere 3 per cent in the UK.
(Refugee Council 2002)
In the first few months of 2003, 16,000 applications were received

for asylum in the UK. This figure is about a third lower than the
equivalent period in 2002. It is worth noting that throughout the
whole of 2002, there were 85,865 applications for asylum in the UK.
As an individual applies on behalf of dependants this means that
applications were received from approximately 110,700 individuals,
according to Home Office figures (2003).
What happens once an application is made?
There can be one of three outcomes. The first is that the application
is rejected. The second is that temporary agreement is given for an
individual to remain in the country. The third is that an individual is
granted full refugee status.
When temporary leave is given, after a fixed time the government
will then review the political situation in the country of origin and
may decide that it is safe to return. The right to temporary admission
to the UK was called exceptional leave to remain (ELR), and was often
granted for four years, after which an application for indefinite leave
to remain could be made (ILR).
More recently, the government has been issuing a temporary pro-
tection order of 12 months with no prospect of renewal. And the
system has now changed further, with the Home Office no longer
granting ELR, but instead granting either ‘humanitarian protection’
or ‘discretionary leave’.
Humanitarian protection is given when the government recognizes
that there is a real risk of ‘death, torture, or other inhuman or degrad-
ing treatment, which falls outside the strict terms of the 1951 Refugee
Convention’ (Refugee Council 2002). When granted humanitarian
protection, three years’ temporary leave is given, allowing the appli-
cant access to employment in the same way that someone granted full
refugee status is able to work. Entitlement to welfare support is also
granted. After three years the application will be reviewed, and if the
Home Office feels that protection is no longer needed then arrange-
ments will be made for the applicant to return to their country of
origin.
Discretionary leave may be granted when someone making an
application is not recognized as being in need of refugee status or
humanitarian protection, but it is considered that their removal may
cause the worsening of health conditions or may contravene their
human rights. It can be granted for any period up to three years.
Discretionary leave is granted in some cases for young people under
the age of 18. If an applicant is granted discretionary leave this also
entitles them to work or to claim welfare benefits and to access other
public services.
As can be seen from the description of the various options given
here, the rights of children are not fully taken into account in UK
asylum legislation. The implications of the current situation are pro-
found. For instance, as humanitarian protection or discretionary
leave to remain in the UK is temporary, parents and caregivers will be
in a constant state of worry about what will happen next. That worry
will be communicated to their children.
Three years is a large proportion of the life of a young child – but

because permission to stay is temporary, children may not be
included fully in early years settings, for example, or within com-
munities more generally, and therefore may not experience the usual
opportunities to play and become part of a community.
The provisions available under UK law are basically about meeting
the survival needs of refugees only, and do not address the broader
needs – and rights – of all children, to develop their learning and play.
On the other hand, if the refugee child has been able to experience
relationships and play opportunities, and the re-establishment of
trust and security which those will assist in fostering, then the
removal of these opportunities from a child is potentially very
harmful.
Discretionary leave to remain in the UK may place even more pres-
sures upon a family, as it may well be granted for shorter periods of
time.
In 2002, 12 per cent of all initial applications resulted in the grant-
ing of full refugee status. In addition, 29 per cent of applicants were
given exceptional leave to remain (ELR), meaning that 41 per cent of
all applications were successful. In addition, 21 per cent of all appeals
were successful. These figures run counter to the public perception,
fostered by the media, that all applications are unjustified or ‘bogus’,
and that great numbers of people are making false claims. In fact it is
clear that many of those applying for asylum are being successfully
recognized as refugees with well-founded claims. And again, bearing
in mind the extreme situations that many families and children will
have experienced, the burden of having to prove that they have a
well-founded fear of persecution in order to justify their asylum
claims will create a lot of stress and tension in a family.
Where applications are refused, this can be for many reasons. One
of the most common is the incorrect completion of paperwork. As
applying for refugee status is complex it is not surprising that people
who often will not be able to understand or read English, even when
working with a translator and solicitor, are not always able to fill in all
forms correctly.
The current situation
There is current controversy over the implementation of Home Office

plans to consider applications for asylum only from those people who
make their application at the place or port of entry into the UK.
In the past, people would often arrive in the UK and make an appli-
cation either on arrival or after having been in the country for a few
days, when they might have been enquiring about the details of what
they needed to do and where they needed to go in order to make their
claim. Now, the government has decided it will provide no resources
at all for the support of those who apply for asylum after they have
entered the country.
This move has led a large number of agencies to voice concern
about the plight of those denied all forms of support. The Refugee
Council has reported the impact of this ruling as resulting in
hundreds of people being forced to sleep rough, in parks or on the
streets, hungry and homeless. Indeed there have been reports of men
and women forced to sleep outside the offices of the Refugee Council
in South London, waiting for Church and other groups to bring food
in vans, unable to access toilet facilities, with no means of keeping
warm or clean. At the time of writing this latest asylum ruling by the
government is still being disputed in the courts.
It is important to note that a family with children under the age of
18 should always be offered support by the government’s National
Asylum Support Service (NASS).
Those who make an application on arrival become the responsibil-
ity of the NASS, which will provide accommodation and support for
those awaiting the outcome of their application. As readers may be
aware from television or other news reports, asylum applicants are
dispersed around the country. The initial reason for this was to
remove pressure on local authorities in London and the South East.
In the past, when new arrivals came to the UK they would normally
try to find relatives or friends and stay with them while their claims
were processed. This meant that refugee communities would emerge
in particular areas in many of the large cities in the UK. For instance,
there is a thriving Somali community in South Wales and a Kurdish
community in North London. New arrivals would find community
organizations and informal support systems in place, and applicants
would find a temporary place of safety within the community.
Children would be able to join with other children from the wider
community and perhaps gain access to play and early years provision.
However, some local authorities felt that they were being dis-
proportionately penalised by having to provide housing and other
welfare services in such areas. Therefore, in 1998 the government
introduced the Asylum and Immigration Act. A new policy of
dispersal was introduced which has resulted in new arrivals being
dispersed to accommodation around the country. This accommoda-
tion is privately-owned or run by voluntary organizations or housing
associations.
When this step was first introduced it provoked further distress
among asylum-seekers who had already experienced hardship. For
instance, families would be dispersed to areas without a history of

good community relations, to live in housing that was not always of a
high standard. Families would be very isolated in communities where
there might be only a very few people from their country of origin. It
proved hard for them to find familiar food or food that was required
for religious reasons such as halal meat, and places of worship
were not always close by. In addition, local host communities were
sometimes hostile.
Many local authorities and community groups have worked hard to
put into place good support systems. However, some families still face
isolation and harassment, with reports of children being attacked,
and graffiti and other forms of abuse routinely directed at asylum-
seekers. The conditions in some temporary accommodation can also
be difficult for families, as the following examples reveal.
For instance, one family were living in a hostel for almost two years,
waiting for the results of their application. The parents and three girls
were sharing one room that contained a very small gas hob, a sink and
a shower. Beds had to be put up each night and taken down during
the day. There was no space for the children to play.
The parents were often concerned about letting the girls use the
toilet as it was outside the room and shared by all the other occupants
of the corridor, was rarely cleaned and often did not work. A number
of other people in the hostel had alcohol or drug problems and the
parents were very concerned about the welfare of their children.
Another child graphically described her temporary hotel home:
I don’t like living in the hotel because it smells. When we come

in and it’s raining outside there is nowhere to put our wet
clothes. There is nowhere for me to do my homework, so I do it
on the bed. It’s noisy because my little brothers and sisters are
playing.
It’s small and difficult to sleep because we all sleep in the same
room. There are people shouting at night. We can’t have people
to visit so my friends can’t come and play. The toilet is in the
bathroom and it smells. Lots of people use the kitchen and it’s
too small and it’s difficult to do the cooking for our family.
We have to keep the rubbish bin in our bedroom. It smells
and my brother keeps bumping into it. We can’t hear the TV
because it is too noisy outside.
(Salusbury World and Save the Children 2004: 121)
In addition, a number of centres exist around the country where

some applicants are detained while their applications are processed,
making it easy for them to be removed if their applications fail. Those
detained have often come from countries the Home Office deems not
to be dangerous – so that any applications for asylum from indi-
viduals from such countries are immediately thought not to be
warranted.
Children and families are also held in these centres, and in
Dungavel, Lanarkshire in Scotland, campaigners have been arguing
for children held at the centre to be allowed to have access to educa-
tion in local schools. According to a report in the Guardian news-
papers (15 August 2003), ‘The Ay family, with four children aged eight
to 14, were held at Dungavel for more than a year before being
deported to Germany last week. Beriwan Ay, 14, had spoken of the
children’s distress at being kept in Dungavel, unable to play freely and
denied access to a proper education’. Dungavel, the report went on,
was the only immigration detention centre in Britain regularly to
hold children for long periods: ‘The welfare and development of chil-
dren is likely to be compromised by detention, however humane the
provisions, and that will increase the longer detention is maintained’.
Anne Owers, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, believed that indepen-
dent assessors should be brought in to decide if conditions were
suitable for children to be detained.
There were 18 youngsters at the privately run centre at the time of
Owers’ inspection. Families were locked into the 62-bed family unit
and had to ask to be let out to visit the centre’s shop, while there was
limited access to outdoor play areas for children.
Cole (2003), in research into the detention of asylum-seeking fam-
ilies in the UK, records the impact of detention on families in greater
detail. According to Cole’s study, arrest or removal from home
impacted seriously on young children. In one example, a mother
described how eight police officers came to the house at half past six in
the morning. While being transported from Manchester to Gatwick,
her 2-year-old son needed to use the toilet. The police refused to stop.
Security staff were also described as behaving forcefully: ‘They put
handcuffs on my hands . . . my children crying on the floor [beside
me]’, one mother reported (Cole 2003: 46).
Cole also describes how ‘people explained how settled they had
become in this country. Two families explained that their children’s
first language was now English, with one father extremely concerned
that his children were facing removal to a country they had never
known’ (p. 25). Some families had been in the UK for up to six years,
and were being uprooted from communities and friendships.
Cole also goes on to note that detention is experienced as a particu-
lar blow to families who have had a difficult journey to the UK – only
then to have their claims rejected. As one mother says: ‘[My children
were] just four and a half years and one year old when we left. All
together in a lorry. Take medication for sleeping because is maybe cry,

my children. Yes it was very difficult . . . I stay in detention centre my
whole life [rather than go back]’ (p. 31).
The impact on children is also noted, as one mother says of her
18-month-old daughter and another child: ‘[My daughter] . . . It’s not
good to put kids in detention. Sometimes she’ll be playing, and she
just starts crying. She scared about the police . . . A little eight year old,
he said [to staff in Harmondsworth] “Going to take the gun, and kill
you, and leave here with my mum”. He said “I miss my dad” ’ (p. 36).
Cole also notes the lack of play and educational facilities in some of
the centres. For instance, in one centre, not specifically designed for
families, children were only allowed to play outside for between
20 minutes and an hour a day. And an older girl notes how her 5-year-
old brother was not able to bring any toys to the centre, and how he
really missed them.
Save the Children and other children’s organizations have been
campaigning to ensure that the rights of asylum-seeking children are
effectively recognized. Drawing on the terms of the UNCRC – United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – they are putting the
argument that as children first and foremost, asylum-seeking children
should not be made to suffer the consequences of changes in asylum
legislation. Children’s rights under the UNCRC, to play and to educa-
tion, are being denied despite the fact that the UK government is a
signatory to the Convention and therefore has a duty under inter-
national law to act to ensure that the rights of all children are upheld.
Children as asylum-seekers and refugees
Children may well have lost parents and been subject to, or witnesses
of, violence. Children may also have been displaced, spent time in
hiding and have been subject to shelling and attack.
Journeys to safety can also have been perilous. Families may have
had to walk long distances with their belongings without much food
or water before finding a place of safety. Refugee camps, although
providing some safety and security, can also be dangerous places. The
risk of sexual violence can be high, and women and girls can fall
victim to armed gangs who control access to resources.
Journeys to countries such as the UK are often dangerous and are
undertaken through illegal means. This is because it is virtually
impossible to gain visas or papers to travel legally when a country is at
war or experiencing civil conflict. Therefore, using forged passports
and payments of large amounts of money to traffickers are often the
only route to safety for some people.
This can be extremely dangerous for all involved. While these

experiences can be terrifying for adults they also take their toll on
children. Some children may have been required to stay quiet and still
for long periods – others may even have been given medication to
quieten them.
Teachers and other carers in early years settings may come across
children playing out similar experiences to those described above.
The temptation may by to stop children from doing this. However, it
is by playing out these scenarios that children transform their experi-
ences into manageable situations. As individuals they regain a sense
of control and agency and can again be assertive and proactive in
their lives.
Issues facing asylum-seeking and

refugee communities
Refugee communities are diverse. Within one national group,

asylum-seekers and refugees may come from a wide range of class,
religious, political, educational and ethnic backgrounds.
Some families will have suffered traumatic experiences in their
home countries. For a small number of children and adults, this may
affect their ability to cope and rebuild their lives. Parents may be
emotionally absent and unable therefore to give their children the
attention they need – for instance by supporting and encouraging
play.
At the same time there may be negative social reactions to the pres-
ence of refugees in their new homes. The terms ‘beggars’, ‘scroungers’
and ‘bogus’ are all too familiar in some parts of the UK media, when
referring to asylum-seekers in particular. This negative press coverage
has an impact on children and families, with evidence of even very
young children being abusive to refugee and asylum-seeking peers.
In addition, refugee families are likely to have suffered a drop in
their standard of living, as well as other major changes in their lives
which can contribute to psychological vulnerability. The experience
of exile can also mean that many refugee women have lost their
support networks of extended family and friends. This is particularly
an issue for mothers of young children who may feel extremely iso-
lated. In some refugee groups it is not uncommon to find that a dis-
proportionate number of households are headed by women. There
are many lone mothers in the Somali community, for instance,
because so many men have been killed in the fighting. This again has
an impact on children, as the emotional impact of living in exile and
in isolation, with a lone parent, may well be very difficult to deal
with. And for the parent, given the weight of dealing with the needs
of the family single-handedly, it may again be hard to respond
appropriately to children’s emotional needs and requirements
for play.
A recent report produced by the agency Refugee Action, Is it Safe
Here? (2003), highlights the experiences of women refugees in the UK.
According to the report women represent about a third of all applica-
tions for asylum to the UK, however women find themselves quickly
isolated and often facing abuse, and have an enormous struggle
integrating.
One refugee group estimates that half of the women they have had
contact with have been raped or sexually assaulted before reaching
the UK. In addition, many of these women, some of whom were now
experiencing medical and psychological distress, were not aware of
the services in this country that could support them.
However, once in the UK, women also face a catalogue of prejudice
and harassment. Many women said they were too afraid to go out and
had experienced verbal or physical abuse on the streets. One woman
said a neighbour had flicked lit cigarettes at her children, while local
youths regularly threw stones at her windows.
Another issue is that some women will have had to leave their
children in the care of relatives in order to flee to a place of safety. This
clearly causes particular stress to a woman and is estimated to be the
experience of about 40 per cent of single women refugees in the UK.
Other women face a different experience, where they are caring for
children without the support of their partners. In addition, fewer
than one in five of those interviewed described their English as good.
While almost all the women said they wanted to improve their
English, half said they could not attend classes because of a lack of
childcare.
It is important to be aware of the educational and care services that
asylum-seeking and refugee children have a right to use. They are
entitled to access educational services during the ages of statutory
schooling (5–16), and can also use pre-school services. Children whose
parents are supported under the NASS arrangements are also entitled
to free school meals.
Access to early years provision and play
Despite this entitlement, it remains the case for early years provision
that asylum-seeking and refugee children are often under-represented
in such services. This is also true in a range of other play and leisure
activities such as after school and sports activities.
This can be for a variety of reasons. Parents and carers are often
unfamiliar with the services that are available for young children; this
sort of provision would not have been available in their countries of
origin, where extended family members would normally care for the
youngest children and formal schooling starts at age 6 or 7. In addi-
tion, in the UK, many different types of early years service exist; for
instance, playgroups, parent and child drop-ins, crèches, nursery
schools and children’s centres to name but a few. This in itself can be
confusing for parents, particularly where many services are publicized
through word of mouth, or via leaflets in English. It is hard for parents
who do not speak English to find out about services as they are not
part of local networks.
Waiting lists can be many months long and newly-arrived parents
have no opportunity to access such lists. For these reasons and a range
of others, including even the small charges that some groups make,
very young children from asylum-seeking and refugee families will
not always be present in early years groups, despite living in the area,
and being in particular need of the service and the play opportunities
on offer.
Research has demonstrated the interest in childcare and early
childhood services that exists in refugee communities (Rutter and
Hyder 1998). This is because refugee families are strongly motivated
to ensure that their children receive the best possible provision and
make the best possible start. However, it is important to be aware of
the diversity of views in relation to play. In many communities and
cultures play is taken for granted as something children engage in
without adult interference. Children are often in multi-age groups of
siblings and extended family, where older children act as play guides
to the younger ones. The case for play does not have to be made; it
goes on regardless.
Within predominantly urban communities such as those in the
UK, where families are more isolated and children are not always
exposed to wider age groups, opportunities for play have become
more formalized. It is very important that the value of play is con-
veyed to parents, and especially to asylum-seeker and refugee parents
whose children may benefit in particular from the healing experience
of play.
Research conducted by the Refugee Council and Save the Children
with refugee families, focusing on early years practice and policy
(Rutter and Hyder 1998) highlighted the following issues.
Asylum-seeking and refugee families often have multiple issues to
contend with. These can include poverty, family separation, difficult
legal applications, isolation and psychological trauma. In addition,
family members may have particular health requirements due to
conflict in the country of origin or medical conditions exacerbated by

journeys to safety.
Unfortunately, racism is also a particularly common occurrence. As
one Kurdish mother noted: ‘Around here the people were against us
when we first came. They broke our windows and the police came’.
At the time the research was conducted, the need for childcare and
early years provision was not being met, as a survey of a number of
local authorities with sizeable refugee populations revealed.
Refugee families will, on average, have a greater number of young
children under the age of 5 than the population as a whole. Many
adults in the refugee community are in, or would like to access, educa-
tion and training. Therefore early years services are vitally important.
At the same time, early years services offer an opportunity to create a
dialogue with parents to discuss their views on play, development
and learning.
As a first step to breaking down the isolation many women experi-
ence, the provision of childcare to enable them to attend English
language classes is essential. However, the research revealed that dif-
ferent local authority departments did not always work together to
identify refugee communities, and childcare places were not always
available.
However, government initiatives such as Sure Start, and the local
authority-based Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships,
have been required to identify particular minority communities such
as refugees and asylum-seekers in their planning exercises. Research is
still required to ascertain whether such initiatives are effectively
reaching refugee and asylum-seeking communities.
Earlier research from the Daycare Trust in 1995 revealed a similar
picture. Research into daycare needs was carried out by and about
members of the refugee communities from the Horn of Africa (Somalia,
Ethiopia and Eritrea), and results comparable to those in the later
study were produced.
However, this research also drew attention to the fact that many
refugee mothers felt uncomfortable leaving very young children in
the care of those who were not part of their own community. Carers
were concerned that differences in childrearing practices – for
instance, whether a child is left to cry or not, feeding and toileting –
would be too great. There was also some concern expressed about the
focus on play, apparently at the expense of more formal approaches to
learning.
What this points to is the need for the recruitment and training of
women from a range of refugee communities to provide childcare to
meet the demands from others in the community, and to be a bridge
between newer members of the community and early years services.
This issue also linked to concerns that many parents expressed about
the need for children to retain a sense of identity. Unlike other
migrants, many refugees hope to return one day to their country of
origin. It can be extremely distressing for parents when children who
are brought up in a country of refuge start to acquire the values and
customs of their new home.
From a child’s perspective this is perhaps inevitable, and many
children successfully manage complex identities and acquire what
they feel is positive from each community. For many parents though
the gap between family and cultural practices in the country of origin
and youth culture in the UK is too great, and becomes yet another
loss in the catalogue of losses that can make up the experience of
exile.
Another gap in expectations relates to the experience and values of
school in the UK. In many communities teachers generate huge
respect within a community, parents have little contact with school
and education itself is a formal and serious exercise. The contrast with
the apparently informal nature of schools within the UK is difficult
for some parents to come to terms with. Expectations about
behaviour, homework, child-centred curricula and the home–school
relationship can cause tensions.
Parents also pointed out that other differences between their cus-
tomary childcare practices and those common in the UK made them
feel uncomfortable. For instance, it is common practice in many parts
of the world for younger children to be left in the care of an older
sibling. However, in the UK this is not common practice, and parents
were concerned that they might be accused of abuse or neglect.
Different expectations of children and views of childhood were also
noted by some refugee parents as potential causes of tension. As one
mother said: ‘At home, an eight-year-old could cook a meal. Now they
can’t do anything. They just watch television all day’.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this chapter has set out the international and national
legal frameworks relating to claiming refugee status. It has also looked
at some of the experiences facing children and families caught in the
process of claiming refuge in the UK.
The limitations on children’s rights to play and education caused
by the asylum process have also been explored. The potential clash of
values and expectations of asylum-seeking and refugee parents with
early years and developmental theory as practiced in the UK has also
been considered.
The chapter has set out the case for play in even stronger terms, as a
means through which children can overcome some of the losses they
may have experienced during the upheaval of seeking asylum. Over-
all, this chapter has considered the extensive changes that families
may have experienced in their journeys to safety and illustrated that
those changes do not stop once a place of safety has been reached.
3
THE IMPACT OF WAR,

CONFLICT AND VIOLENCE ON
YOUNG CHILDREN: THE
CONSEQUENCES FOR PLAY
The term ‘war’ derives from the German noun ‘werra’ meaning
‘confusion’ or ‘strife’. It is an apt root that provides the world with a
picture of what war can do to individuals.
(Elbedour et al. 1993: 805)
. . . up until the mid 20th century, little attention was paid to women or
children in the literature of war at all.
(Elbedour et al. 1993: 806)
This chapter will consider a range of research findings, mainly

drawing on evidence from conflict zones worldwide, about the ways
conflict and war impact on the development and play of young
children.
Refugee children’s experiences will vary: some will have directly
witnessed violence towards themselves or members of their family,
while others will have fled a potentially volatile or violent political
environment. Children may have seen the death or torture of family
members, and may even have been subject to attack themselves.
Many may have lived under siege, in hiding, perhaps living in
basements as their homes and villages were shelled and attacked.
They may have experienced the loss of members of their families
and perhaps have witnessed or even participated in violent acts
themselves.
Family life and school or early years and play routines will have
been disrupted. The threat or real experience of violence will have had
a severe impact on the child. Asylum-seeking and refugee children
may well have experienced loss, trauma and change to an extreme
degree.
What happens to children?

We will now turn to the evidence from research about the impact of
war and violence on the child.
From the outset, it is important to bear in mind that much of the
literature comes from North American or European based researchers.
What this may mean is that assumptions are made about children and
those factors and conditions that constitute a normal childhood.
Many communities and cultures have very different ways of under-
standing health, well-being and childhood (Boyden and Mann 2000)
and will have specific ways of dealing with adversity and stress that
might focus on the group or community rather than the individual
child.
There are also cultural perspectives evident in the way that events
and responses are interpreted (UNICEF 1993). For instance, dreams in
many cultures and communities are profound and important events,
while for others in different parts of the world dreams are minimal,
incidental events (Bracken 1998). The point is that it is the meaning
that we ascribe to events that gives them power and force, and
meaning differs from community to community. Therefore,
when considering the literature on the impact of conflict and vio-
lence on children it is important to think about whether all the
findings are applicable to all children in all situations. This is not to
minimize the terrible experiences that children have in situations
of war and conflict, but it is to say that there are different responses
and meanings ascribed to the events themselves and also to any
interventions:
Every culture has its own unique explanations for, understand-

ings of and expectations of life experiences, including traumatic
experiences. What causes stress in one tradition may not cause
the same stress in another. Cultural explanations influence how
causes of distress are understood, the ways in which events and
personal reactions to such events are described, the symptoms
and behaviours adopted to respond to stress, as well as preferred
treatments.
(UNICEF 1993: 173)
It can be argued that the restoration of opportunities to play in an

early years setting, while remaining potentially healing for the indi-
vidual child, is a community-based response to violence and conflict
that removes attention away from the individual needs of the child
and towards a reconnection with community that is healing for the
whole family.
The impact of war on young children 43
The secondary impact of war, conflict and violence on

the infant and young child
The evidence about the impact of war, conflict and violence on young
children is varied and there appears to be no clear consensus. It is
important to note that individual experiences and interpretations of
events will be context-specific but that some responses may be
common.
Work by Cassie Landers (1998) for the children’s rights organisation
UNICEF, provides a useful overview of this topic. Landers identified
three main areas of impact when considering the effect of violence on
children. These are:
• behavioural manifestations;
• clinical manifestations;
• spiritual and psychological impact.
According to Landers, behavioural manifestations derive from the

sensory overload resulting from the chaos of conflict coupled with the
fast pace of developmental progression. As she notes, ‘a young child’s
mechanisms for coping with exposure to violence may interfere with
the child’s primary developmental task – learning’ (1998: 9). She goes
on to draw on evidence to identify the different ways that children of
varying ages may respond to violence.
Clinical and spiritual manifestations vary according to age. Chil-
dren from birth to 3 may respond to the cues given by the adults
around them in an environment dominated by violence by becoming
extremely watchful and over-attentive. Children’s need to know what
is going on around them may detract from their focus on exploration
of their immediate environments and from taking pleasure from
playing and the normal routines of life.
They may also cling to their carers, wanting to maintain bodily
contact, and be generally restless and unsettled, possibly having
sleep problems. As infants grow and become more aware of the
dangers and tensions in their environments they may start to demon-
strate specific reactions. These may include random destructive or
aggressive behaviours and the voicing of generalized fears about the
world.
Children may also regress and revert to earlier behaviours. Again as
children’s energy is focused on dealing with the immediate threats
surrounding them, their immediate developmental progress will be
interrupted and they will not have the energy to explore and learn
about the world.
From the age of 3 onwards children may experience extreme fears

about their environments. Their powers of imagination, strength of
feeling and theories about the world are such that they may even
believe that they are responsible for events around them. Again the
normal playful engagement of young children with their everyday
worlds may be interrupted and young children will not be following
usual developmental routes.
Table 3.1 shows Landers’ categorization of young children’s reac-
tions to traumatic events.
Table 3.1 Children’s reactions to traumatic events
Infants Toddlers Preschool
Withdrawal Fears Fears

Clinging Aggression Traumatic fantasies
Restlessness Destructive behaviour Grief and mourning
Regression Guilt feelings
Creating stories
Social withdrawal
Source: Landers (1998: 10).
The impact of war, conflict and violence on carers
Young children rely on the adults around them to care for them.
Children’s early lives are dependent on carers’ sensitivities and
abilities to anticipate their needs. The experience of living in conflict
or of being politically oppressed causes enormous stresses for
everyone.
This means that carers may, through no fault of their own, be
preoccupied and stressed, and even depressed, and may not be in a
position to really focus on children’s many emotional and social
needs. Add to this the experience of leaving one’s country of origin
and seeking asylum in an unsympathetic country, and it is not sur-
prising that the carers of young asylum-seeking and refugee children
are not always able to offer the emotional support or attention that
children need in order to thrive.
The key to dealing with stress and conflict for younger children
appears to be response of adults – and in particular the mother or
primary carer – to the stress of upheaval. The mother becomes ‘a
protective shield’ (Khan 1963: 291 in Elbedour et al. 1993: 810).
Numerous studies on children’s responses to stress, focusing on

conflict in Vietnam, Cambodia and Northern Ireland, reveal that it is
primarily the response of families that will enable a child to manage
these difficult situations. As noted by Silber (1958: 160 in Elbedour
et al. 1993: 811), ‘the child looks towards the parent for a ready-built
perception or structure of the event – a cue from which to determine
his own actions and feelings’.
The emotional impact of violence, conflict and oppression will vary
from child to child, community to community. As already noted, in
some cases children may have witnessed or been directly subject to
violence. In many other cases, the impact of violence on children is a
secondary one, in the sense that they will absorb the emotional states
of the adults and carers around them.
Interrupted developmental processes
It is important to understand the developmental processes that have

been interrupted when young children have experienced change, loss
and disruption – experiences common to refugee families.
Trust
Small infants learn to trust their mothers and fathers and other
primary caregivers to provide food, affection and protection. The
direct or indirect impact of violence on children’s lives erodes trust
and reduces opportunities to explore the environment. Children’s
basic physical and emotional needs will not necessarily have been
met. Life may have been chaotic and unpredictable, leading the
child to experience the world as unsafe.
Competence
Children gain confidence through the exploration of their environ-

ment via play. But violence or the threat of violence promotes fear
and insecurity, and disrupts education and other community activ-
ities. If children have been unable to play or to form lasting relation-
ships and friendships in the family or in wider groups in the
community, many skills and abilities will have been lost or delayed.
Opportunities for the development of physical skills such as running
and jumping can be lost if children are confined for their safety or are
restricted.
Identity
The sense of self develops throughout childhood, the result of a

confident belief in oneself and an understanding of one’s place in the
community. The refugee experience can undermine self-confidence
and self-esteem. Adults’ feelings of uncertainly about the family’s
place in the world will be communicated to the children.
The concept of trauma
There is an extensive literature on the impact of trauma on adults.

Debates have been conducted for some time about the validity of
concepts such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in response to
events such as disaster, war and torture. These debates are important
to consider, as much of the thinking about appropriate interventions
for children is influenced by the conceptualization of the impact of
violence on adults.
PTSD describes a range of responses to extreme events. While likely
to be severe in adults, its impact is potentially even more damaging to
a child’s emerging social and emotional development, as extreme
events can affect the developmental process.
It is important to remember that a trauma is out of the ordinary; it is
an exceptional action or set of events that generate huge amounts of
emotion. It violates norms and affects expectations about the future
(Gordon and Wraith 1993).
The argument relating to whether PTSD is a valid concept or not is
well captured as follows:
PTSD is often presented as though it was something ‘discovered’

by psychiatrists, something, which since being discovered,
throws lights on other unexplained areas of psychological func-
tioning. In fact, PTSD is something created by psychiatry at a
particular historical and cultural moment. This is not to say that
the suffering, which the PTSD concept attempts to capture, is in
any way fictional or unreal. It is not to say that in the past
people did not suffer in the wake of life threatening or deeply
distressing events. It is to assert that PTSD is one particular
way of approaching and understanding the sequelae of such
events.
(Bracken 1998: 39)
The notion of trauma itself is rejected by some researchers;

the argument here is that the concept is too individualistic and
pathologizes the individual who after all is not manifesting signs of

mental illness but is ‘showing a normal response to a set of extreme
circumstances and requires support rather than psychological treat-
ment’ (Richman 1996: 18). What this means is that, while reviewing
the available literature on the impact of war and conflict on children
which holds trauma as a central notion, it is worth noting that this
interpretation of responses to the events of war and conflict is located
in one particular cultural context, and may be interpreted differently
in different contexts. This also means that solutions such as indi-
vidual therapy will not necessarily be appropriate; instead, interven-
tions that have meaning for the wider community may be more
relevant. Having said this, we will now go on to review the literature
on trauma and children.
Trauma, children and play
Again, Landers (1998: 12) covers the ground well:
Trauma can alter the quality of the young child’s play in several
ways. Some traumatised children are quite restricted in their
range of play activities. Many traumatised children are initially
unable to use play symbolically. Trauma may have interrupted
developmental processes to the extent that symbolic capacities
were not generated. Early relationships may have been dis-
rupted, preventing the child from using transitional objects and
other toys as symbols for significant people and experiences.
Some traumatised children have developed symbolic capacity
to a certain extent, by the quality of their symbolic play is quite
unlike that of most young children. Gone is the sense of joyful
adventure, story and spirited imaginative discovery that is
characteristic of childhood. The play of the remotest child is
often grim and despairing. It tends to lack organisation and
elaboration. Disturbing themes might be introduced but never
resolved in the context of play. Traumatised children’s play can
become repetitive – the child is driven to play and replay his
traumatic experiences in a compulsive attempt to master them.
In addition, defences against re-experiencing feelings associated
with the trauma may be evident in play.
There are a range of symptoms associated with trauma in children

(Pynoos and Nader 1993; Landers 1998). These include:
• Re-experiencing the event – this can take the form of flashbacks,

dreams and overwhelming memories. In young children these are

likely to be manifest as repetitive dreams or play. Landers (1998: 35)
proposes that ‘children’s dreams reflect both their cognitive pro-
cessing of information and an effort to contend with life’s issues.
Thus their dreams may provide an indication of what is left over
from conscious, over-processing during awake time. Dreams, like
play, indicate the child’s attempts to gain control over events. For
some children, their play, art, storytelling, and social interaction
are laced with themes of the events’.
• Reduced reactions – in order to cope with overwhelming events,
desensitization to the environment is another typical response.
Lack of reaction and lack of interest in everyday events is one aspect
of this; the other is poor memory and inattentiveness to detail. The
message is that nothing really matters.
• Being on guard – this refers to the need for children to be constantly
aware of their environments and to be constantly on the alert for
danger. This results in anxiety, phobia or aggression and depression
dependent on the character of the child. Again the psychological
strain of this state means that children’s normal development is
interrupted as their energies and attentions are directed towards
survival.
Play is clearly a crucial process through which a child develops.

When normal development is interrupted and a child is no longer
able to play, all aspects of a child’s development are then affected,
including cognitive, physical and psychosocial aspects.
The impact of not being able to play means that a child is not able
to explore, assimilate and actively build a picture of their immediate
world that encompasses all their senses and thinking. Trauma inter-
rupts and skews a child’s development by preventing play – and can
affect play itself.
Having considered some of the general impacts of conflict and
violence on young children, we will now turn to some specific
evidence from case studies and research projects.
Children do not forget

According to recent research, and contrary to the views held by many
adults, children do not forget about bad experiences more easily than
adults, and they do not ‘grow out’ of remembering extreme experi-
ences. What they may do is cease speaking about events and issues in
response to cues from the adults around them. Indeed, some
researchers, such as Gordon and Wraith (1993), believe that children
collude with adults to the point that adults are convinced that
children no longer remember:
For many of the adults I spoke to it was hard that children –

especially very young children – had lived through the same,
brutal events. From the perspective of some parents it was easier
to hope that young children had forgotten everything. But we
met children who reminded their parents about past events. As
one seven year old girl from Srebenica said to her mother, who
was describing the hardship of life on arrival at a resettlement
camp: ‘No . . . that was not the worst. The worst was when we
were in the concentration camp and when we fled through the
forest’.
In Bosnia when interviewing families about emergency early
childhood centres that had been set up during and just after
civil conflict I met with a group of families in an area of the
country that had seen particularly fierce armed conflict. Chil-
dren told us how their memories did not go away. One six year
old boy referred to ‘The pictures in my forehead’ and another
said ‘It is like having a camera in my head’. This watchfulness
was also noticed by adults – as one mother said, ‘The children
always watch us. They are like video cameras taking in
everything without explanation’.
(Hyder, Save the Children, unpublished report 1998)
It is clear that children who have seen or experienced violence or

other frightening events react in various ways. Some become timid or
withdrawn; others become watchful, always alert to the next danger;
others copy the violent behaviour they have seen and are themselves
aggressive.
The literature on children affected by conflict
Research has been carried out, over the years, with a number of groups
of children who have been directly or indirectly exposed to armed
conflict (Burlingham and Freud 1942; Pynoos and Nader 1993). These
studies include research into the children of torture victims; those
who are the children of concentration camp prisoners; children who
have themselves lived in camps; and those who have experienced
armed conflict.
The children studied here tend to be aged 5 and over, and it is from
these studies that we must extract information that will provide
an insight into the experiences of younger children. However, these
studies do give a clear indication of the emotional consequences of

armed conflict and civil unrest on children.
This type of research is often carried out following the family’s
arrival in a place of safety, which may be a new country where the
family is seeking refuge. Issues of identity and adjustment to a new
culture and community are also being dealt with as children come to
terms with their past experiences and new lives.
Nevertheless, there appear to be a number of shared symptoms
experienced by children who have had direct or indirect experience of
armed conflict. These symptoms range from fear of loud and
unexpected noises, to insomnia and extreme reactions to people in
uniform.
Children may experience disturbed sleep and dream of death,
murder and abduction. Some children wet their beds, or become
depressive and introverted. Others lose their appetite and have
stomach-aches or headaches. Difficulties concentrating, poor memory
and aggression are also common problems (Krogh and Montgomery
1993).
Krogh and Montgomery (1993) also studied the impact of being the
child of torture survivors. Children aged between 5 and 13, from fam-
ilies from around the world, all of whose parents had experienced
torture, revealed a range of physical and emotional symptoms includ-
ing headaches, anxiety, eating problems, depression and difficulties
with family relationships. The research study also revealed the coping
mechanisms that children adopted to deal with the situation they
found themselves in. The strategies included:
• attention-seeking behaviour;
• refusal to acknowledge problems and a need to be alone;
• a need to cut off and daydream;
• a need to seek approval and be good.
The strategy adopted appeared to be dependent on family and

cultural norms, age, gender and the child’s personality.
Another reported response is that of children identifying with the
aggressor. This can take many forms. In essence, children witness the
powerlessness of their parents in response to, for instance, soldiers
coming to the house. This can be a terrifying experience for children
who need to see their parents as powerful in order to feel safe. Identi-
fying with the aggressor is a way of trying to feel powerful and safe. In
young children this can also take the form of blaming the parents for
not protecting them. For example, a mother of a 4-year-old girl
described her daughter’s anger when, as a result of growing ethnic
tensions, neighbours burnt down their house: ‘Why didn’t you smile
at them Mummy and then they wouldn’t have tried to hurt us?’ was
the daughter’s question to her mother a few days after the event.
Children may also blame themselves for what has happened, espe-
cially if their parents are depressed or angry: ‘Young children may feel
that they have caused their parents’ withdrawal as a result of their
own angry thoughts and actions . . . Young children thinking magic-
ally, believe that they have much greater influence over what
happens to them than is actually the case’ (Melzak 1992: 206).
When they have witnessed violence, very young children may have
confused memories about what has happened, in that they are less
likely to be able to express in words what they have felt than older
children or adults. However, this does not mean that they will have
forgotten and they will certainly be affected by what has happened.
They need opportunities to sort out their thoughts – for example,
through play and other means of self-expression which we will
consider in later chapters.
The evidence of the impact of violence caused by conflict and war
on children is sparse – but the results are consistent. What is clear is
that a small minority of children are severely affected by such experi-
ences. For the majority though, recovery is possible. This is demon-
strated through work from a number of conflict zones over recent
years.
For instance, UNICEF (1993: 168) cite a number of studies including
the work of Bodman in 1941 who surveyed 8000 children in war-torn
Britain and noted that about 4 per cent of the children surveyed dem-
onstrated signs of ‘strain’ following air raids. In a study conducted in
1981, McWhirter (in UNICEF 1993) surveyed the teachers of over
5000 children in Northern Ireland. Just under 9 per cent were
reported by teachers to be disturbed, with the disturbance character-
ized by antisocial behaviour. A report from the Lebanon by Hourani
et al. (1982) (reported in UNICEF 1993) revealed that about 8 per cent
of those taking part in a household study reported ‘psychological
stress symptoms during conflict’.
How war hurts children
The fallout of armed conflict affects children in many different ways

(Amnesty International 1999: 32):
• Nutritional deprivation – conflicts often cause famines, with food

production and distribution systems destroyed or disrupted.
• Spread of disease – communicable diseases are the major cause of
death among children in peacetime. In wars, the risks multiply as
water and food supplies are damaged and health services

disrupted.
• Psychological damage – especially if children have directly witnessed
or been involved in acts of violence.
• Disability – around 4 million child survivors of conflicts in the past
decade have been permanently disabled and landmines continue to
kill and maim.
• Loss of education – schools are frequently closed in wars, and are
even destroyed as a key part of the social fabric. Displacement adds
to further disruption.
• Child combatants – children who have lost their parents or who
come from disrupted families are more likely to become soldiers.
• Violence against girls – rape is featured in almost every armed conflict
and is common in camps of the displaced. In some conflicts, rape is
used as a systematic weapon of terror.
• Child abduction, torture and slavery – children kidnapped by armies
are frequently beaten and either forcibly enlisted as combatants or
enslaved.
• Child war criminals – children are often involved in acts of violence.
Sometimes this may be a deliberate tactic to ensure communal
complicity in atrocities.
The loss of the right to a normal childhood, including the right to

play, must also be noted as one of the primary casualties of war.
The physical impact of the some of the above experiences can be
profound, and UNICEF (1993) have conceptualized the extent of the
impact as follows. They use the term ‘psychosocial’ to encapsulate
emotional, psychological and social dimensions of well-being and
identify three levels of psychosocial need:
• discomforting psychosocial needs – for instance, bed-wetting or not

wishing to be alone, which are minimal and usually rectified
through the re-establishment of everyday social interaction;
• disturbing psychosocial needs – for instance, manifest through depres-
sion or sleep disturbance, when some type of special intervention is
required;
• disabling psychosocial needs – for instance, inability to control emo-
tions, such as uncontrolled anger or extreme withdrawal, that may
be long-term unless highly focused ‘extraordinary’ intervention is
implemented.
The point is that the majority of children will recover from

the extreme events of conflict. They are affected at the first level and
far more rarely at the second or third levels. However, recovery is
speeded through strengthening the family and community, and by
the restoration of order and routine. Re-establishing opportunities for

play and education are key ways of healing, both for the individual
and the community.
War and conflict are extreme situations, which will require an
extreme response from all involved. For many children and adults,
however horrific or awful their experiences, the relief created by the
end of war and conflict, through either reaching a place of safety or
through the cessation of hostilities, will be sufficient to enable them
to regain psychological balance and not to be permanently damaged
by the psychological impact of their experiences.
Factors affecting the impact of violence
Children will manifest stress dependent on the extent, nature and

severity of their experiences. The most common circumstance is that
it is a series of events, not just violence itself, which will have an
impact on the child and their community. There are other variables
such as age, gender and culture that researchers have explored in an
attempt to quantify the effect of violence. We will now consider some
of these findings.
Services and other provisions which are taken for granted during
peacetime, such as schools, jobs, banks, power supplies and so on, do
not function in war. Difficult and adverse situations that people over-
come in everyday life become exacerbated because of war and unrest
with an inevitable impact on children. Opportunities for play and the
everyday experiences of childhood are lost. Therefore, when consider-
ing the experiences of a group of Afghani child refugees, UNICEF
notes that psychosocial stresses include a ‘long, hot rainy season with
poor sanitation and insufficient drinking water; lack of educational
opportunity; separation from important people’, and family stresses
such as depression and unemployment (UNICEF 1993: 185). UNICEF
researchers concluded that children’s responses to stressful experi-
ences will be largely determined by cultural expectations. Added to
this, the nature and severity of events will also have an effect on
children’s responses. In addition, the frequency and number of
extreme experiences will also be a factor.
Pynoos and Nader (1993), researching into the psychological well-
being of women and children after traumatic events, noted that those
who had been subject to multiple traumatic experiences had the most
difficulties with everyday life, and that the more traumatic the events
experienced by children, the higher the stress-related behaviour.
A range of other factors are important when noting the impact of
armed conflict on children. To mention a few, perception of threat is
important, and from a child’s perspective the threat of being separ-

ated from loved ones is more frightening than threats to physical
safety. Another important factor is whether the child perceives them-
selves to be a victim because they were targeted individually as
opposed to being a witness. The argument here is that if a child feels
that they are a victim by accident, then they are better able to recon-
cile themselves to this than the feeling that they have been singled
out personally for attack.
Age and gender are considered to be important determinants of
the ability of children to cope with the traumas of war. Researchers
provide conflicting information about the exact attribution of age
and gender to the severity of the experience of the traumas of war and
conflict. Elbedour et al. (1993: 809) cite Rutter (1981) who reports that
children aged 6 months to 4 years were most affected. They also quote
Bowlby (1969) who concludes that children between 6 months and
6 years face the greatest risk of developing psychopathology during
trauma. Other researchers (e.g. Kinston and Rosser 1974) have found
that school-aged children from the age of 8 onwards are most likely to
experience psychological damage after trauma.
Interestingly, the results relating to gender are clearer: in general it
would appear that girls are more able to cope with traumatic stress
than boys.
Resolution through play
Research has also pointed to the importance of ‘psychological reso-

lution’ for a child. An ‘appropriate understanding of experiences
seems to be an essential component of well-being for all children . . .
making sense of the experience helps empower the individual’
(UNICEF 1993:185). UNICEF also stress that, while therapy and coun-
selling are important tools and culturally relevant in many com-
munities, of more importance is the need to strengthen the family to
support the child’s recovery by supporting families to function and
rebuild a community. This means that a range of normal experiences
are restored, from opportunities to play to those of forming
friendships within a secure social network.
Case study
The importance of strengthening families and rebuilding communities

was at the heart of initiatives by a number of aid agencies in the Balkans
to establish early childhood centres as an emergency response. Centres
were provided in refugee camps and were established in areas hit by

conflict.
The reasons for doing this included the need to provide opportunities
for families and communities to focus on the future, as well as the wish to
ensure that children’s development was not interrupted. The provision of
basic early childhood activities acted as a focus for adults in the com-
munity, who were able to be involved as volunteers working in the
centres. This was reported as an empowering and positive experience.
At the same time children had opportunities to play in an atmosphere
that was supportive and reinforcing of normality in the face of the
unpredictability of the surrounding conflict.
In some cases, resources were provided to enhance activities that had
been established by members of the community during months of
conflict. In one area of the Balkans, teachers and parents had worked
together to set up makeshift early childhood centres in the basements of
their apartment blocks.
During months of shelling and fighting, parents carried on creating
structured opportunities for young children to play. When the fighting
reduced and aid agencies arrived, parents were able to carry on providing
activities and felt in retrospect that the provision of early childhood activ-
ities during these extreme events had been enormously beneficial to both
adults and children.
(Hyder, unpublished notes)
Sheila Melzak (1995: 116) writes about the enormous losses experi-
enced by refugee children, affecting the progress of their development:
The detail of the developmental process and expectations on

children of the society varies across cultures e.g. the balance
between play and work during childhood varies across cultures.
In fact in all cultures research shows that children will spend
their time during their play imitating the activities of adults in
their community and exploring various aspects of adult social
roles. As well as the usual domestic and work roles, refugee chil-
dren may have seen adults they knew as violent soldiers, as
humiliated victims, as rescuers, as bystanders – helpless or active.
Other researchers have noted that the impact of war, if not

addressed, can reach down into future generations. For instance,
when writing about Holocaust survivors Danieli (1958), cited in
Elbedour et al. (1993: 808), states that children of such survivors ‘seem
to have consciously and unconsciously absorbed their parents’ Holo-
caust experiences into their lives in toto. Many children manifest
Holocaust-derived behaviours particularly on the anniversaries of
their parents’ traumata’.
Elbedour et al. (1993: 808) go on to describe the work of Rosenthal

and Rosenthal (1980: 578) who treated a 7-year-old girl whose grand-
parents had survived a concentration camp. They quote the girl as
follows: ‘My fears come from my grandfather to my father, from my
father to myself. I am the stop-sign’.
Healing and play
Freud thought that emotional trauma experienced at an early age

would return to haunt the child at a later age: ‘What children have
experienced at the age of two and have not understood; at some later
time it will break into their lives with obsessional impulses; it will
govern their actions’. This means that children will live in expecta-
tion of an unexplored trauma. In addition, ‘if the child victims do
not succumb to emotional illness in the immediate post war years, it
is still possible they will be stricken years later’ (Galante and Foa 1968
quoted in Ellebedour et al. 1993: 808).
Freud believed that play is a means by which children express their
innermost conflicts and desires. Through psychoanalytic therapy a
child can play with toys, providing a metaphorical insight into their
world. In this way the therapist can understand, integrate and com-
municate the meaning of the child’s play to the child in order to
promote resolution.
Psychoanalytic theory is an underpinning foundation of a con-
sideration of PTSD. As Pynoos and Nader (1993: 536) note, ‘Freud’s
original model of traumatic helplessness defines trauma as one where
“external and internal, real and instinctual dangers converge”.’
Pynoos and Nader (1993: 535) have written about the concept of
post-traumatic stress in children. They note that:
Like adults, children respond to trauma with symptoms of

re-experiencing, emotional constriction or avoidance, and
increased arousal . . . The re-experiencing of traumatic phe-
nomena is evidenced by traumatic play, behavioural enact-
ments, intrusive thoughts, images, sounds or smells, traumatic
dreams, and psychological reactivity reminders.
They go on to argue that children will avoid triggers such as places

or objects that remind them of past events. However, this type of
behaviour may also lead to a loss of interest and enjoyment or even a
loss of skills in other areas of life. What Pynoos and Nader describe
as ‘traumatic avoidance’ will result in interference in everyday
functioning. It can be argued, if this is the case, that one of the
restorative functions of play is to enable children to return to past

events in play and to regain control over those events and so reach
some resolution.
Young children may be partially protected from the impact of a
traumatic event as they do not fully perceive or apprehend the full
extent of the danger of the situation. As has already been noted,
research findings indicate that children’s responses are mediated by
the responses of the adults around them. When adults try to minim-
ize real threats, children can become confused, and learn not to trust
adults, but they very quickly use their own assessment of the poten-
tial threat of danger. Therefore there is a fine balance between not
alarming children and not misleading them about the seriousness of a
situation.
Drawing on academic and clinical research from conflict situations
and traumatic events around the world, Pynoos and Nader (1993: 536)
describe how young children ‘may desperately envision the need for
outside help while invoking fantasies of superhuman powers primar-
ily to protect themselves and their physical integrity against attack.
School-aged children may entertain conscious fantasies of interven-
ing, for example, taking the gun out of the assailant’s hand’. As we will
see later on, it is important that we support this type of play.
Play and recovery
There is an interesting link drawn between children’s denial of events

(in psychoanalytic terms) and play. Denial in its original usage did
not mean disavowal of reality; indeed, in Anna Freud’s original
description (1936) it was a method that children especially employed
to mitigate ‘objective pain; by use of fantasy or imagined action’
(p. 536). This suggests that children’s ability to play and change
events, integrating fantasy and reality, is in fact a valuable and
important coping mechanism.
When children are stuck
While so far we have noted the restorative and healing nature of play,
for those children seriously affected by trauma, it is argued by some
that play may not be healing unless supported and guided: ‘Traumatic
play includes the redramatisation in play of episodes of the event or
the repetition of play in traumatic themes’.
Terr (1981) observed that if children’s traumatic play fails to pro-
vide relief, it may aggravate rather that soothe the condition, and
often ends unsatisfactorily, in contrast to normal play. This is

because in play, children are not simply repeating an action but are
manipulating the object or event as well, sometimes towards a
more positive outcome. Therefore, adults have a role in supporting
and sometimes moving on, in a sensitive fashion, children’s play
scripts.
In these situations it is important that practitioners are alert to signs
that a child is experiencing difficulties, and understand when and
how to intervene to move play on. Moreover, it is important to know
when and to whom a child can be referred in order to help them move
on and reconcile themselves to any emotional difficulty that cannot
be resolved in the setting through play.
What are the signs that a child is experiencing difficulty? Again it is
hard to draw out generalized signs. However, very fixed play patterns
that do not develop and extend over time may be one sign, as may
over-aggressive reactions that are sustained over time.
If a child is newly-arrived in a group, is, perhaps, unable to com-
municate in English and is unused to the routines and expectations of
an early years setting it is hard to assess if they are experiencing
difficulties. Therefore, it is important to build up a picture of a
child over time, based on establishing a good relationship not just
with the child but also with their carers. In this way any behaviour
that causes concern can also be discussed with parents and then an
informed decision can be made as to whether or not the child needs
additional help.
An important point to bear in mind is that:
there is not an automatic relationship between psychological

damage and a child’s experience of extreme events. Various
mediating factors such as meaning, continuity of parenting,
and community cohesion act between the potentially traumatic
experiences and their subsequent effects. Also, refugee children
may show extreme behaviour that does not have the same
meaning as that of children showing the same extreme
behaviour with a different history.
(Melzak 1995:120)
Conclusion
In conclusion, this chapter has drawn on some of the research in the

field of children and armed conflict and has shown that many chil-
dren have emotional and behavioural reactions to extreme events.
For young children, the primary caregivers have a role in protecting
them by maintaining a sense of safety and certainty. Nevertheless,

younger children may feel responsible or may blame their parents and
carers for the catastrophic events they have experienced.
Children’s reactions to violence may be visible in their feelings and
play behaviours long after reaching a place of safety – they do not
forget. It is through play that children recreate but also come to terms
with their experiences, and opportunities for play are also healing for
the wider community.
4
WHAT WORKS: FIRST PRINCIPLES

TO PROMOTE PLAY
I remember when R first started at the playgroup. He was just three and
had arrived recently from Eritrea. He was so angry and frustrated he
threw things around and hit other children.
Over the weeks he began to trust us and start communicating with the
other children. I think he really benefited from his time with us. We
were a place of safety.
When S, a four year old Kurdish girl from Turkey, arrived she also
wouldn’t communicate, wouldn’t play, and for many weeks refused to
be physically separated from her mother. It took a long time before she
felt able to join in with activities and begin to work out some of her
anxieties through play.
(Hyder 1998: 93)
This chapter sets out useful concepts and those first principles that
underpin good practice when supporting and encouraging play in
early years settings, with young asylum-seekers and with refugees. It
highlights the issues early years practitioners need to be aware of and
sets the scene for Chapter 5 which concentrates in more detail on
good practice and outlines some specific play activities with young
asylum-seeking and refugee children.
As well as discussing the principles of good early years practice for
children who have experienced war and armed conflict, this chapter
will consider the concept of resilience, followed by discussion of the
importance of communication with parents and families, and with
children. Finally the role of anti-racism and good inclusive practice
will be outlined.
What works 61
Play as a first principle
As has already been set out in earlier chapters, play offers children
important ways of making sense of their experiences. Play in itself is a
healing process which gives children an opportunity to ‘play out’
their feelings and problems. Early years settings can provide children
with valuable opportunities to play and explore, so enabling them to
come to terms with past events.
These play opportunities include both adult-led activities with an
anticipated outcome that are exploratory, and those opportunities for
free-flow play that are imaginative and open-ended.
Evidence suggests that in many cases young children who have
experienced the trauma of conflict or displacement do not need spe-
cialized therapy or intervention. The majority of children who are
manifesting distressed behaviours will, after just a short time in an
early years group, begin to benefit from the relationships, routine,
surroundings and materials of the setting (Tolfree 1996). Children will
have a safe space and can start establishing relationships with sympa-
thetic and supportive adults.
Frameworks for good practice
It is helpful to think about the frameworks that are needed to support

effective services for refugee children and their families. What is
interesting to note is that the principles within such frameworks are
those that form the basis of good-quality services for all children and
families, not just refugees and asylum-seeking children.
A key framework for working with refugee children is known under
the acronym STOP. This framework was first devised by the Swedish
Save the Children organization (Gustafsson 1986). It sets out an easy
to remember way to ensure that the key principles of good early years
practice to support children affected by conflict are in place, and as a
framework it can apply not just to the provision of early years services
in an emergency situation, but once children have sought refuge.
STOP stands for:
S – space and structure

T – trust, time and talking
O – opportunities to play
P – partnership with parents
Space and structure are vital to any early years programme. For a
refugee child, getting to know the predictable routine of the early
years setting will be an important antidote to the chaos they may

have experienced. For families living in temporary housing, condi-
tions may be cramped and children also need the physical space of
the setting.
From the perspective of the young child, trust is often the primary
casualty of war. The primary carer, often the mother, may be so
affected by the enormous changes in the family’s life that she is
unable to meet the child’s basic needs.
Time is needed to re-establish trusting relationships through
talking, play and creative activities. Young children often feel
that they have enormous power, because their feelings are so strong
and overwhelming. This may, in turn, make them feel guilty or
responsible for the huge changes that have befallen them and their
families. By creating a place of safety and allocating time for talk
and play, it is possible to explore a child’s feelings and begin to
explain and give meaning to events – so helping to remove feelings
of guilt.
Opportunities to play are some of the defining features of child-
hood. These can range from organized group activities such as games,
dancing and singing, to explorative play with water, clay and con-
struction toys, and imaginative social play in the home corner and
other areas.
Parents and other carers will themselves need support and
opportunities to talk, or just to sit and feel safe in the setting. It is vital
to welcome carers and let them participate as much or as little as they
choose. It is essential to support carers’ ability to care.
There are other theoretical approaches that are useful to bear in
mind when designing services that best meet the needs of refugee and
asylum-seeking children. For instance, the notions of risk and
resilience are very important concepts to consider.
Seeing the whole child – risk and resilience
There is an established body of research that sets out to explain why

some children survive and thrive following events that others find it
hard to cope with. These theories of risk and resilience have been
elaborated over the years (Rutter 1985). Evidence suggests that
younger children are more resilient than older children, although
there are some exceptions.
For instance, children under the age of 5 who had lived through a
natural disaster were found to be more affected than older children
(Rutter 1985). However, the main point is that while young children
are affected by disaster, they are also more likely to respond to the
What works 63
supportive environment and relationships of an early years setting,

and to play opportunities as healing experiences.
What is resilience?
Very simply, in relation to human development, resilience is the

capacity to cope with life and adapt to change. It is a combination
of factors, based on the synergy between the individual and their
environment, that will affect the capacity to survive and develop.
Protective factors that promote resilience for asylum-seeking and
refugee children include:
• previous experience of good parenting;

• carers who can respond to the child’s current emotional needs;
• being able to express feelings and anxieties to someone who listens
and reflects in a way appropriate to the child’s development;
• opportunities for self-expression through imaginative and multi-
sensory play, games and artistic expression;
• a positive early years or school environment that provides
appropriate play and learning opportunities, friendly peers and
experiences of pleasure and success;
• opportunities to maintain and value the family’s language and
culture.
Other factors within the individual child include good health, a

positive disposition and stability.
Adverse factors that increase risk for asylum-seeking and refugee
children include:
• experience of separation or loss;

• family secrets about disappearances or deaths;
• frightening experiences of violence;
• unfamiliar carers or those unable to create a supportive environ-
ment;
• family tensions related to parents’ experiences;
• poor housing and lack of access to basic welfare services;
• few opportunities for unsupported play;
• racism and hostility.
In a young child, adverse factors may include general health, a mental

or physical disability and temperament – including for instance an
infant who is hard to console.
What Michael Rutter (1985) and others (see Mental Health
Foundation 1999) have noted is that adverse or risk factors are cumu-
lative. Most children can cope with the experience of one or even two
of the risk factors listed above – it is when there are four or more in
place that children are less likely to cope.
However, the risk factors have to be set against the factors that
promote resilience. Therefore, the more factors to promote resilience
that are in place the more able a child is to deal with adversity.
The important point to note is that adversity or resilience factors are
not just personal attributes or traits – environmental and social
conditions will also bolster or harm a child.
Early years services can contribute to combating the risk factors and
maximizing the protective factors by providing a safe and predictable
environment within which to build relationships. Early years settings
and services also provide safe and structured opportunities for play,
which is one of the most healing experiences for children who have
encountered war and conflict. Evidence from war zones and areas of
conflict around the world has shown that children will in many cases
overcome trauma and benefit from opportunities to be together and
play, even if just for a few hours a day (Tolfree 1996).
First principles to promote play – what do children need

in order to play?
Supportive adults
When adults are themselves stressed the enthusiasm and joy of chil-
dren’s play can be hard to bear. Children will either be in constant
battle with adults or will stifle their wish to play. Adults working in
early years services either as childminders, nursery workers, teachers
or assistants can all bring their professional knowledge to bear to sup-
port children in play. The opportunity for physical play, development
and expression is also an important right that can be denied to
children affected by conflict.
Space
Life in temporary accommodation or in camps, perhaps having spent

time in hiding, means that children may not have had an opportun-
ity to learn to play, and to fully express themselves. Once in the UK
families may be living in cramped temporary accommodation or in
hostels where there is little space for children to play safely.
The space and resources of the early years settings will provide a
vital opportunity for young children to explore and play in an
What works 65
unrestrained way within a structured and safe setting. Opportunities

for running and jumping are limited when parents are concerned
about children’s safety in the outside world. The outside space in the
early years setting may be the only safe playing space that some
refugee children are able to use.
Materials
Children will use anything to hand for play, and will be as happy with
natural materials, such as stones or water, as with the manufactured
equipment found in many early years settings (Molteno 1996). Chil-
dren may have been denied the opportunity to play with toys and
equipment as families have had to move from place to place with few
possessions in order to find a place of safety. Equally, toys may not be
part of the culture of childhood within which the children have
grown up. Nevertheless, materials, however simple, are important
props and transformative objects for play. Early years settings can
introduce children in a safe and non-threatening way to toys
and equipment they may not be familiar with, but may be used
extensively in educational and other provision in the UK.
Communication
Having established the clear benefits of play-based early years provi-

sion for young children, the next principle that is important to estab-
lish is that of good communication. Communication based on trust
and mutual respect and understanding is at the heart of reconciliation
and healing. This section will focus on communication and building
relationships with adults and children as one of the key principles of
effective early years practice when working with young asylum-
seeking and refugee children and their families. Remember that ‘if a
parent is incapacitated or unavailable, other significant people in a
young child’s life can play an enabling role, whether they are grand-
parents, older siblings, family day-care providers, or nursery school
teachers. In many situations, it may make better sense to strengthen
such available informal ties to kin and community’ (Garbarino
1992: 156).
Communicating with parents
It is a parent’s first instinct to protect their child. Parents worldwide

undergo enormous sacrifices to try to make a better life for their
children. Normal stresses of life such as poverty, unemployment,

limited or no access to healthcare and education can make parents’
jobs very hard. Living in a war zone or through unremitting violence
will make this work even harder.
As already described, one of the impacts of war is the loss of control
felt by those most affected. Feeling out of control as a parent can be
very damaging. Depression and helplessness are very common feel-
ings reported among refugee parents. Landers (1998) reports that the
impact of depression on parenting skills is particularly damaging for
refugee children. Adults who are depressed will look sad and anxious
and are less likely to talk, interact and respond. Depressed people are
more likely to be irritable and less likely to invite and support a close,
consistent relationship with their child.
This can be very serious for infants and young children who require
adults to respond to and reflect in a positive way their first engage-
ments with the world. If adults are unable to respond to and reinforce
a child’s first social interactions, children lose confidence and self-
esteem suffers. Added to this, developmental progress is interrupted
as children receive erratic and inconsistent feedback about their
behaviours.
Once in the UK, these parents’ feelings of helplessness may well
remain, particularly given the sometimes difficult experience of being
an asylum-seeker or refugee in the UK today. A very important role for
any early years service is the restoration of asylum-seeking and refu-
gee parents’ beliefs in their own skills and abilities to parent. Early
years services therefore have a role supporting children by providing
responsive relationships, but also in working with parents to rebuild
confidence and self-belief.
It is important to recognize that this role does not have to be ful-
filled through the provision of counselling or any specialized service.
Instead the normal relationships of the early years setting, such as the
welcoming environment, daily conversations and normal requests for
parental involvement and support, can be very healing for parents. In
addition, opportunities for specialized classes, perhaps based on child
development or English, welcome parents in with a purpose and so
build self-confidence.
Play as emotional support – what families say
Lois Mutesi, a UK-based refugee from Rwanda, completed a degree in

early childhood studies in 2003, including a dissertation (unpublished)
which focused on how schools were meeting the emotional needs of
asylum-seeking and refugee children in the foundation stage.
What works 67
Lois conducted the research partly because of the reception her own
child had received when starting nursery some years previously. Lois
felt that the teaching staff, while well meaning, were ill-prepared and
ill-informed: they found it hard to communicate with refugee
parents, to welcome them properly and to explain the play-based
curriculum used in the school.
For her research Lois conducted a series of interviews with parents
and staff in London schools. What she found was that schools were
confused about the details of the refugee communities they were
working with. For instance, there was a lack of clarity about the
origins and languages of some refugee families. In addition, teachers
did not appear to make good induction procedures with individual
families a priority. Consequently, they were not always equipped to
meet the individual needs of refugee children. Lois herself also noted
that she, as a new parent, was not introduced to the play-based
curriculum. As a result she was at first at a loss to see its value.
When speaking to parents, she found that settings were able to
provide real value where there were focused and detailed whole-
school strategies in place to support and welcome refugee children
and parents. These strategies included good induction, pairing chil-
dren up with ‘buddies’ as they started in the nursery or school, and a
welcome for parents with clear details about how they could become
more involved in their child’s education.
Added to this, Lois also noted that one way schools had found to
reduce aggression and name-calling in the playground was to pair
older children with younger children in the setting. This was achieved
through, for instance, asking a Year 2 class to come into nursery and
read with children and so form positive relationships.
Another successful strategy was to ensure that there were specific
measures available to support children’s emotional well-being if prob-
lematic issues did arise. Therefore, initiatives such as the ‘Place2Be’,
which was a highly successful school-based counselling service for
children, were seen to have particular value.
Lois found that parents welcomed the opportunity to come into
class and help with specific activities. Further specific support which
was welcomed included the provision of classes for English language
and the chance to talk to staff about the curriculum. Lois also found
that play was very important to support the emotional needs of refu-
gee children. Some of the more successful schools noted how refugee
children seemed to benefit from outdoor play opportunities and
expressive activities such as drawing and painting.
Lois recounted, from her own experience of growing up in a refugee
camp, her memories of play as a rarer experience for children, as they
were expected to work from an early age to support the family. Formal
education started at a later age, (6 or 7), and was very much based on
rote learning.
However, when reflecting on her own childhood in the light of
being a student of early childhood studies, Lois noted how much she
had gained from the times when she did play. She had made her own
dolls, had made their clothes and woven baskets and spent time in
imaginative play. She found that this was an important experience
shared with other refugee parents – as they too would remember how
they played as children.
Lois notes that it is as if ‘something clicks’, as parents remember
playing freely as children. They realize that this doesn’t happen in the
UK in the same way, but that early years settings and nurseries try to
provide such opportunities for play as an essential foundation for all
that follows.
Communicating about play
All around the world parents are keen that their children have a suc-
cessful education. That interest may translate itself into an emphasis
on the need for formal education through formal approaches from an
early age. In many parts of the world play is seen as an unproductive
and limited activity. It is important to understand parents’ perspec-
tives on play, however different they are from what many UK-based
early years practitioners believe. While there is great emphasis placed
on play in northern Europe and North America (the amount of
research conducted into play reflects this), in many parts of the world
play is seen as a much more marginal occupation of childhood, before
apprenticeship into adult roles:
In industrialised nations some form of day care or home-based

care exists in which there may be a formalised curriculum. By
and large, these caregiving arrangements have play objects and
equipment and children are encouraged to play. By contrast in
developing nations day care or crèches are still rare and parents
rely on relatives or friends to provide supplemental care. In
most accounts of developing societies, play occurs in children’s
groups but is rarely encouraged.
(Roopnarine et al. 1994: 3)
Roopnarine et al. link the focus on play and the development of early
years services to the growth of women’s employment in industrial-
ized countries. They propose that this focus on play is at least partly
due to the need to justify placing children in centres outside the
What works 69
home, and do this without assuming that a focus on play is somehow

more enlightened and ‘advanced’. Parents with a range of educational
experiences from around the world will sometimes require an explan-
ation of the play-based approach to learning. Consequently, early
years practitioners need to be able to articulate their knowledge of
child development and the importance of a play-based curriculum. It
is very important to be able to describe and demonstrate the benefits
of play – both as an essential approach to learning but also as a child’s
right.
Communicating with children
Practitioners have reported that children from refugee families, on

arrival in the setting, may be withdrawn and appear overwhelmed by
the sights, sounds and smells of the group. Some children will simply
just observe what’s going on, and will be wary of some situations and
people. Others will be disruptive and negative, unable to settle or take
part in group activities.
Behaviour will vary, and all children will need time to adjust to the
group and to begin to work through any difficult feelings. It is useful
to observe and monitor children’s behaviour in order to notice any
patterns or particular reactions to situations, sounds and events:
‘Some caregivers reported observing cases of extreme withdrawn
behaviour. In one situation a child had spent the first three months of
child care in the corner of the room with his bag on his back. Another
spoke of children who could not tolerate touch of any description’
(Sims 2000: 105).
How do practitioners communicate with children who are dem-
onstrating such behaviours? Play provides a very important medium
within which to communicate and at the same time play-based
activities can be introduced as a way for children to come to terms
with overwhelming feelings. Taking the example of the child
described above who stayed with his bag on his back for three
months, having perhaps experienced all sorts of upheaval and
change before arriving in the setting it was possibly not surprising
that he was staying prepared and ready to flee despite the fact that
he was now in a place of safety. The imprint of his experiences will
not easily disappear.
So, early years practitioners need to use all their skills of communi-
cation, including play, to create a feeling of security and safety. It is
also important to work on exploration of feelings and to enable chil-
dren to explore those feelings safely though play. All young children
experience strong emotions, and as refugee children may have lived
through particularly traumatic events, activities that enable them to

explore and learn to express strong feelings in a contained context are
very helpful.
How children learn to express their feelings
In general, children start to use words to describe their feelings from

before the age of 2. Between the ages of 2 and 3 there is a rapid
increase in the number of terms children are able to use to describe
different emotions. As they get older they learn to label emotions
correctly, if given support and positive feedback from alert and caring
carers. At this time children also use emotional language in play.
From 4 onwards they understand that the same event may generate
different emotions in different people, and that feelings may persist
long after the event itself is past (Kuebli 1994). It is very important
that children are given feedback to help them understand their feel-
ings and be able to name them and express them appropriately, either
with words, art, movement, dance or song, among other media. If
children are overwhelmed with feelings that they do not understand
and feel consumed by, they will often find very extreme ways of
expressing themselves. This may be through rage and aggression or
withdrawal.
The three main aims of supporting and encouraging refugee
children to communicate are:
• to help children express their memories, feelings and thoughts;

• to help children gain a realistic understanding of what has
happened to them;
• to enable children to cope better with everyday activities (Landers
1998).
Play as communication
Play is a key way of communicating with young children. Having seen

the different forms of play described in earlier chapters, what should
practitioners do in order to promote play effectively?
We have already established that play is a means through which
children develop social skills, empathy and reflective capacities as
well as intellectual and physical abilities. Good communication
as good play requires adults to be sensitive to the wishes and interests
of children – it requires adults to listen to children. Listening effec-
tively requires different skills and takes different forms dependent
What works 71
on the mode of children’s communication at particular points of

development. As Edenhammer and Wahlund (1990: 4) note:
If a child’s play development is to be all-round and varied, it has

to occur in interaction with others. There must be somewhere to
play and opportunities for play with people who can listen and
comment on the child’s activities. Children know how they
can use adults. If there are no adults around, there are no
opportunities for the child to ask questions or become curious.
Therefore, for very young infants, communication is based on the

playful experiences that form part of the everyday routines of care-
giving. Turn-taking exchanges established through eye contact and
games such as peek-a-boo can be playful and fun. An interested,
responsive adult reflecting back on the child’s urge to communicate is
essential. These exchanges build a child’s sense of self and agency in
the world.
As children grow they use their senses to investigate the world, and
adults can support their early exploratory play by providing space and
attention. Children start to use objects around them to represent their
experiences, and this type of symbolic play is a crucial underpinning
of developmental experience. Again, adults can be on hand to
guide, comment upon, take part in, observe or provide props and
opportunities for such play.
Children learn to connect with each other, to respond to each
other’s play scripts and to create fantasies and worlds that test out
their experiences of the world. For a child whose developmental pro-
cesses have been seriously interrupted, adults sometimes need to
provide the bridge to enable the child to connect with other children
and adults.
If children have experienced difficult or extreme events, the aim of
adult communication should be to:
• encourage children to express their feelings;

• give children the words for their feelings;
• provide the correct information and clear, honest, appropriate
explanations of events.
When to find additional support
Sometimes extra help will be needed. The presence of some of the

following behaviours (adapted from Daycare Trust 1998) may indicate
that a child is less able to cope and may need additional support. It is
important to be aware of cultural norms regarding the expression of

emotions, and to avoid misinterpreting a child’s actions:
• loss of interest and energy, or being very withdrawn;

• being aggressive or feeling very angry (some refugee children copy
the violence they have seen around them, other children may be
unable to put their feelings into words and use violence as an
outlet);
• daydreaming;
• lack of concentration and feeling very restless;
• repetitive play, drawings or intrusive thoughts about traumatic
events;
• physical symptoms such as poor appetite, overeating, breathing
difficulties, pains and dizziness;
• failure to thrive;
• self-injury or self-abusing behaviour;
• losing recently acquired skills, for instance the ability to keep dry at
night;
• nightmares and disturbed sleep;
• crying and feeling overwhelming sadness;
• being nervous and fearful of things, such as loud noises;
• having difficulties forming relationships with other children;
• delayed or inconsistent development.
It is essential that parents and carers are involved in any decisions

to seek additional support. Parents may be able to provide additional
insight into children’s behaviours which will help in deciding
whether or not referral is the next step. Again, parents are only likely
to be able to provide information if a good relationship has been
established.
One local authority has two initial points of referral for early years
staff with concerns about refugee children’s welfare. The first service
is the ethnic minority achievement service’s early years advisory
team. If an early years setting in the voluntary or statutory sector has
any concerns about a child’s progress an adviser will work with staff
on a language assessment. At the same time, the special educational
needs advisory service is able to advise if there appear to be issues
relating to behaviour or psychological well-being. An individual plan
for the child can be created to provide a framework to enable issues to
be addressed. Referrals can also be made to child and adolescent
mental health services.
Practitioners working in child mental health services with asylum-
seeking and refugee children stress the importance of multi-agency
working, such as that described above, to ensure that there is good
What works 73
communication that works in the best interests of the child (Davies

and Webb 2000).
Sometimes, dedicated and focused action from the setting itself is
all that is needed. For example, a 4-year-old Somali boy at an under
5s centre refused to participate in activities or cooperate with staff or
other children. Staff were increasingly concerned at his disruptive
behaviour. They decided that, rather than continue to ignore his
behaviour, an approach that was clearly not working, his key worker
would give him at least ten minutes’ individual attention each day.
It quickly became clear that the new strategy was effective, with the
boy more able to join in group activities – but also that this was not
a short-term intervention. The individual sessions continued for five
months, consisting of play activities that were chosen by the child,
over which period it emerged that the boy had witnessed the shoot-
ing of his father. With the support of dedicated, sensitive staff
he was able to begin to come to terms with his experience (Hyder
1998: 95).
There may be other behavioural issues that manifest themselves.
Richman (1996) notes that:
• some children will be frustrated and insecure as a result of their

unfamiliarity with toys, books, routine, foods and behaviours in the
setting;
• some children may exhibit extreme fear of loud noises or of groups
of men or men in uniform;
• some children may appear ‘overactive’ or ‘silly’; this poor concen-
tration and restlessness is another way in which children manifest
their feelings.
Many of these behaviours will disappear after some time in the set-
ting, where there are opportunities for children to come to terms with
their feelings through play and other activities.
Tackling discrimination
Children need to feel valued and be free from discrimination. Where the
registered person and staff are committed to equality they recognise
that children’s attitudes to others are established in the early years. They
understand relevant legislation and plan to help children learn about
equality and justice through their play. The provision is carefully
organised and monitored to ensure that all staff and children have
access to the full range of activities. Family members and staff work
together and share information, for example, about cultures, home
languages, play activities and children’s specific needs.
(Full Day Care: Guidance to the National Standards: 41 OFSTED 2001)
There is considerable press coverage of issues of asylum. Hardly

a day goes by without some mention of asylum issues, whether it
is a story about individual experiences in the country or more statis-
tics or statements from the government. The majority of press
coverage is negative, and it can sometimes seem as if refugees are
now scapegoats for almost everything that is wrong in the UK. It
would be surprising if early years workers were not affected by this
coverage.
Hence, a commitment to anti-racism has to be integral to all early
years activities, including play activities, and must be central to the
general ethos of any early years setting. Any negative behaviours or
comments about asylum-seekers and refugees, perhaps from other
parents or from other children, must be tackled immediately. At the
same time it is important to work on issues of self-esteem through
play.
Siraj-Blatchford and Clarke (2000: 80) write about the importance
of play both as a medium of expression, and as a means of building
the self-esteem of young bilingual children:
Early childhood staff have a critical role in planning an

environment which encourages children’s learning through
play. Staff need to be aware of providing a wide variety of
opportunities for all children . . . Staff need to facilitate this
play by encouraging children to join in with their peers and
supporting interactions without controlling them.
Training on anti-discriminatory and inclusive practice is a key

element of successful strategies for countering racism and other forms
of discrimination in the early years (Lane 1998). It is especially
important in the light of the experiences of many refugee and asylum-
seeking families in the UK.
Each setting should have policies in place to reflect commitment to
equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice. Policies
should be constructed with the involvement of whole staff teams,
managers and parents, and should be regularly reviewed. As well as
stating a commitment to equity for groups who may experience dis-
crimination with reference to appropriate legislation, a policy should
also give details about how the ethos and values of the setting
are demonstrated in staffing, in relationships and interactions with
carers and children, and in choice of play resources and other
materials.
Actions which will be taken as a consequence of discriminatory
practice or comments need to be clearly spelt out. Commitment to act
on the policy has to be backed up by regular review and discussion of
What works 75
the policy. Policies should be live documents that are easily accessible
to all (see Lane 1998).
For settings aiming to develop their work with asylum-seeking and
refugee children and families, training has been found to be very
helpful. A number of agencies are able to offer information and
insight into best practice with children and families. This can range
from information about the asylum process to welfare entitlements
and advice; the role of child and adolescent mental health services;
the role of local agencies and multi-agency working; curriculum
planning for children with English as an additional language; and a
focus on healing and restorative play activities within the curriculum.
Work with young children on anti-racism is also possible through
play. Louise Derman-Sparks (1989) has written about the ‘anti-bias
curriculum’, which through play-based activities with children from
2 years onwards describes how to create opportunities to enable chil-
dren to learn to appreciate difference in others and also to value
themselves. The aim of this method is that children learn to feel
unique and special, but not at the expense of feeling superior to
others: ‘Through learning about each other and appreciating their
diversity, children recognise that teasing, harassing and abusing one
another is unfair and hurtful’ (Brown 1998: xiii).
Children themselves become activists for equality as they begin to
question the discrimination and prejudice they see around them. A
video aimed at practitioners in the UK highlights the principles of
anti-discriminatory approaches and inclusion in early years practice
(Brown 2004).
Other ways to support refugee children
Build secure relationships
At the heart of rebuilding children’s belief in the world is the con-

nection with a caregiver who knows and can see the whole child. A
professional relationship with a young child is based on building
an attachment that recognizes and responds to the interests and
personality of the child. Play is at the heart of such a relationship.
Build upon routines
When life has been chaotic, routines can help a child regain control.
When a child knows what to expect next, where to go and what to do,
they begin to take control of their environment and not feel subject to
whatever is forced upon them.
Build self-esteem
Young children require opportunities to see themselves and their

actions reflected back in the words and reactions of others. When this
happens gradually over time, children begin to build a sense of self.
Again play offers the perfect opportunity within which to do this.
Sims et al. (2002) outline key features of good practice when sup-
porting refugee children in an early years setting. From the responses
of early years practitioners in Australia, they note the importance of
the following factors: consistency in care in the setting; ensuring
calmness; an anchor or key person as essential; and providing outlets
for powerful emotions: ‘One caregiver talked about doing painting
activities with thick string that the children whacked onto paper, and
punching a pillow’ (2003: 107). Staff training and support were also
seen as important, especially in terms of providing more information
about refugee experiences, strategies for supporting children and
anti-discriminatory programmes.
Conclusion
This chapter has set out the core principles that form the foundation
of effective support for refugee children in the early years. The role
of play as a way for children to make sense of and come to terms
with experiences has been stressed. We have considered the notion of
resilience, that places early years experience and play provision as a
protective mechanism for refugee children.
The other underpinning principles of the need for space, time,
communication and good professional and personal relationships,
coupled with a commitment to tackle discrimination through play
and policies, have also been discussed.
5
LESSONS FROM PRACTICE: THE

ROLE OF PLAY
Much of children’s learning is promoted through planned play

activities. Play, according to Vygotsky, is a revolutionary activity
because it involves original, creative ways of thinking in imaginative
situations which in turn heighten cognitive performance. Through
individual and group play children can learn and consolidate social
and physical skills, share ideas, experiences and feelings, explore,
experiment and create. We enrich the quality of their play and
learning by providing a well-planned curriculum that effectively
teaches children the skills and strategies they need, promotes
problem solving and decision making, and strikes a balance between
child-initiated and adult-directed activities. It is accessible to everyone
and enables all children to feel self-confident, proud of themselves
and their families without feeling superior or inferior to others. A
project on ourselves and other people, for example, could encourage
all children to talk and to draw (older ones could write) about
themselves – their names, their physical features, their family,
their friends, their cultural practices, their favourite foods, music,
toys and games.
(Brown 1998: 50/51)
This chapter will examine curricula that promote play. It will consider
good practice to support play and how different early years services,
including Sure Start, respond to the play and other requirements of
refugee children. It will outline a range of play activities of particular
benefit to asylum-seeking and refugee children.
Curricula that promote play and good practice
When considering the many forms of play as described in the earlier

chapters, are there some forms of play that are more beneficial than
others for children affected by war and conflict?
As has been discussed already, our understanding of what consti-
tutes play is so broad that definitions can include exploration, games
with rules, symbolic games, fantasy play and more. In addition to
this, play can be a solitary activity, or with a partner or in a larger
group. Adults can initiate, direct, observe or reflect and participate in
many ways. So what does a well-planned curriculum for refugee
children look like?
The Birth to Three framework published by the Department for
Education and Skills (DfES 2003) offers some important points when
thinking about the best approaches to planning play for all children
under the age of 3. The principles underpinning Birth to Three place
emphasis on the development of a strong child, who is a skilful com-
municator, a competent learner and a healthy individual. The holistic
nature of young children’s learning is stressed, as is the need for sensi-
tive and responsive relationships between young children and their
caregivers. Play is seen as a central means through which children
explore and come to understand their worlds and their relationships.
Very young infants will explore and play with the world through
their senses. Sight, smell, taste and touch are key sensory experiences
and children will start to play with other people and things around
them initially using their senses. Trevarthen (1979) has described how
babies make determined efforts to interact and respond with the
people and objects around them – if adults have enough attention to
notice these efforts.
Gopnik et al. (1999) noted how infants are predisposed to explore
and understand their environments and how this information shapes
their understanding of the world. Infants learn to understand the
objects around them as they are described and introduced by adults
and also through their abilities to manipulate and use their senses to
understand objects.
What this means is that ‘the close intertwining of early develop-
ment requires that play experiences can be used by the child in a
range of ways. When planning play experiences, practitioners should
ensure that the social and emotional aspects of play are considered as
well as the physical, cognitive and linguistic aspects’ (Manning-
Morton and Thorp 2003: 11).
The foundation stage also offers a useful set of principles beneficial
for refugee and other children. It provides a good framework
for developing play-based activities for young asylum-seeking and
Lessons from practice 79
refugee children. It states: ‘Well-planned play, both indoors and out-

doors, is a key way in which young children learn with enjoyment
and challenge. In playing, they behave in different ways: sometimes
they will describe and discuss what they are doing, sometimes they
will be quiet and reflective as they play’. It also states in its basic
principles of planning for learning that account must be taken of
children’s ‘social, cultural and religious backgrounds, children of
different ethnic groups including refugees and asylum seekers and
children from diverse linguistic backgrounds’.
The role of the practitioner is crucial in planning and resourcing a
challenging environment by supporting children’s learning via
planned play activity; by extending and supporting children’s spon-
taneous play; and by extending and developing children’s language
and communication through play. Again, the role of play is acknow-
ledged as central to children’s learning and development. Practical
examples building on the principles set out in the foundation stage
are included later in the chapter.
The most important point is that the early years curriculum should
offer opportunities for many types of play and learning to happen
throughout the day. Therefore, intense imaginative play needs to be
one element of a day that also contains opportunities for exploration,
dance, drama, music and games as well as investigation of the world
and time spent on developing an understanding of social and
emotional relationships.
Right from the start
If you currently work with refugee populations, there are several things
that you can put in place in order to support families as they arrive.
An important starting point is to map local resources and sources of
support and information. Useful information would include:
• lists of GPs and local health services;

• local refugee community organizations;
• lists of approved interpreters and translators;
• details of local faith groups;
• details of the local racial equality council;
• relevant voluntary sector organizations to help with welfare or
immigration queries, and national organizations such as the Refugee
Council;
• details of local adult education classes, especially English classes;
• details about school entry or transfer;
• details of play provision.
Information in relevant languages is very important for refugee

parents who may be excluded from the usual networks. It is import-
ant to remember that more than 70 per cent of the world is bi- or
multilingual. While it may be hard to find interpreters and translators
proficient in every language spoken by families, there may well be
language groups or some languages that are commonly understood.
For instance, basic Arabic is understood by families from a range of
countries, although its form varies from region to region.
Induction/settling in
Once a child arrives in your setting it is important that a full induc-

tion with the carers takes place. If possible, try to ensure that an inter-
preter is available; perhaps a member of staff or another parent can
help if you are unable to find an approved interpreter.
The induction should attempt to cover a range of issues including
the following:
• the child’s preferred name and the naming system used by the
family;
• age and medical history;
• special requirements;
• languages spoken and understood;
• religion;
• position in family;
• earlier play or educational experience;
• likes and dislikes in terms of play activities and foods.
It is important to try to find out about a family’s history but in a

sensitive and non-intrusive way. Many families will have had difficult
experiences with people in authority and will want to build a
relationship with you before deciding to share their stories.
It is important that parents and carers are given practical informa-
tion about starting times, settling in arrangements, any charges,
opportunities to join in, meetings and regular closures as well as the
menu and daily routines. As much information as possible should
be translated.
Some settings do not know if the families using their services are
refugees, because the families may or may not choose to disclose this
information. However, some knowledge of current trends in refugee
arrivals (see Refugee Council website) may help you. For instance, if
you know that a family is from Somalia, they are very likely to be
refugees or asylum-seekers.
Make use of organizations such as the Refugee Council which can

provide information about a range of countries of origin so that you
have details on languages and religious customs, and some idea of
the political situation from which families have fled. See Rutter (2001)
and NUT (2001) for useful information.
If you find that you have families from the same country in your
setting, be careful before assuming that they will have anything in
common. They may well be from different sides of a conflict or from
opposing political factions.
It is important to outline your approach to the curriculum, whether
based on Birth to Three or the foundation stage. A play-based approach
may not be familiar to all parents, as discussed earlier, and it is
important to explain the benefits of a play-based curriculum.
Encouraging belonging through play
When children arrive it is important to help them settle and begin to

feel they belong. For children who may have experienced extreme
events and may be feeling strongly about separating from their
parents, there are certain strategies that can help a child start to feel
welcome. Children can be supported by doing the following:
• letting the child stay near physically;

• getting down to the child’s level;
• encouraging the child to keep eye contact;
• knowing the child’s interests;
• using what the child is interested in to help them settle;
• staying physically near, but keeping quiet as the child begins to
reach out and talk with other people. (Bruce 2001: 70).
The importance of language and play
Language is an important part of culture and identity. Studies have

shown that when children maintain their home language, this
contributes towards their sense of self-esteem and competence.
The speech and language of young children is often extremely sen-
sitive to their environment and emotional state. Those who have
been through distressing situations may lose their speech temporarily,
or may only speak within the family.
Children will begin to feel at home and valued if they see or
hear their family language in the setting. Bilingual books, tapes with
stories and music and dual language labels can help children feel
comfortable. Children must have the chance to become fluent in

their home language before they become competent in English. Non-
directed play with peers is a good way to encourage this competency.
Opportunities to acquire English are best supplied within the set-
ting or the classroom, with peers providing opportunities for inter-
action in English. Children new to English are likely to pick up the
vocabulary of the playground or informal contact before that of any
instruction.
Children may say little or nothing in English at first, but they will
be observing others and gain the confidence they need to start. There
will be considerable variation between learners, so it is important
that practitioners are familiar with the stages of language acquisition
and do not confuse them with signs of developmental delay or
trauma.
It is also important to learn key words in the child’s first language,
particularly greetings. Let refugee children teach you and the other
children some words in their home language. Others in the group
can be guides or buddies to non-English speakers (Rutter and Hyder
1998).
The key worker: a guide to play
The ‘key worker’ system used in many early years settings ensures that
a child can begin to establish a close and trusting relationship with
one person. This is particularly important for refugee children, who
may have lost many of the significant adults in their lives. Through
the creation of a safe and secure relationship, key workers can help
children explore through play.
Tina Bruce (2001) writes about the importance of adults as a
catalyst for children’s free-flow play. Adults can take part in a number
of ways:
• by supporting the child’s play agenda – where the adult participates in

the play, joins in and acts out a role;
• through verbal guidance – when the adult makes comments and
reminds children about the storyline or points out interesting
avenues;
• participation in storylines – by helping children to act out familiar
stories;
• creating imaginative play with props – by using puppets or guided
imagery.
As children arrive in the group it is often best to observe play and to

indicate to children that you are ready to take your lead from them.
Sims (2000: 7) describes how one caregiver used a strategy whereby
she found one toy that the child enjoyed, and made a point of playing
with that toy near the child as often as possible, encouraging the child
to join her. Any play together was initially focused on the toy. She
found that spending enjoyable time together (although initially
solely toy-focused) gradually evolved into a trusting relationship. She
emphasized that this change took a long time but rated it as a very
effective strategy.
Tackling racism, supporting identity and valuing

diversity through play
Maintenance of cultural links and identity is important to all

children. Refugee children need to be grounded in their first language
and culture, to see being Somali, Afghani or Kurdish as something to
be proud of. Cultural identity is typically established by the age of 5
for people operating, as refugees are, in more than one culture. There
are three important aspects of ‘cross-cultural competence’. These are
self-awareness, knowledge of information specific to each culture and
skills which enable the individual to engage in each culture. Children
are particularly skilled at operating in more than one culture and in
using language appropriate to a specific setting. They may acquire
English and an understanding of UK culture far faster than their par-
ents and carers. However, as mentioned previously, refugee parents,
unlike other migrants, may place particular stress on children
maintaining cultural identity and adhering to tradition because
such families often hope to return once the political situation has
changed. In some cases, families will have experienced persecu-
tion and oppression because of their identities, and therefore
place even more importance on the maintenance of identity when
in exile.
It can be particularly distressing for refugee parents if children
appear to be uninterested in, or even worse to be positively reject-
ing, their language and identity. It is important that even young
children are supported to maintain their cultural connections. This
may mean ensuring that children’s play experiences incorporate,
where possible, the stories, folk tales, games and music of the
community.
Children from refugee and asylum-seeking families need to see play
resources that reflect a range of family groups. For example, a mother
and her children, or children living with grandparents. Children also
need to see other children enjoying translated folk tales, or dancing to
music that is a family favourite. This will contribute to the feeling that
they are accepted, have something to offer and that home is not
something to be ashamed of. As part of this process, books, posters,
puzzles, games and toys must be evaluated for messages about diver-
sity to ensure they contain positive, realistic and accurate images that
are not stereotyped or exotic (Lane 1998).
Research has shown that children as young as 2 or 3 are aware of
difference and begin to develop positive and negative feelings about
difference (Brown 1998). It is important that early years practitioners
support children to notice similarities and differences in the way
children and adults look, speak and dress in their family groups and to
see difference as positive. Unless work is done by early years educators
on valuing diversity from the start, children will absorb the implicit
and explicit messages about what is supposed to be ‘normal’ in
society.
Resources for play
There are many ways to support diversity in the early years setting
through the provision of a range of play resources and activities.
Home corners are a vital and adaptable part of any early years setting.
As well as reflecting a variety of homes, home corners can be trans-
formed into airports, hospitals or launderettes. They offer opportun-
ities for children to act out situations they have experienced (e.g.
arriving in the UK at the airport) and/or are currently experiencing
that are new and strange (e.g. using a launderette).
In addition they can also reflect the way things are done at home.
Many settings already use a range of cooking and eating utensils such
as chopsticks and pots to make tea. Other props are also useful. Model
food can be made from clay or Playdough or bought from educational
suppliers. All offer a useful starting point for children and staff. There
are many other examples.
A range of realistic-looking plastic breads from around the world
presents early years workers with the basis of an exciting theme and
is an important adition to the home corner. Models of injera from
Ethiopia and Chinese steamed buns as well as rye, white and whole-
wheat bread provide opportunities for children to say to each other,
‘My family eats this’. Making the real thing is the next step, and this
provides children with the chance to smell, taste and be involved in
food preparation.
Home corners without the usual miniature tables and chairs offer
children the chance to sit on the floor or on low stools and to take tea,
eat and talk as they have seen their parents and grandparents do.
Home corners can be hung with inexpensive decorative cloth that is

familiar and attractive, while a wide range of dressing-up clothes
can be provided with a stress on everyday clothes from a range of
communities. It is important that dressing-up clothes are not just
exotic, but represent a realistic range of styles from different com-
munities as well as allowing children a way to take on roles and
develop imaginative play skills. Clothes can be bought from sup-
pliers or made, a role that may offer refugee parents a chance to get
involved.
Music and dance are also enjoyed by all children and offer
opportunities for expression regardless of language skills. Very young
children below the age of 2 may respond to music from the home
environment. A collection of music from different countries will
reassure children, particularly when they are settling in to the centre.
A wide range of instruments allows children to experiment and play
(Hyder 1998).
Play-based activities
In one early years centre, a brother and sister dived under the table every
time they heard loud noises or planes overhead. They had recently
arrived from a refugee camp. Staff discovered that this was because of an
incident when the family were under attack, and to reduce this fear
devised a series of activities around the theme of feelings, using stories,
puppet shows, music, dance and discussion as well as painting,
model-making and imaginative play. Without introducing specific
information about being pursued or shot at, or about bombs or shelling,
which might have been distressing, the opportunity was offered to talk
in small groups about ‘what scares me’, ‘what makes me happy’, ‘what
do I feel like if someone shouts at me or calls me names’.
(Hyder 1998: 97)
This section will consider some examples of play activities that may
be of particular benefit for young refugee children.
Diana Brandenburger (2001), an art therapist who works with
refugee children and early years practitioners, suggests some activities
that could be beneficial. Free, undirected activities using sand, water,
clay or ‘gloop’ are tactile and healing. No end product is required and
the exploratory and creative opportunities mean that children can
safely explore the properties and potential of the materials without
feeling any pressure to create an end product. Children new to
English can play alongside English-speaking peers and so start to hear
English informally.
Mask-making and role-play are also very positive experiences for
young children who have undergone extreme situations. They

provide safe, structured opportunities within which to explore anger,
rage or hatred or other powerful feelings. Good and evil, power
and powerlessness can also be explored safely in drama and focused
role-play.
Persona dolls
Another activity that can be used to introduce the experience of being

a refugee into the early years setting is a persona doll (Brown 2001).
This is an almost child-sized doll that arrives in an early years group
with a story to share and problems to solve. Adults introduce the doll
giving his or her biography.
Starting with simple information about family and favourite
activities, adults can introduce more complex issues, such as dis-
crimination or exile, for children to reflect upon and discuss.
Situations such as the birth of a new sibling, going to the dentist,
death and separation can be introduced naturally and safely.
Young children invariably respond positively to the doll and can
empathize with it. One way such dolls have been used is when a new
child, perhaps a refugee or asylum-seeker, is about to join the group. A
doll with the persona of a newly-arrived refugee can tell its story and
the children in the group can begin to think about what those experi-
ences of fighting and constantly moving and arriving in a new coun-
try must be like, and can think together about how best to welcome
their new friend. Brown (2001) notes that sessions with persona dolls
are very empowering for children as they are giving their own per-
spectives while trying to understand the world from someone else’s
point of view.
Story boxes
Story boxes build on the idea of story props and have been developed
by Helen Bromley (2000). A story box is a shoebox equipped with
props. Children are able to create ‘small worlds’ using whatever
materials are available. Bromley proposed that children be enabled
to make their own boxes – drawing on whatever material they
choose – and so be enabled to tell their own stories.
Boxes can be given to children already partly equipped, and chil-
dren can either develop their own stories or work in groups. The
box can be decorated with a particular scenario – for instance, it
could be a beach with shells and sand or a launderette with model
washing machines made out of matchboxes. They are used as

prompts to encourage storytelling and are a good catalyst for literacy,
communication and play.
In one school, with a high number of refugee children, a teacher
decided to create a story box that contained camouflage and two
tanks. A young Kosovan child in the class really responded to the
props. She told the story of tanks coming to her village and also
produced a range of other materials in response to the box, including
drawings and a poem.
Multi-sensory play
Sarah Potts (2003) describes the benefits of multi-sensory play for a

Year 1 class with a significant number of refugee children. A multi-
sensory curriculum is one that operates with reference to a range of
learning styles (visual, auditory and kinaesthetic). It aims to provide
‘first-hand experiences and learning in a sensory environment’ (Potts
2003: 26).
Lights and visual resources are used to label, display and signpost
(e.g. lights in the shape of a letter for visual learners); music and
rhyme are used for auditory learners to access all areas of the curric-
ulum; and kinaesthetic learners are supported through a sensory and
tactile environment. There is an emphasis on learning outside, using
everyday outdoor equipment such as hoops, bikes, chalk, paint,
skittles to teach across the curriculum. Multi-sensory play requires
planning and preparation to deliver the curriculum in an active and
participative way. Therefore, imaginative application of a range of
materials and props such as dressing-up clothes, carpet tiles with
numbers, small world materials will enable curriculum goals to be
realized.
The multi-sensory approach requires an assessment of children’s
learning styles and is appropriate for children with a range of styles
– it is especially appropriate for kinaesthetic learners. Sarah Potts
(2003: 27) notes that:
The development of traditional Foundation materials and

provision in Year One, eg the role-play area, small-world area
and construction areas, sand and water trays, proves to be of
particular benefit to refugee children and children at the initial
stages of English.
Many refugee children in Year One are not only new to
UK school but to any schools as most countries do not offer
formal education until the ages of 6–7. Areas which allow for
increased opportunities to interact with other children in a

non-threatening environment not only help to alleviate some
initial anxieties but also introduce the children to everyday
English in a meaningful way.
Listening to refugee children
By creating opportunities for young refugee children to relive or

reflect on past experiences through play, adults may find themselves
confronted by horrific, arduous or extremely sad stories. How should
an early years worker respond to such revelations, given the fact that
this may be a new experience and one for which they are not
fully prepared?
The main point is that it is vital to let stories emerge naturally,
when a child is ready. Never force children to disclose their experi-
ences through play, but equally do not try to shut off to what they are
telling you:
When adults play with children and listen to their stories, it is

important that the comments the adults make are connected to
the story, rather than to the child’s reality. Many story themes
express the terrible pain of loss and rejection, and it is only
within the safety of the story that the child is able to express
how he or she feels.
(Cattanach 2001: 71)
Cattanach also alerts us to the fact that children establish play frames
before engaging in imaginative play. What this means is that children
signal that they are about to pretend, often through gesture or smiling
and laughing. Cattanach notes that when engaged in play, children
are operating at two levels, with full awareness of meanings and rela-
tionships in both the pretend and real worlds. Children are also adept
at moving between their worlds in a way that adults sometimes find
hard to follow.
The implication for the early years practitioner is that observation is
crucial – children will reveal a great deal in their fantasy and imagina-
tive pretend play, sometimes provoked through the use of props and
resources and sometimes not. Knowing when and how to intervene
comes through listening and understanding, and appreciating
children’s stories.
Conclusion
This chapter has considered how current curriculum frameworks offer

an excellent starting point to promote play with refugee children
from infancy to the end of the foundation stage. The practical actions
that need to be in place to support refugee families as they arrive and
settle their children in an early years setting have also been discussed.
The creation of warm, supportive, responsive relationships between
children and practitioners and the importance of adults sensitively
joining children’s play agendas has been stressed.
We have considered how play can promote diversity and self-
esteem and some examples of play-based activities that may be par-
ticularly effective when working with young refugee children. The
importance of listening to children and understanding all their ways
and means of communication has also been emphasized.
6
WAR AND VIOLENCE IN THE

WIDER WORLD: ISSUES
AFFECTING PLAY
Children are able to deal with complex psychological difficulties

through play. It helps them to integrate the experience of pain, fear, and
loss. They wrestle with concepts of good and evil and express ideas for
which they have no meaning. Children who live in dangerous
environments play ‘the dangerous environment’. The child can take
control of an event by playing different roles and altering the outcome.
In symbolic play children bridge the gap between reality and fantasy.
(Landers 1998: 38)
This chapter aims to examine some of the wider issues surrounding

the rights of young asylum-seeking and refugee children to play.
Particular issues that will be focused on include attitudes towards gun
and superhero play, the impact on adults of working with refugee
children and wider evidence of the restorative nature of play.
Gun play
Practitioners may experience a dilemma when faced with young

asylum-seeking and refugee children who, in their play, appear to be
acting out scenes of violence. This creates a tension for many practi-
tioners who feel strongly that violence in the wider society, especially
violence towards women, could be diminished if young boys were
supported to find alternatives to violent play themes. Now, they may
be faced with a group of children, boys and girls, who appear to bene-
fit from the opportunity to re-enact violent situations and so experi-
ence the healing afforded through the opportunity to play out these
scenes.
War and violence in the wider world 91
Sims et al. (2002: 106) note in their research on supporting refugee

children in early years settings in Australia that:
Most caregivers attempted to redirect gun and knife play. One

caregiver explained how she had once worked with a child to
turn the gun the child had built into a helicopter. Another
talked with groups of children who had regularly engaged in
violent chasing games about alternative strategies they could
use to catch people. Many services operated a gun-free
environment, so children who brought these toys from home
were gently asked to leave them in their bags. One caregiver felt
that acknowledging children’s anger was important, as was
listening and demonstrating understanding.
Penny Holland (2003), in her work on war, weapon and superhero

play, reviews the literature on the links between gun play, super-
hero play and aggressive behaviour in children, especially boys: ‘I
have challenged the view that we can draw a simple connection
between war, weapon and superhero play and aggression’ (p. 14). In
reviewing the available evidence, Holland concludes that parental
attitudes to violence and the practice of physical punishment in the
home are stronger predictors of non-pretend aggressive behaviour in
boys. Added to this, practices of ‘zero tolerance’ towards pretend gun
play, superhero fighting and so on may be counter-productive in
that these prohibitions restrict opportunities, for boys especially, to
develop imaginative play scripts.
Popular culture as depicted on television, in comics, in traditional
stories and myths and legends from around the world is full of images
of the superhero who asserts his or her powers through vanquishing
evil, often through the use of aggression. Many boys respond to these
stories by weaving such themes into their play. Boys appear to benefit
from the support of imaginative play with a superhero theme,
possibly involving the use of make-believe weapons, whether swords
or laser guns.
From discussion with practitioners, Holland concludes that boys
are better able to develop imaginative play on other themes if they are
allowed to indulge in superhero-type play. They will also develop
technological skills as they make play-props to support their play and
will enhance their skills of socialization through being enabled to
engage in superhero play.
Other reported benefits are also of interest to those practitioners
with an interest in supporting asylum-seeking and refugee children.
Holland draws on the work of Broadhead to emphasize the potential
of superhero play as a means to develop friendships. In particular
Broadhead (1992: 48 reported in Holland 2003: 71) notes that chil-

dren with English as an additional language are able to access a super-
hero play theme and so join in with their peers. In addition, Holland
(2003: 70) quotes a practitioner as follows:
I think one of the most useful things about superhero play is

that it can be very, very simple – just chasing. And that means
that children who feel totally insecure can be part of that . . .
when they are admitted that can be the first game. That seems
to be quite crucial. They’re watching it on the tele and they see
other people playing and all they’ve got to do is put a cloak on.
What conclusions can be drawn from the above about how practi-
tioners may choose to respond to the violent play themes that some
asylum-seeking and refugee children engage in?
Initially it seems important to disentangle why different groups of
children engage in weapon and superhero play. For the majority of
the children described above, weapon and superhero play may be
deemed to be an exploration of what it means to be male. Their play is
clearly pretend and does not seem to lead to an increase in real
incidents of aggression, although the evidence here is not conclusive
(see Holland 2003). Furthermore, despite concerns about being seen
to encourage violent interaction – even if in play – there may well be
benefits for boys as this type of play acts as a catalyst for other areas of
development.
For those children who have been exposed to acts of real violence,
whether as witnesses or victims, in the home or in a war zone, acting
out scenes of violence through play can be seen to be more than an
exploration of identity – it represents a need to come to terms with
extreme experiences.
Arguably, this presents an even stronger case for a review of a ‘zero
tolerance’ approach to weapon and war play. At the same time we
need to consider what issues need to be addressed when children who
are playing with violent themes for exploration purposes are doing so
with children who are playing for resolution because of past experi-
ences. Is there a need for concern when one group of children who
appear to be engaged in a process of exploration are confronted with
children for whom the themes of weapons and war really do have life
or death implications?
In other words, is there a danger that the extreme experiences of
one group of children and their need to re-enact and come to terms
with their feelings may somehow ‘contaminate’ the play of others?
The guidelines offered by Holland are useful in this respect. There
need to be clear boundaries between what is real and what is pretend.
Adults must intervene if the script changes in a way that is negative,

and also need to be on hand to extend the play imaginatively to
ensure children gain the full benefit.
Other questions also emerge. For instance, is it acceptable to allow
one group of children to engage in such play, because of their earlier
experiences, and at the same time stop others from exploring such
themes? Practitioners report that it can be highly confusing for refu-
gee children (especially boys) to witness and attempt to join the play
of others when that play has a gun or weapons theme.
So what is the answer? Do settings where play with weapons, guns
or superhero themes is supported potentially provide a more healing
environment for refugee and asylum-seeking children? It is perhaps
useful to refer to Penny Holland again. She concludes that it is hard to
measure the benefits of relaxing zero tolerance of war, weapon and
superhero play but the fact that practitioners begin to reflect on the
impact of such a ban and to consider the individual interests and
experiences of the children they work with is in itself beneficial.
On the other hand, the work of Dunn and Hughes (2001: 502)
indicates that by the age of 6, those children who at the age of 4 had
‘an interest in violent play themes demonstrated less socially
developed behaviour including their ability to show empathy’.
Nevertheless, the implication here as noted by Holland (2003: 39)
is that there ‘is not a causal connection between violent fantasy
play and aggressive behaviour but rather . . . imaginative develop-
ment through fantasy play may be implicated in successful social
development and conflict resolution’.
What this means in practice is that practitioners need to do more
than just provide a safe space and encouragement for children to
develop play themes on whatever issues they choose. They must also
promote and extend children’s opportunities for imaginative and
fantasy play. As a result, if issues of violence are explored fully and
children, whatever their life experiences, feel that they have been able
to play, they may be able to move on and explore new themes, and so
develop their fantasy play repertoire.
War, conflict and violence in the news
Another important aspect of the impact of war, conflict and violence

on young children in the UK is the presence of scenes of war and
attack on television. Children who are not asylum-seekers or refugees
are exposed almost daily to news stories about bombings, attacks and
atrocities. For many children, including very young children, being a
witness to scenes of war and terrorism is terrifying. As events escalate
and reporting of large-scale violent events becomes an everyday

occurrence, children’s fears are reflected in their play and in their
questions and observations.
Many have written about the reactions that young children may
have to seeing extreme violence on the television. Following the
events of 11 September 2001 and the destruction of the World Trade
Centre, a 5-year-old child, living in London, asked her mother if there
was going to be war and would the family be killed.
Clearly, events that have worldwide significance or that are particu-
larly horrifying are often reported in great detail. Children may be
appalled, stunned, overwhelmed or indifferent to these events. What
differentiates these scenes from violence in films, computer games
and other fictional accounts is often the reactions of adults. Young
children especially will tune into events on television, not because
they are aware that the violence portrayed is real as opposed to unreal,
but because adults around them are focused and concerned.
An early years teacher at the time of the 11 September events
reported scenes of children playing in groups in the playground, some
standing still and others with their arms spread as planes running and
swooping to crash into their friends. This play re-enactment was met
with confusion by teachers. Some thought this type of play was nega-
tive and disrespectful behaviour to those that had been killed. Others
felt, as the school had Muslim pupils, that it could be interpreted
as provocative. Others expressed the view that it was important for
children to be able to play out, in whatever way they felt appropriate,
their reactions to the events.
Wherever the individual stands on these issues, what is important
to remember is that global violence is more likely to increase than
decrease and even the youngest children will react to events as they
unfold. What this means in practice is that practitioners need to be
alert and to have a range of strategies ready to deal with issues as they
occur. The dominant subjects of this book have been asylum-seekers
and refugees – but it is sometimes too easy to see the lives and experi-
ences of these children as alien and out of the ordinary. No doubt
many refugee children will have experienced and witnessed extreme
violence. Nevertheless, it is worth bearing in mind that violence also
impacts on all children even if only as witnesses.
Hamblen (2002) describes some of the responses young children
may express if exposed to violence, even if this violence is reported
on television. Children can manifest fear and increased anxiety,
and be unable to concentrate. They may also become emotionally
frozen – unable to react appropriately. They may experience sleep
difficulties, seek adult attention and contact more frequently,
and may regress.
As you will note, many of these reactions are similar to those of a

child who has had direct exposure to violent events. The advice given
to parents and caregivers is helpful for all those working with young
children who have been exposed to violence either directly or
indirectly. It includes: maintaining children’s routines for sleeping
and eating; maintaining a calm atmosphere in the child’s presence;
helping children to give simple names to big feelings; talking about
events in simple terms during brief chats; and giving simple play
props related to the actual trauma to a child who is trying to play out
the frightening situation (e.g. a doctor’s kit, a toy ambulance).
How it feels to work with refugee families
Blackwell and Melzak (2000) describe the potential response of

teachers in the face of refugee children arriving in school, and this
may also be relevant to early years practitioners. They state that:
When children are unhappy or suffering, teachers want to

help – to alleviate the pain, to quell the rage and anguish and to
find constructive solutions to the children’s problems. They are
therefore likely to be perplexed and even distressed by children
to whom it is extremely difficult to give something good: chil-
dren whose hurt it is so difficult to reach, and whose pain is so
great it is impossible to alleviate in the short term, and whose
rage is so great that when it comes out it is quite uncontrollable.
(p. 10)
Some early years practitioners with experience of working with

asylum-seeking and refugee children and families may have such
feelings. In the midst of all the complex demands of working with
children and families, with increasing requirements to plan, assess
and monitor it can be exceptionally difficult to find the energy to
respond to a group of children whose experiences are so profound and
whose behaviour may require so much attention apparently at the
expense of other children.
Another issue that Blackwell and Melzak discuss is that the media
portrayal of refugees can influence the way children and families are
viewed in the school or setting. Over the years I have encountered a
range of practitioners who have had to come to terms with difficult
feelings aroused by working with asylum-seekers and refugees. These
feelings can range from guilt and helplessness at not being able to put
right or wipe out the experiences that the children have had to anger
or annoyance at the fact that families just disappear after so much
input, often as a result of decisions about asylum applications. In

addition, some people are uncertain about how to react when families
turn up who are not cowed or worn out by their experiences and who
demand the best for their children. And, whether we like it or not,
media coverage is insidious in its constant portrayal of asylum-seekers
as scroungers and cheats.
All that can be said is that all of the reactions above are understand-
able. In the end, all early years practitioners have a responsibility to
do the best for all the children they work with. Good practice is about
meeting the individual needs of every child. This is the best approach
when thinking about how to support young asylum-seeking children
and their families.
Creating opportunities for play in the early years: the

impact on the community
David Tolfree (1996) has written about the impact of war and conflict
on communities and notes that from a child’s perspective there are a
range of activities to recreate a normal life that will ‘restore playful-
ness’ within the child. Tolfree stresses the fact that a range of thera-
peutic approaches such as individual psychoanalytic interventions
may be suitable within one community but will not be appropriate
within another. This is because the psychoanalytic approach has
developed within a particular historical and social context and its
focus is very much on the individual. However, many communities
around the world have developed without the same focus on the
individual and the personal. Within some communities there are
collective rituals that provide opportunities for healing that need to
be experienced by children in order to ‘restore playfulness’. The
main point is that countries such as those that have experienced
conflict and war will not find it helpful for aid agencies to import
psychosocial interventions that have no resonance in the local
community. Instead, communities need to find ways to heal and
restore normal life that make sense within their religious and cul-
tural traditions.
Tolfree describes different approaches from around the world to
overcoming the impacts of conflict and war. He stresses that the
routes to healing the community, and the individual, will be found in
the community itself. For instance, work in El Salvador is described
when, in response to ongoing civil conflict, an agency initially offered
counselling and psychotherapy. Eventually work shifted towards
training local volunteers to offer a wide range of activities within the
umbrella of ‘mental health activity’. This was because it was noted
that the effects of conflict were not always direct. Use of drugs and
alcohol, domestic violence and child abuse, despair and hopelessness
impacted greatly on the community. Social norms were violated as
the normal means of social regulation and control had been eroded.
The impact on children was that adults were so preoccupied that they
had little time for them. In turn, children had little opportunity for
play as the space, both physical and psychological, was not available.
However, the agency also found that children and young people were
less despairing and more able to look to the future. Hence, young
adults were recruited to provide a spectrum of support activities that
were agreed by the local community. There ranged from co-listening
groups to awareness-raising about domestic violence and the provi-
sion of services for young children, and the community started to
heal itself.
Another example, from the former Yugoslavia, is also useful as it
focuses on early childhood. In 1992, a group of developmental psy-
chologists from the University of Belgrade wanted to assess the
impact of war on young children. Through interviews they discovered
that children were preoccupied and even obsessed with war. This
obsession was revealed in some of their activities such as drawing
with extreme colours and the heavy use of black. Children also
revealed their reactions to war in play. They were rigid and were
unable to elaborate and extend play, and seemed stuck in recreating
and reacting to situations in the past. They also revealed increased
aggression in play. The children thought that war should end in
‘extermination’ and not resolution and reconciliation.
On closer observation the psychologists noticed that the children
were unable to develop and extend play because of all their experi-
ences and the constraints under which they were living. This was
evidenced in the reactions of parents who revealed that they felt less
competent, were isolated and felt a loss of individuality, personal
identity and personal space.
Rather than focus on trauma, an intervention was initiated that
concentrated on solutions. Psychologists convened groups, in the
centres where communities lived, for adults and for children. The aim
was to promote self-expression though crafts and creative activities,
to promote social cohesiveness and to promote capacities and
resilience rather than provide treatment.
Focus on play
One North London local authority recently reviewed its early years
services, (voluntary, private and statutory) and found that despite
being present in the borough there were very few refugee families in
any of the early years services. The reasons appeared to be that despite
the strong play ethos of the smaller voluntary sector groups, a
number of factors meant that families did not use these services.
These included: the small charges that were made for use; the fact that
changes in council funding for these groups meant that free places
could no longer be offered; the lack of practitioners from refugee or
other minority ethnic communities; and the fact that free school
places are available from the age of 3. Therefore, young refugee chil-
dren’s requirements for play as a restorative experience were not
being met. Added to this, despite the fact that a play-based curricu-
lum is used in most early years settings, within schools, the top-
down pressures of assessment mean that the time and space for play
is sometimes restricted.
The early years services, being aware of the numbers of refugee fam-
ilies in the area, have now initiated a series of activities to encourage
families into early years services and are raising staff awareness of the
principles needed to underpin good practice with refugee families and
their children.
Strategies include holding meetings for families in the area using
interpreters to explain the early years services, transition to primary
school and the value of play in the early years. At the same time,
in-service training courses are available for all staff working in set-
tings, providing an overview of the experiences that many refugee
families will have had and also stressing the importance of a
play-based curriculum.
Once families are in a setting, advisory services are available that
provide information about ways to support young newly-arrived
bilingual children through a play-based curriculum. In addition, the
special educational needs service acts as a bridge to access other
mental health services if required, or to help structure an individual
plan to meet the needs of children who may require additional input.
Sure Start services are alert to the importance of supporting refugee
and asylum-seeking children. Initial guidance stresses the need for
culturally appropriate services that fully support families that have
experienced stress. In addition, guidance from the DfES for local
authorities sets out how early years development and childcare part-
nerships should consider how to involve refugee families in planning
and implementation of services. It also states how arrangements
should be in place to ‘provide asylum-seeking and refugee families
with accessible information on local schools and admissions
procedures and early years provision’ (DfES 2000).
Conclusion
This chapter has explored the themes of gun play and the impact of
violence on children in general, as well as considering issues for prac-
titioners when working with refugee children. It has also briefly
described how local services may focus on and respond to the particu-
lar circumstances faced by refugee families in order to make sure that
children can benefit from opportunities to play in the early years.
7
CONCLUSION: PLAY AS A
CHILD’S RIGHT
In war, children usually have little choice but to share the same horrors
as their parents. As wars take on an ethnic, tribal or fratricidal cast,
civilians and their children may find themselves the objects of
genocidal violence. As one political commentator cynically expressed it
in a 1994 radio broadcast before violence erupted in Rwanda, ‘To kill the
big rats, you have to kill the little rats’.
(UNICEF 1996)
For refugee children who have experienced the particular stresses of

organised violence and war, the most therapeutic process is one by
which they are enabled to become part of the community in which they
live. For a child specifically this means finding a school situation in
which they can meet their entitlement to learn, to make friends and to
play.
(Melzak 1995: 117)
This book has:
• described the importance of the early years of life and the import-
ance of early caregiving for young children’s overall development;
• demonstrated the impact of war and violence on young children’s
development;
• considered the crucial role of play in restoring lost childhoods and
as a child’s right;
• outlined what practitioners can do to promote play and support
refugee children and their families.
We have examined how children are affected by violence and war

in many ways. Loss of familiar people and carers through death and
Conclusion 101
violence, profound change as old ways of life and communities are

destroyed and new lives rebuilt and trauma as children try to come to
terms with past events, are all part of the refugee child’s experience.
We have traced the conditions for optimal development for the
child and noted how war and conflict destroy these conditions and
erode children’s rights, including the right to play.
The importance of the early years has been emphasized via a review
of research on early brain development. This work reveals that the
earliest relationships help shape children’s responses and their ability
to interact with the world.
So what do these multiple perspectives on play tell us about the role
and importance of play in children’s lives? Perhaps we can draw the
following conclusions.
First, play is a universal feature of child development, and happens
in all communities which enjoy safety and security, although
attitudes to play and its details will vary.
Second, play is both the way that children express themselves
and the means through which they resolve issues. Moreover, play
is a means by which children learn and hypothesize about the
world. Cultural, social, emotional, cognitive and other areas of
developmental progress cannot be disentangled in this process.
Finally, as argued earlier, play has a role as an important healing
experience for young children affected by war and conflict. This is not
solely about play in isolation, as a process for the individual child.
Play is part of the social fabric of a community and involves a
dynamic learning and developmental exchange between the child
and the world they inhabit. In a very real sense, play can return to the
children of conflict their lost childhoods.
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INDEX
abstract thinking 16 blame 50–1

access to early years services 36–9 Bracken, P.J. 46
‘accommodation’ 16 brain development 10–13
activities, play-based 85–8 Brandenburger, D. 85
adults see caregivers; parents; Bromly, H. 86
practitioner/therapist roles; Bronfenbrenner, U. 8, 9
teachers Brown, B. 75, 77, 86
age Bruce, T. 14, 15, 16, 17–18, 21, 81,
birth to 3 years 9, 10, 12–13, 43–4, 82
70, 78
4–6 years 93 caregivers
risk factors 54 attention/responsiveness 12, 78,
aggressive behaviour 12, 43, 48, 49, 95
50 clinging to 43
Amnesty International 25, 51–2 impact of war and violence 44–5,
anger 50–1 48–9
anxiety/fear 44, 48, 50 interventions in violent play 91
art therapy 20, 85–6 relationship-building 65, 75, 82–3
‘assimilation’ 16 secure attachment 11, 12, 13
Asylum and Immigration Act (1998) training/recruitment 38–9, 76,
31 96–7, 98
asylum-seekers/refugees see also communities/families;
application outcomes 29–34 parents; practitioner/therapist
reasons for flight 26–8 roles
statistics 28, 30 case studies 27–8, 54–5
terminology 4, 24–5 ‘catharsis’ 16
see also children; communities/ Cattanach, A. 21, 88
families; early years services child development 5–6, 8–9
auditory learners 87 brain 10–13
Axline, V. 20 impact of war and violence 43–4,
45–6
behavioural manifestations of stress role of play 12, 13–22
43, 71–2, 73 child psychotherapy movement
behavioural norms, impact of war 20
7–8 child rape 8, 52
behaviourist perspective 16–17 children
belonging, encouraging 81 application outcomes 29–30, 31,
Blackwell, D. and Melzak, S. 95 32, 33–4
Index 109
communication with 69–71 Derman-Sparks, L. 75

impact of war and violence 42–4, detention of asylum-seekers 32–4
45–54 ‘discretionary leave’ 29
National Asylum Support Service discrimination see racism
(NASS) 31, 36 dispersal policy 31–2
rights 3–4, 34, 36, 100–1 dreams 42, 47–8
as victims of conflict 1–4, 25, 34–5 dressing-up clothes 85, 87
whole child perspective 62–4
clinging to carers 43 Early Years Development and
clinical manifestations of stress 43 Childcare Partnerships 38
cognitive development 16 early years services 60–76
and social/emotional development access 36–9
19, 21–2 uptake 97–8
Cohen, D. 13, 15, 19 ‘ecological development’ 8, 9
Cole, E.K.H. 33–4 Edenhammer, K. and Wahlund, C. 71
communication education
with children 69–71 cultural context 39
with parents 65–6 loss of 52
about play 68 right to 34, 36
play as 70–1 see also early years services;
‘scripts’ 16, 71 practitioner/therapist roles;
communities/families 31–2, 35–6 teachers
focus 54–6 Elbedour, S. et al. 41, 44, 54, 55–6
healing 96–7 emotional development 19, 21–2
and identity 22, 39, 46, 83–4 emotional expression 70
impact of war and violence 6–8 emotional support 66–8, 71–3
working with 95–7 endocrine/limbic system
competence 45 development 11
conflict, terminology 4 English language 37, 58, 66
coping strategies 7–8, 45, 50, 54–6, 57 acquisition 82, 91–2
counselling 66, 96 women 36, 38
cultural contexts/differences 42, 71–2 exceptional leave to remain (ELR) 29,
education 39 30
play 21–2, 37, 65, 68–9, 81 excess energy 15–16
see also identity eye contact 71
curriculum, play-based 68–9, 78–9,
97–8 families see communities/families
fear/anxiety 44, 48, 50
dance 83–4, 85 free-flow play 18–19, 82
Daycare Trust 38, 71–2 see also imaginative/make-believe
Declaration of the Rights of the Child 3 play
definitions/terminology 4, 14–15, Freud, A. 19–20, 56, 57
24–5, 41 and Burlingham, D. 49
Department for Education and Skills Freud, S. 16
(DfES) 78, 98
depression gender
childhood 48, 50 girls 32, 34, 52
parental 11, 66 risk factors 54
violent play 90, 91, 92, 93 Klein, M. 19–20

women 8, 34, 35–6, 38 Krogh , Y. and Montgomery, E. 50
good practice frameworks
61–2 Landers, C. 43, 44, 47, 48, 66, 70,
Gopnik, A. et al. 5, 10, 11, 78 90
gun play 90–3 landmines 25, 52
Lane, J. 74, 75, 84
healing language
communities 96–7 assessment 72
and play 18–21, 42, 56–7, 61 development 70
historical perspectives home 81–2, 83
play theories 13–14, 15–19 information 80
refugees 24–6 see also English language
Holland, P. 91–2, 93 learning styles 87–8
home corners 84–5 limbic/endocrine system
Home Office, UK 28, 29, 30, development 11
32–3 listening skills 70–1, 88
Hourani et al. 51 lone parents 35–6
Huizinga, J. 13–14
‘humanitarian protection’ 29 Machel, G. 24–5, 100
Hutt, C. 17–18 mask-making 85–6
Hyder, T. 49, 60, 73, 85 materials/resources 65, 84–5
Rutter, J. and 37, 82 Melzak, S. 51, 55, 58, 100
Hyun, E. 21–2 memory of traumatic events 48–9,
51
identifying with aggressors Mental Health Foundation 63–4
50–1 mental representation 17
identity 22, 39, 46, 83–4 ‘metacommunication skills’ 16
imaginative/make-believe play 12, Molteno, M. 9, 65
17, 18 multi-agency working 72–3
see also free-flow play multi-sensory play 87–8
increased arousal 48 Munro, Dr. Henry 2
indefinite leave to remain (ILR) music 83–4, 85, 87
29 Mutesi, L. 66–8
individual sessions 73
induction/settling in 80–1 National Asylum Support Service
information 79–80 (NASS) 31, 36
lack of 37 nature vs. nurture debate 9
sources 80–1 needs 64–5
instinctual urges 16 vs. rights 3
intergenerational affects of trauma negative feelings about difference
55–6 84
Isaacs, S. 19 neural/synaptic activity 10–11
news media representations
Jebb, E. 2–3 of asylum-seekers/refugees 30, 35,
95, 96
key-worker system 82–3 of violence 93–5
kinaesthetic learners 87–8 numbing of responsiveness 48
Index 111
parents psychoanalytical perspectives 16,

attitudes to physical punishment 18–21, 56–7, 96
91 psychosocial stress 52, 53
communication with 65–6 Pynoos, R.S. and Nader, K. 47, 49, 53,
depression 11, 66 56, 57
lone 35–6
and promotion of play 62, 67, 68, racism 36, 38
81, 97 tackling discrimination 73–5
relationship with child 48–9, 50–1, re-experiencing trauma 47–8
66, 83 ‘recapitulation theory’ 16
torture of 27, 28, 50 recovery
see also caregivers factors 52–3
Parten, M. 17 through play 54–6, 57
peek-a-boo 71 ‘recreational’/‘relaxation’ theory
peers 82, 91–2 15–16
persona dolls 86 recruitment/training 38–9, 76, 96–7,
physical consequences of war on 98
children 51–2, 53–4 referrals 71–3
Piaget, J. 16 Refugee Action 36
play Refugee Council 26, 28, 29, 31, 37,
cultural context 21–2, 37, 65, 68–9, 80–1
81 as information source 80–1
definitions 14–15 refugees
first principles 61, 64–5 definition 25
lack of access 32, 33, 34, 36–9 see also asylum-seekers/refugees
right to 4, 34, 100–1 relationships
role of 12, 13–22 peers 82, 91–2
stages 20–1 practitioner/therapist role 21, 58
taxonomies 17–18 trust 45, 62
play frames 88 see also caregivers; parents
play-based activities 85–8 repetitive play 16, 47, 48
play-based curriculum 68–9, 78–9, stuckness 57–8, 97
97–8 research literature 49–51
popular culture 91 resolution see recovery
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resources/materials 65, 84–5
46, 56 responsibility for events, sense of 44,
see also stress; trauma 51
Potts, S. 87–8 responsiveness
practitioner/therapist roles 78–9, 93 caregivers 12, 78, 95
communication 65–71 numbing of 48
referral 71–3 Richman, N. 46–7, 73
stuckness 57–8 rights 3–4, 34, 36, 100–1
supportive 64, 75–6 vs. needs 3
working with communities/ risk factors 63–4
families 95–7 role-play 85–6
see also caregivers; teachers Roopnarine, J.L. et al. 21, 22, 68
protective factors 63, 64 Rousseau, J. J. 14
protective play 20 routines, building upon 75
Rutter, J. and Hyder, T. 37, 82 manifestations 43, 71–2, 73

Rutter, M. 54, 62, 63–4 post-traumatic stress disorder
Hyder, T. and 37 (PTSD) 46, 56
psychosocial 52, 53
safety/security 9 see also trauma
in relationships 11, 12, 13, 65, 75, stuckness 57–8, 97
82–3 superhero play 91–2, 93
threats to 53–4 Sure Start 38, 98
Salusbury World refugee project 28, surplus energy 15–16
32 symbolic play 16–17, 20, 47, 71
Save the Children 3, 32, 34, 37, 49 synaptic/neural activity 10–11
founding 2–3
Sweden 61 talking 62
schooling see education taxonomies of play 17–18
‘scripts’ 16, 71 teachers 67
self, sense of see identity status 39
self-esteem building 74, 76 see also practitioner/therapist roles
self-initiation 15 television see news media; popular
sensory play 20 culture
sexual violence 34, 36 terminology/definitions 4, 14–15,
child rape 8, 52 24–5, 41
Shore, R. 10, 11, 12 therapists see practitioner/therapist
Sims, M. 69, 83 roles
et al. 76, 91 time, STOP framework 62
Siraj-Blatchford, I. and Clarke, P. 74 Tolfree, D. 61, 64, 96
Skinner, B.F. 16 torture, parental 27, 28, 50
social development 16, 19, 21–2, toys 65, 83
55 weapons 90–3
social networks see communities/ training/recruitment 38–9, 76, 96–7,
families 98
social norms, impact of war 7–8 trauma
space 64–5 concept of 46–7
and structure, STOP framework and play 47–8
61–2 ‘traumatic avoidance’ 56–7
special educational needs services 72, see also stress
98 trust 45, 62
Spencer, H. 15 turn-taking 71
spiritual manifestations of stress 43
spontaneity 15 UNICEF 42, 43, 51, 52, 53, 54
stages in therapeutic play 20–1 United Nations Convention on Refugees
STOP framework 61–2 25, 29
storyboxes 86–7 United Nations Convention on the
stress Rights of the Child (UNCRC) 3–4,
child development perspective 34
11–12, 43–4, 45–6 United Nations High Commission for
coping strategies 7–8, 45, 50, 54–6, Refugees (UNHCR) 24
57
cultural context 42 victimhood, sense of 54
Index 113
violence terminology 4, 41
in play 90–3 see also violence
terminology 4 weapons 24–5
see also sexual violence; war toy 90–3
Vygotsky, L. 17 whole child perspective 62–4
Winnicott, D.W. 20
war withdrawn behaviour 69
impact on carers 44–5, 48–9 women 8, 34, 35–6, 38
impact on children 42–4,
45–54 ‘zero tolerance’ approach to violent
impact on communities 6–8 play 91, 92, 93

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War, conflict and play pb 9/15/04 2:42 PM Page 1

War, Conflict and Play

‘This informative and compassionate book challenges the negative pic-

Tina Hyder highlights the importance of early years and pre-school

• Useful summaries of research on child development, theories of

War, Conflict and Play is essential reading for practitioners in early

Cover design: Barker/Hilsdon

www.openup.co.uk 9 780335 212996

Series Editor: Tina Bruce, Honorary Visiting Professor at University of

The intention behind the ‘Debating Play’ series is to encourage

The ‘Debating Play’ series examines cultural myths and taboos. It

Published and forthcoming titles

Open University Press

and Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2289, USA

First published 2005

Copyright © Tina Hyder 2005

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 335 21299 9 (pb) 0 335 21300 6 (hb)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk

Series editor’s preface vii

1 Children and development: the importance

2 Being a refugee: the loss of play 24

3 The impact of war, conﬂict and violence on young

4 What works: ﬁrst principles to promote play 60

6 War and violence in the wider world: issues

7 Conclusion: play as a child’s right 100

indirect experience of violence can be helped to develop in positive

asylum-seeking and refugee children may be new, and you may be

Conditions were indeed terrible. Children were actually dying

conflict. The organization works in accordance with Jebb’s belief that

I believe we should claim certain Rights for the children and

• non-discrimination (all rights apply to all children);

• participation (children have a right to express opinions on matters

CHILDREN AND DEVELOPMENT:

This chapter begins by looking at what elements need to be in place to

The context for development

The starting point is an examination and exploration of the ideal

child development does indeed reveal that the achievement of full

How war affects communities

In countries and communities where political, social and economic

perhaps emotionally and physically exhausted, and unable to call on

ways. For some people, a coping mechanism will be to flout normally

How children develop

Early brain development

have an overall effect on children’s abilities to relate to others and

The role of play in early childhood development

The development of theories of play

Ancient children played and, in a haphazard way, authors mentioned it.

Cohen’s useful review of the academic literature on play notes the

Huizinga’s history of play reveals that interpretations of play are

It is useful to be aware of the main arguments and theories of play, as

• play as a means of ridding the body of surplus energy or as an

Historical views of play

symbolic behaviours. The symbolic nature of play can be seen as a

The notion of some types of play being of higher value as more is

• is an active process without a product;

Play and healing

From these perspectives, play can be seen as integral to the process of