This course explores how play, storytelling, and creative expression shape children’s learning and development across diverse educational contexts. 

We will examine how theories of development, culture, and learning can inform teaching practices that recognise children as active meaning-makers, in particular, how educators can listen to and work with children’s stories – through play, art, conversation, and imagination – to design learning environments that are responsive to the students' needs.

Students will learn about interdisciplinary perspectives on play, storytelling, and childhood development drawn from psychology, anthropology, education, and cultural studies. We will explore how storytelling practices can support children’s social, emotional, and academic learning while also helping them interpret their experiences and relationships. Students will also learn how to design learning activities that invite children’s stories and experiences into the classroom in ways that support critical thinking, collaboration, and inclusive participation. 

A placement in a local school will anchor the seminar course and provide students with opportunities to observe classroom interactions, notice how play and storytelling appear in children’s everyday learning, and reflect on the connections between educational theory and practice under the supervision of an experienced UK-based teacher. 

A residential study trip will include a trip to Oxford to visit the Story Museum and Fairytale Farm.

Professor: Kushya Sugarman, Assistant Professor of Education, Mount Holyoke College, ksugarman@mtholyoke.edu