Exploring young children’s meaning making through playdough

Abstract

This study examines how children use playdough to create meaning. Drawing on social semiotics theory, which views humans as sign makers who purposefully create representations to express deeper meanings, this study addresses three research questions: the modes that children use to create their playdough constructions, the themes they illustrate and the meanings they communicate through their representations. The data was collected during twelve observation sessions with a group of 4-year-old children in a Kindergarten II classroom, while they used different types of sensory playdough and a variety of open-ended materials to create constructions. The tools for data collection included observations, fieldnotes, photographs, conversations with the children, semi-structured interviews with their Kindergarten Assistant and reflective journals. The findings of the study reveal that young children use a range of verbal and non-verbal modes when creating their playdough constructions, in order to fully convey their intentions. Being influenced by social and cultural factors, children’s playdough representations portrayed commonalities between themes at the observational level. However young children conveyed profounder meanings through their signs, including: the expression of knowledge, exploring relationships with family members and peers, dealing with issues related to the self, and playing with the moral notion of power. In conclusion, the study brings out the importance of playdough as a medium of intended expression. Consequently, we propose that practitioners should provide young children with open-ended materials, like playdough, to facilitate the creation and communication of meaning about the self and the world around them to others.