The pirate in the pump: children's views of objects as imaginary friends at the start of school |
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| Authors: | Caron Carter Caroline Bath |
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| Institution: | 1. Sheffield Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK;2. School of Education, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK |
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| Abstract: | The main aim of this paper is to use a phenomenological approach (Merleau-Ponty, 1962. Phenomenology of Perception. Evanston: Northwestern University Press; Merleau-Ponty. 1968. The Visible and the Invisible: Followed by Working Notes. Evanston: Northern University Press) to contribute a new theoretical understanding of what imaginary friends mean for children in the context of starting school. The paper addresses the specific area of ‘object-friends’ and draws on examples from an empirical and consultative study of a small sample of five and six-year-old children’s everyday experiences of friendship in school. The paper argues that if practitioners consider embodiment approaches and listen attentively to the knowledge and information that children share about their imaginary friends, this could be used to nurture children’s early learning. |
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| Keywords: | Imaginary friends object-friends phenomenology embodiment school |
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