The Kaleidoscope of Play in a Digital World

The Kaleidoscope of Play examines how free play manifests in the digital environment, based on a review of literature across multiple disciplines, ranging from social sciences and humanities to human-computer interaction. The review of literature in this report encompasses theory and evidence concerning the design, development and usage of digital technologies by children and young people from birth to 17 relevant to the UK, and with cross-cultural insights.

The report demonstrates that a holistic approach is vital to understand free play in a digital world. It reveals how playful possibilities are shaped by a range of factors: material-functional (products), social-cultural (people) and contextual-situational (places).