EXPLORATION OF ACTIONS AND LITERACIES: A NEXUS ANALYSIS OF DISCOURSES WITH TOYS, MEDIA, AND TECHNOLOGY DURING ONLINE IMAGINATIVE PLAYGROUPS

Abstract

Play has always been central in the lives of children. However, the decline of free play opportunities for children has become a noticeable trend in the current years (Digennaro, 2021; Gray et al., in press). During the pandemic, children turned to online environments to find entertainment and socialization. However, the online spaces available for children were adult-invented worlds or pre-constructed games that had an end goal, which made me question: Could there be an online space where children meet for playgroups similarly to in-person, where children share their toys, chat about their interests, and engage in imaginative play? This study utilized technology to expand a child’s playroom to include friends who could not be nearby but still wanted to engage in imaginary play with physical toys, addressing the parallels of their play worlds and connections they make with one another surrounding their favorite toys, media, and stories. Throughout this study, I utilized nexus analysis to investigate children’s imaginative play in a unique setting, deviating from the traditional, of an online space through Zoom, as children mediated shared discourses and literacies to expand the definition of local by converting distant interactions into a common, shared space, allowing endless imaginative play opportunities across the nation. By analyzing children’s play I interpreted several components of children’s online imaginative play experiences to include– mediated actions, literacy Discourses, digital literacies, online restrictions, and media incorporations– across their play avenues as children moved back and forth between digital and non-digital realities during their participation in online imaginative playgroups. Future implications for this research include several exciting possibilities to implement online playgroups within other social groups, such as mobile families, homeschoolers, hospitals, public schools, and libraries, as well as looking at additional group dynamics such as gender, multiculturalism, and age of participants.