Play is a microcosm of wider society. Through play, children are able to explore what is happening in the world around them. They can develop an understanding of different roles in their community. This story is about a play scene that evolved in the lead-up to the 2025 federal election.
In play, there are often children who seek out exhilaration through the story of conflict. Some children even like to take on the role of an agitator or antagonist in order to stir up trouble and extend the game. Just like in most stories, there is a beginning or orientation where the scene and characters are formed. In our school holiday program, KIN Village, this is at the beginning of the day where children are forming groups and building cubbies, staking claim to spaces and gathering resources. Then, later in a traditional story plot, there is a complication and often some type of conflict. We have seen many times games like cops and robbers start where there is dark and light. Jails are also common, and power gets tested.
The KIN Village Election
At our April KIN Village, a group of boys built a base at the entrance to the cubby zone. They had a hammock and set up rope and pulleys across the pathway to transport their lunch boxes. Some children complained that the cubby was in the way, while these boys complained about others walking through their base.
Instead of asking the boys to move off the path, Trudi, as a playful facilitator, suggested they could charge other children a tax, such as 3 sticks, to pass into the cubby zone like a road toll. This idea was taken onboard enthusiastically, their base had a new sense of purpose. The other children played into this idea for a while until they found it too inconvenient and used different pathways instead. Quite similar to road tolls in real life!
The boys however, did not want to give up their new purpose and motivation to collect payment. So, with a band of others who joined them, they started to go around as ‘tax collectors’. They visited different play places, demanding rocks and other objects as tax payments. The others tolerated this for a while, but after some time it became disruptive of their peaceful construction and exploration. We had a divide. Some children were interested in play agitation and conflict, and others wanted peaceful play. The vibe started to turn towards chaos and riot when a girl asked whether we could have an election to have a president or prime-minister to bring order into KIN Village.
A child proposed the idea to the whole group, and the group approved it unanimously.” Children nominated themselves or others to stand for election and another girl took over organising how the election campaign and voting would work.
Campaigning and Policies
Candidates worked with an assistant to create a sign and work out their election speech. Others helped to gather pieces of bark as voting slips. There were also protests that came very close to riots with chants of “No more taxes, no more taxes!” There was much excitement and the group was keen to gather again quickly for the election.
Candidates were invited to stand up in front of the group, holding their sign and presenting their policies.
“We are for taxes, taxes will stand but we will lower inflation and everyone will be happy. And we will free all jellyfish from their captives. They can run free in their preferred lands. If I’m elected we will call the country Numdor. We will be recruiting big armies. No matter who you are, you will have to play a part but you will be paid fairly, you will be paid fairly. All money will be going to businesses and to building homes and to defence, we will have high defence.” Oscar
“When I arrived at 9am, it was a time of peace and it was a time of freedom. Because of some select people [you are not allowed to point at the other team], there has been an error of war and tyranny. So who actually likes war? If I am elected as Prime Minister of KIN Village, there will be no more taxes, taxes will be slashed away. Now about the whole jellyfish thing, you can keep the jellyfish. Now also the last thing if you vote for me, you might get some extra pillars (no one else can offer that).” Dylan
“Who here likes taxes? What is it about taxes that you like? [Getting money from people]. These right here is what you would walk on if you vote for taxes [puts down a bucket of sharp rocks], this right here is what you would walk on if you vote for no taxes [puts down a beach towel]. What would you rather walk on?” Scarlet
“So Scarlet is saying, if you vote for her you are voting for no taxes. She’s saying that it will be calm and soft but if you vote for the other team, it will be rocky.” MC
“If you vote for me there will be no more taxes and we are going to fundraise to support the jellyfish. We are going to support the jellyfish to make sure they have clean and large aquariums and that they are safe from danger.” Ester
A child, acting as an MC, summarised the policies for the audience. At the end of the speeches, the MC invited them to cast their vote by placing a piece of bark on the name sign of the candidate of their choice.
A New Prime Minister and a Struggle for Peace
Junior facilitator, Dylan was the popular choice, and quickly obtained a group of supporters to help him abolish taxes. It was much harder than he thought it would be, with the pro-tax party not agreeing with any of the changes he decided to put into place. In fact, the play descended into more chaos to the delight of the pro-tax supporters with pool noodle fights. Dylan’s supporters set up a police department and jail in an attempt to control the outlawed tax collectors.
The cubby space with its peaceful hammocks became a refuge for those that wanted peace. This became a hospital for children who either needed to retreat or have minor injuries attended to, including imaginary play injuries. It was ran by a facilitator as well as nurses and orderlies.
As order began to return to KIN Village, the children went back to exploring jellyfish, creating ponds in the sand, whittling and carpentry. The tax collectors however, had escaped from jail and turned into pirates. They were keen to hide their collected treasures and keep the thrill of conflict and havoc to extend their play and keep Dylan engaged in the playful battle for control and power. This play lasted for the rest of the day, right up to clean up time.
Play is Learning
This is not the first time we have encountered children utilising grown-up ideas to bring order to chaos. When children have tried their own strategies but they haven’t worked, they often seek support from adults. Sometimes the way they request support comes in the form of a play idea. “Could we have a president or prime minister?”
When Daniel and Trudi were teaching at Bold Park Community School, just over a decade ago, the same issue arose. This time, the chaos was wars and thievery from a lack of resources. A student came and requested a king, queen, president or Prime Minister for the Wild Space. Trudi said, “Yes” to supporting this play idea and this launched a year-long project investigating the Australian political system.
The class integrated maths and mapping, creating electorate zones around cubbies. They created ministerial portfolios in alignment to the needs of Wild Space play but also to real-life positions. They wrote and gave speeches, created polling booths, and carried out preferential voting. After a visit to Parliament and the Constitution Centre, we established a House of Representatives and Senate, and appointed a Governor General. The students loved the ceremonial parts of processing with the black rod. They were particularly enthusiastic about having a Speaker of the House who could throw disrespectful politicians from the room. The children turned bills into laws and these became the new rules for the Wild Space.
We followed the upper-primary curriculum and then, following the interest of the students, went beyond into Year 9 studies. As the year progressed, we integrated other curriculum areas too. The learning had real value for the children, and application in their present world and into the future.
Play is learning, and children seek out opportunities to play being adults, often adults in power, as a way of practising being what they aspire to become as engaged members of the community. For me this is a repeated story in two different play contexts, different children and essentially a different era (but the same facilitator).
“A prime example of children processing what is going on in the world through play. They see election advertising on TV, as they drive around and on the radio and to process it they create their own elections. It’s always interesting when economies emerge at KIN and the differences between them.” Isaac