Play well

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Spielgut denotes the supply of game materials, toys , game forms, game rules , game traditions that are available for playing.

Traditional toys in an engraving by Daniel Chodowiecki , 1774

term

In combination with the word “Gut” (“precious possession”), the term “Spielgut” comprises all objects that are suitable for playing. These can be natural objects or artificially produced objects (toys). As "play equipment" they form the basis of play. On the one hand, these are prefabricated "toys" intended for a specific playful use that are just waiting to be used, such as balls, dolls , soft toys , rocking horses or tricycles. However, it also includes unstructured "play materials" that only become play equipment once they have been designed by the players, such as building blocks , marbles , carpet tiles , plasticine or scraps of fabric. In a broader sense, play also includes the “play forms” with their traditional set of rules as well as their texts, verses, song forms and action variants that accompany play.

Historical

The history of toys can be traced back as far as the history of mankind. Was that Spielgut yet simple structure in the early days and primarily made on self-game items and spontaneous game actions based so it reaches with the emergence of advanced civilizations considerable proportions in size and quality, such as the motion games , fighting games or board games . Their development allows essential conclusions to be drawn about the peculiarities of the individual cultures and their technical achievements, which have an impact on the most diverse other cultural areas such as poetry, music, art or sport. The publication by the game expert Hein Retter deals in detail with the development of toys and the history of their use in education . The anthology by the journalist Rüdiger Fikentscher traces the development of toys and their cultural effects in a European context, and the authors Sonja Ganguin and Bernward Hoffmann present in their compendium how the digital world in today's computer age affects toys and current gaming characterizes and dominates.

meaning

Even for the toddler, playing is an indispensable form of independent learning: " When dealing with play objects and play material, the ability to observe, perceive and react is expanded and differentiated :" The curiosity instinct inspires exploration behavior . This also applies to the later phases of age, when a person becomes familiar with a technical or sporting device, for example a smartphone , a skateboard or a paraglider .

The type and variety of play items that the individual player, the current gaming community or society has at their disposal, says essentials about the demands of the players, the quality of the game and the level of gaming culture . Movement games expand the movement repertoire and increase physical fitness, mind games train intellectual abilities, social games promote communication and cooperation skills and thus social skills. Spielgut is only an offer that has to be brought to life. Its effectiveness can develop all the better when the set of conditions is recognized and reflected by the players. According to Warwitz / Rudolf, a high-quality game arises above all when the toy is understood not only as a "consumer good" that can be used to kill time for a while, but as a "given with a stimulating character" that can be used for creative own design The following applies: In order to fully exploit the playful possibilities of the existing toys, the players need initiative and imaginative design. No matter how inexhaustible a game supply may seem, it quickly shrinks in reality if there is a lack of game imagination.

Problems

The value or unworthiness of a game and the way it is played is not determined solely by the material game material or the form of the game. The sometimes demonized technical or mechanical toys are not inferior per se. Peace games are not inherently good and war games reprehensible, because the term peace is associated with something positive and the term war with death and ruin: The war games, which are often prematurely ostracized by the apostles of peace, or the games of hate, have, in the opinion of game science , as well as those of Sports game enthusiasts widely rejected peace games, a justified place and fulfill meaningful functions in the broad spectrum of game culture , especially in the educational setting. Apart from the fact that the symbolic character of the criticized games are often misunderstood and transfer assumptions overestimated, it is argued that if the game types intended by the players were banned or even excluded from the diverse gaming landscape , it would mean an impoverishment of the game material or result in a migration to the underground would be banned.

The existing toys are only available to the players. The way they are handled by the players is decisive for the quality of the game and the level of the game culture. It is only as valuable as it has a stimulating character and meets the respective need to play, and it is only as durable as it not only arouses spontaneous interest, but also offers age-appropriate design options:

If the available toys do not offer any playful stimulus and are bored due to their lack of motivational power or the child is overwhelmed in their use, weariness can arise, which leads to refusal to play. Refusal to play often results from oversaturation with an overabundance of toys. When they see toys that are overwhelming or boring, children sometimes practice a new form of "destructive creativity" by destroying the toy or curiously dismantling it: The philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel says with regard to inferior toys: " The most sensible thing, however, is what they What children can do with their toys is that they break the same thing , ”and the play teacher Hans Scheuerl interprets that by taking apart and destroying the toy, the child often seeks its own way of playful confrontation. It practices a game of discovery .

literature

  • Frederik Jacobus Johannes Buytendijk : The essence and meaning of the game . Wolff. Berlin 1933.
  • Hein Retter : Handbook on the history and pedagogy of play equipment . Beltz, Weinheim 1989, ISBN 3-407-83018-1 .
  • Karl Staudinger: Child and Toys . Issue 4, Verlag Ernst Oldenburg, Leipzig 1923.
  • Siegbert A. Warwitz , Anita Rudolf: How play is influenced. Toys . In: Dies .: The sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas . 4th edition. Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016. pp. 161–166. ISBN 978-3-8340-1664-5 .
  • Gisela Wegener-Spöhring: The meaning of "war toys" in the world of elementary school children . In: Zeitschrift für Pädagogik , No. 6/1986, pp. 797–810.

Web links

Wiktionary: Spielgut  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hein Retter: Handbook on the history and pedagogy of play equipment . Beltz, Weinheim 1989.
  2. ^ Johan Huizinga : Homo ludens. From the origin of culture in the game . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1939/2004
  3. ↑ Hein Retter: Handbook on the history and pedagogy of play equipment . Beltz, Weinheim 1989.
  4. ↑ Rüdiger Fikentscher (Ed.): Spielkulturen in Europa . Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 2018.
  5. ↑ Sonja Ganguin, Bernward Hoffmann (ed.): Digital game culture. Kopaed Verlag, Munich 2010
  6. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: What playing can achieve . In: Dies .: The sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas . Cutter. Baltmannsweiler 2016. p. 22.
  7. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: How games are made and why people play . In: Dies .: The sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas . Cutter. Baltmannsweiler 2016. pp. 8-10.
  8. ↑ Hein Retter: Playing - what is that anyway? In: Jürgen Fritz, Programmed for playing war . Campus. Frankfurt 1988, pp. 17, 21
  9. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: Game Creativity . In: Dies .: The sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas . Cutter. Baltmannsweiler 2016. pp. 161–166.
  10. ↑ Frederik Jacobus Johannes Buytendijk : Nature and meaning of the game . Wolff. Berlin 1933.
  11. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: Controversial forms of play . In: Dies .: The sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas . 4th edition. Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016. pp. 126–160.
  12. ↑ Gisela Wegener-Spöhring: War Toys and Computer Games in the World of Elementary School Children: A Crisis of “Balanced Aggression”? In: Titus Guldimann: Education 4- to 8-year-old children , Waxmann, Münster 2005, pp. 169–188.
  13. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: Controversial forms of play . In: Dies .: The sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas . 4th edition. Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016. pp. 126–160.
  14. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: How play is influenced. Toys . In: Dies .: The sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas . Cutter. Baltmannsweiler 2016. pp. 25–35.
  15. ↑ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: Philosophy of Spirit . Complete works, ed. v. H. Glockner. 10th volume. Stuttgart 1929, p. 101
  16. ↑ Hans Scheuerl: The game. Investigations into its nature, its pedagogical possibilities and limits . Beltz. Weinheim-Basel 1979. p. 203.