Children’s Research

#2 Then drew a snail and a river in blue across the paper. They added their sibling and themself in the sea. Both were smiling. #2 then gave their parent a cuddle while they were both sitting on the bench and said ‘I love you’ to them. They cuddled for about a minute.

A1s parent had recorded another message (which can be listened to) ‘pronto pronto’ (a common greeting when answering the phone in italian). A1 would then play the message and mimic receiving a phone call by placing the talking tin to their ear. When A1s parent said it was time to leave, A1 repeatedly said ‘no’.

A1s parent had recorded their voice saying ‘mama’ on one of the Talking Tins. A1 was fixated on the tin, and would repeatedly play it. Sometimes, when the recording had stopped, they would look towards their parent trying to catch their attention and repeat ‘mama mama’.

#3 then came out of the pram and took a small green wheelbarrow which they took down the path to the secret garden. #3 then called their parent over and they played a game of ‘Freeze’. The parent would shout ‘FREEZE’ and #3 would stop moving, smiling. Then the parent would shout ‘Unfreeze”.

Pronto is a common greeting when answering the phone in Italian. The child’s mother recorded the message, and the child would play it back while mimicking the action of answering the phone with the tin, exhibiting both symbolic play and roleplay.

While just the child and researcher were present, the child recorded these words of affection toward their mother. We would later play back this message for the mum.