Benching Playground Loneliness: Exploring the Meanings of the PlaygroundBuddy Bench

Abstract

The buddy bench, a primary school playground implementation designed to eliminate playground loneliness, provides a po-tential strategy to ensure more children reap the positive benefits of elementary school recess. Through children’s artwork, in-depth interviews, and playground observation this ethnographic study explores the socially constructed meanings of the buddy bench and their implications. This methodology advances the communication field by demonstrating how scholars can use children’s artwork to identify and define children’s socially constructed meanings. Findings build on a previous study showing that playground buddy benches can offer effective playground interventions and demonstrate that the presence of a buddy bench on the playground creates shared meanings of solidarity, inherent worth, empowerment, and a shift in focus from playground bullies to buddies amongst the children. This leads to a perceived climate change on the playground. These shared meanings reshape children’s narratives about themselves, loneliness, and the playground experience in a positive manner.

Keywords

• Playground interventions
• elementary school
• social construction theory
• narrative theory