Liberated through teddy bears
Resistance, resourcefulness, and resilience in toy play during the Covid-19 pandemic
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4824519 |
|---|---|
| Authors | K Heljakka (0000-0002-4534-5286, University of Turku, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 387-404 |
| Publication date | 2021-10-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Play (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2159-4937 • E-ISSN: 2159-4953 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/21594937.2021.2005402 |
| OpenAlex | W4200490153 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 8 |
As a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Finnish citizens started to display teddy bears in their windows. As this activity gained media interest and popularity, it grew into a transgenerational form of toy play, where children and adults participated as displayers and spectators in this visual-material play pattern, made available to a broader audience through sharing on social media. A previous phase of the study articulated and analyzed the phenomenon as an act that facilitates mental well-being through imagination, participation, and playing for the common good (Heljakka, 2020). By theorizing and framing the phenomenon as pandemic toy play, the researcher suggested the importance of resistance, resourcefulness, and playful resilience in times of forced self-isolation and social distancing. This article builds on the earlier phase of the study by focusing on the previously identified themes and investigates the occurrence of these themes in adult toy play during a pandemic
2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Distancing · Framing (construction · Infectious disease (medical specialty · Isolation (microbiology · Pandemic · Phenomenon · Political science · Popularity · Psychological resilience · Resistance (ecology · Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 · Social distance · Social isolation · Social media · Sociology · Child Therapy and Development · COVID-19 and Mental Health · History · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |