Children's Geographies/Geographies of Children: Play, Work, Mobilities and Migration

Geographers play an important role in expanding our understanding of children's lives, socio-spatial identities and material practices. As a sub-discipline, Children's Geographies is experiencing exponential growth throughout the wider discipline of geography. There has been a tendency to corral Children's Geographies into special issues of journals and several of these are reviewed below. However, this article specifically draws upon geographical work cited in many places of the discipline and also highlights work from an extremely wide range of geographies across the globe. This paper provides a review of geographers' investigations into a very well-established theme of social science research connected with children, that of play. It considers the spatialities and geographies of children's play (and its counterpoint, work), playing and spaces for play. It also examines the newer and emerging themes of mobilities, children's use of outdoor, public spaces collectively grouped under the term 'street', and the role of children in migration and of migration in children's lives. Throughout it considers possibilities for future research with children.