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7. Objects of Resilience: Plush Perspectives on Pandemic Toy Play in Finland

  • Katriina Heljakka (author)
Chapter of: Play in a Covid Frame: Everyday Pandemic Creativity in a Time of Isolation(pp. 143–166)

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Metadata
Title7. Objects of Resilience
SubtitlePlush Perspectives on Pandemic Toy Play in Finland
ContributorKatriina Heljakka (author)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0326.07
Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0326/chapters/10.11647/obp.0326.07
Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
CopyrightHeljakka, Katriina;
PublisherOpen Book Publishers
Published on2023-06-01
Long abstractThis chapter addresses plush perspectives on pandemic toy play by positioning the #teddychallenge as an example of creative intergenerational and continuous play which developed into an international phenomenon in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. In March 2020, teddy bears and other plush toys were brought to the windows in New Zealand, Australia, UK, Europe and North America. The world’s most popular character toy sat in the windows, often holding hands or giving hugs to other toy friends, depicting the longing for human closeness with its gestures. As a form of hybrid and screen-based play, the plush characters enabled communication between players separated by the pandemic. The chapter presents a three-partite study investigating the role of soft toys in pandemic toy play during three phases between 2020-2021, including participatory observation, analyses of media articles, photo-play (toy photography), and interview material collected in three phases. The plush toys depicted playful human reactions to the health crises—first, in the occurrences of the global #teddychallenge, second, as part of the free toy play of interviewees based in the UK, Finland and Singapore, and third, in the photo-play of the replaying of the challenge introduced by a regional Finnish news media. The findings suggest the capacity of plush characters to function as objects of resilience on both a solitary and social level. From personal protectors and companions used in solitary play, the plush evolved into toys used socially for ludounity—playing for the common good—as they were employed as part of intergenerational play and to channel optimism and future-orientedness.
Page rangepp. 143–166
Print length24 pages
LanguageEnglish (Original)
Keywords
  • pandemic toy play
  • #teddychallenge
  • intergenerational play
  • plush toys
  • Covid-19 pandemic
  • communication
  • hybrid play
  • screen-based play
  • participatory observation
  • media analysis
  • photo-play
  • toy photography
  • interview material
  • three phases
  • global
  • free toy play
  • health crisis
  • resilience
  • solitary play
  • social play
  • ludounity
  • optimism
  • future-orientedness
Contributors

Katriina Heljakka

(author)
Leader of the Pori Laboratory of Play research group at University of Turku

Katriina Heljakka, Doctor of Arts, MA Art History, MSc Economics, leads the Pori Laboratory of Play research group at the University of Turku in digital culture studies. Previously, she has worked on the Academy of Finland research project Ludification and Emergence of Playful Culture, and at the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies, and recently as part of museum teams playifying various exhibitions. Heljakka’s academic articles on toys and play experiences have been featured in international publications by the New York University Press, Routledge, Palgrave, and Springer, as well as in multiple scientific journals, such as American Journal of Play and the International Journal of Play. Heljakka currently studies technologically driven play, playful environments, tools and techniques in playful learning and work, and the visual, material, digital and intergenerational cultures of play.

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