Play-based learning about the internet and online safety

Digital citizenship is concerned with how children participate safely and respectfully in digital society, especially using internet-connected devices. As young children are increasingly recognised as being active online, attention has been directed towards providing online safety education in the early years. This chapter presents the findings from the Citizenship Investigation and reports on the range of practices trialled by educators to help young children understand the internet and online safety education through play-based learning, including five main practices of supervising, modelling, knowing, pretending, and reading. The chapter also details an exploratory aspect of the Investigation – designing, building, and implementing a wooden Wi-Fi internet to support young children’s play-based learning about the internet and online safety education in early childhood education and care settings.