My Connections to Play

Childhood didn't seem to have so many rules and opinions when I was growing up.  Possibly because the world was a safer place or simply there were less people to cause so many problems.  Growing up all I can remember doing is playing, and school was just that space in between playtime where daily activities were scheduled and very directed even during recess.  Representing and summarizing my childhood in two quotes seems to be a most difficult task...however if you love to read quotes as much as I do the extras will not be to unbearable.

"People tend to forget play is serious." -David Hockney

"Play is training for the unexpected." -Marc Bekoff

"When children pretend, they're using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality.  A stick can be a magic wand.  A sock can be a puppet.  A small child can be a superhero." -Fred Rogers

"As astronauts and space travelers children puzzle over the future; as dinosaurs and princesses they unearth the past.  As weather reporters and restaurant workers they make sense of reality; as monsters and gremlins they make sense of the unreal." -Gretchen Owocki

My Sister

The infamous Raggedy-Anne and Andy tea set.  We spent hours pretending to have special guests at our tea parties.  My mom would even make us sweet tea and biscuits sometimes.  Practicing how to serve, setting the table, manners, and language during these tea parties well lets just say formal dinners at my house are quite the presentation.

Me & my sister feeding ducks.

We were allowed to explore independently.  Mom was always nearby when the situation had potential hazards, but she gave us lots of opportunities to discover the world, explore, and be adventurous.  I remember my mother even allowed us to try to feed the ducks other things before giving us bread to try, but letting us make the discovery that ducks like bread to eat ourselves, along with a discussion about other things ducks might enjoy...well that is scaffolding isn't it.

Our first trip to the snow.

We were always going on day trips.  We didn't have a lot of money but my parents were very good at finding new things for us to do.  My mom was always preparing us for the trips with lots of questions that prompted us to ask questions in return.

All of my immediate family supported play even if they did not recognize the value of it.  I believe it was the first babysitter in a less dangerous time.  We were given boundaries and some rules and we even tried really hard not to break them, but I am still amazed that I made it through my childhood without losing an eye or breaking bones.  We made weapons and used them, tasted mud pies, and kept various bugs and worms in our pockets.  My mother was our greatest supporter of creative play, and to put us to sleep at night she would read to us out of whatever science fiction or fantasy novel she was in the middle of at the time.  She always took the time to answer questions and explain things till we fell asleep.  I have gone back and read many of those books as an adult.

It is not play that has changed or the importance of it but society, the environment, and the opportunities in which children get to play in today that have changed.  I think because society has changed in that there are more people making the environment less safe or making parents feel less comfortable about letting  their children explore independently and the technology that has been developed over the last twenty years changing how play looks clouds the view of play as a learning experience.  For example, during my childhood we learned the alphabet from roadsigns on road trips, during the reading of books, and singing songs.  Today the greater belief is that this is something that must be taught through academic learning and not while at play.

I still get to play everyday and I think that is why early childhood and being an advocate for children is so important.  Being able to play myself reminds me of its value.  The children are amazed when I say its okay to play in the mud and I am willing to get muddy too taking off my shoes and squishing it between my toes.  I learn and am surprised by the children I work with all the time.  My childhood has influenced how I implement learning as play in the programs in which I have worked and it can be a battle to explain the value of play to parents sometimes, but every excited laugh a child makes from a new discovery is well worth the effort.  I wish I could do so much more.  With that I leave you all with the following quotes about play.

"Children learn as they play.  Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn." - O. Fred Donaldson

"Adults are obsolete children." - Dr. Seuss

"Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them." -Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince, 1943