Let us first ask what is play? “Play is not just about doing, it’s about being. Play is a state of grace, innocence, wonder and creativity... and happens when anyone is truly living in the present tense.” -Jeanne Bassis.
Play is what children do every day and is the essence of what is to be a child. Play can be broken down into what most experts agree with are these areas:
• Active Play- activities that use large muscle groups like when climbing, running, and jumping. • Manipulative Play- building with blocks, making roads for toy cars and trucks, cutting and pasting, puzzles or activities that require eye hand coordination or the use of fine motor skills. • Quiet Play- reading, drawing, and day dreaming.
• Social Play- sports, board games or other multi person activities.
• Creative Play- playdough, painting, molding clay, any activity that uses the child’s imagination. • Dramatic Play- dress up, telling stories, puppets, play that involves pretending with others.
Play is under attack in our society, it is being reduced through legislation in our schools and cut short by busy schedules at home. It is being replaced by the “tablet and smartphone” as a pacifier for tired parents, and with more and earlier testing focusing on academics at and increasingly younger ages. As many are now realizing, young children do not learn effectively in this manner. Children have become more sedentary through the over use of screen time, and exposure to TV and video games. One of the results of this over use of “screen time” or one way communication is that young children now have less vocabulary and are less able to express their feelings/ needs using words. Expressing themselves through tantrums, biting and hitting are becoming more frequent. The electronic devices do not encourage open ended conversation where the child is encouraged to engage in the conversation to reply using words. In many regulated childcare settings, there is a limit to the amount of “screen time” children can receive per week, as in Maryland; children 2 years and over may receive no more than 30 minutes per week of educational related and children under 2 years are generally prohibited. Per COMAR 13A.16.09
Young children “preschoolers” learn best through play, spilling milk on their plate and mixing the food in it is learning though play; and is part of the natural learning process. The child is exploring what happens when a liquid encounters a pile of mashed potatoes, which makes a soupy substance (change in texture), not just to see Mom’s head spin. Play inspires experimentation, problem solving, sharing, creativity, two-way communication between children or adult and child. Thus building language, self-esteem, values and character.
Open end self-guided structured learning environments allow for easy learning (what the child likes to do) as well as hard learning (like playing an instrument) something that child must put effort into to be successful. Learning centers that embrace this method should offer a variety of activities that promote, exploration, problem solving, collaboration, creativity and imagination. Encourage children to be children and let them, read, sing, get messy, talk, pretend, interact with each other and their environment.
The president of the American Association for the Child’s Right to Play and professor at Hofstra University, Dr. Rhonda Clements, says, “It is important to maintain a healthy sense of play throughout childhood and into adulthood. Our complex society requires clear thinkers, playful attitudes, humor and creativity for complex problem solving.”
Content courtesy of Kiddie Academy and the Kinera Foundation.
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