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Play as Child's Work
June 8, 2009
If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.
-George Orwell
-George Orwell
"Pretend you are the children playing. What are you trying to accomplish and what stands in your way? Act out what you've seen and fill in the blanks. Remind yourselves of what it was like to be a child."
Paley reports the results:
"In time we discovered that play is indeed work. First, there was the business of deciding who to be and who the others must be and what the environment is to look like and when it is time to change the scene. Then there was the even bigger problem of getting others to listen to you and to accept your point of view while keeping the integrity of the make-believe, the commitment of the other players, and perhaps the loyalty of a best friend. Oddly, the hardest part of the play for us to reproduce or invent were the fantasies themselves. Ours were never as convincing or interesting as the children's; it took us a great deal of practice to do what was, well, child's play in the nursery."
Exchange has packaged six of its play resources into a single Play Tool Kit and is offering the entire set at a 37% discount. Resources in the kit include:
Books:
- Beginnings Workshops Book #6 - Play
- Promoting the Value of Play CD Book
Four Out of the Box Training Kits (Print versions):
- Play and the Outdoors: What's New Under the Sun
- But They're Only Playing: Interpreting Play to Parents
- Supporting Constructive Play in the Wild
- Designing and Creating Natural Play Environments
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Comments (3)
Displaying All 3 CommentsBrea, CA, United States
I would like parents and teachers to also remember that when a child is playing he/she is in their own world and might tune you out, give the child a time warning before you shut down play time, I understand most small children do not understand time but that is our job to teach them, give a child fifteen minutes to prepare them, then tell them you must stop in five and finally gently tell them when their five minutes are up. This will teach them two things: First, that they are worthy of respect also they begin to learn about time. I would NOT suggest a timer (that's just cruel), eventualy if this play occurs durind recess the child will begin to "feel" when time is almost up and if this is at a playground the child willl be less and less likely to object leaving (no more tantrums)... this works for me, I am a parent of two, now nine and fourteen, I STILL use this method! Also maybe if you read or play and get the creative juices flowing you might want to stay a little longer as well... just a thought (Jung did it)
color outside the lines
tyler, tx, United States
But there is more. Imagining what it is to be a child is not all there is. Keeping the childlike look at all of life is important, keeping the element of discovery uppermost in our own lives is also paramount. Keeping the child alive in our spirits, as if the five year old never left us, is what keeps us alive to children. We cannot just "play like" being a child. That is work. But being a child inside is definitely NOT work. It is PURE PLAY.
Action for Children
Columbus, OH, United States
Less a comment, more that I attended Newcomb & observed at that same Nursery!
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