My Connections to Play
“A
child loves his play, not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard.” ~ Benjamin
Spock (pediatrician, author)
“Close observation of children at play suggests that they find out about
the world in the same way as scientists find out about new phenomena and test
new ideas…during this exploration, all the senses are used to observe and draw
conclusions about objects and events through simple, if crude, scientific
investigations.” ~ Judith Roden (lecturer, Canterbury Christ Church University
College)
As a child I enjoyed
being outside playing with my sister and friends. Although, I am an asthmatic
my parents insisted I go outside because the fresh air was good for me. I am so
glad they did, playing outside gave me opportunities to develop physically as
well as intellectually. Play in the back yard, on the carport, playing Red Light,
Green Light, or Red Rover. My sister and I would sit cloud watching, imagining
the clouds were a variety of animals, people, and assorted objects, flying kites
and the best of all playing “mud pies”. Today I am a pretty good cook, and I
contribute it to making all those mud pies with my sister.
Whenever I had an extremely
difficult asthma attack I usually stayed
indoors and read. I love to read. One of my favorite readings was the Increase
Your Word Power section of Reader’s Digest. I also loved learning to cooking
with my Mom and Dad.
“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 (childhood educator)
Today children are not afforded the
opportunities to play as when I was child. Today there are many dangers that
make it a concern for children to be outside unless they are supervised. As a
child we played all over the neighborhood, we just had to be home before dark.
Today children’s play consists of
electronic devices that consume hours of passive interaction. Although some educational videos now
incorporate physical activity components to encourage physical movement. But
how many of these children actually participate in the movement without prompting
from a caring adult. My hope is we are able to help return play to early
childhood classrooms. We can write letters to our respective members of the
Senate and Congress, business leaders in our communities, and through
memberships in professional organizations that support quality early childhood
education.
Play was an integral part of my
childhood. Playing afforded me the opportunities to develop skills that
contributed to healthy growth and development. “Play facilitates physical and
sensorimotor development as a child runs, jumps, digs, acts, paints and draws,
and in others ways has direct contact with the living earth and the culture
around her (Armstrong, 2006) .”
Reference:
Armstrong, T. (2006). Early Childhood Education Programs:Play. Retrieved from ASCD:
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/106044/chapters/Early-Childhood-Education-Programs@-Play.aspx
Comments
I liked how you elaborated about play on your post. I loved those games with rules that we used to play that kids don't seem as interested in these days such as Red Light, Green Light and Red Rover. They encouraged imagination and enabled children to learn social rules such as give and take (reciprocity) and sharing (Wardle, 2008).
Thanks for sharing!
Wardle, F. (2008) Play as Curriculum. Retrieved from:
http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=127