AS A CHILD PLAY
MEANT:
Play as a child allowed me to research the
world around me and who I wanted to be.
As a child play allowed me to try out occupations,
mimic my older sister and mother, and make sense of the experiences. Play taught me to be creative and independent
at times, but also taught me how to cooperate and work with others.
Even as an adult when I go to conferences, I
would rather play with manipulatives then be told how to use them in the
classroom. I would rather sing new songs
then be given the lyrics. I am always
10x more likely to actually use new strategies when I have had a chance to try
them out.
PLAY THAT
INSPIRED ME:
The #1 thing I remember doing as a child is
playing school. I played with my sister
and I played by myself with my stuffed animals.
This was my favorite thing to do.
I would take home old textbooks that they would give away at the end of
the year to play with.
Roller skating was a part of life! It got me all around the neighborhood and
later all around town!
My best friend had a crawl space under her
steps. We would decorate it and make up
club rules for our secret clubhouse. No
one else ever joined, but we sure had fun spending hours creating it!
Playing with Barbie was a huge part of my
childhood. Although we never used it as
dramatic play, my sister and I would spend hours setting up and creating Barbie’s
house. We used zip-lock bags for water
beds and wash cloths for blankets. It
was a very creative outlet!
THE ROLE OF
PLAY AND ITS IMPORTANCE:
I think the best way that people supported my play was giving
me the space and time to do it. I lived
in such a different world when I was a kid from my kids now. When I was a child children did not have game
systems and so many screens to play with.
We did have TV, but it was pretty limited to after school and Saturday morning
cartoons. The rest of the time you played
inside and out. All the parents in the neighborhood looked after all the
kids. There were eyes on us, but not
watching everything we did. We had so
much freedom to explore and work things out.
Many times I came home mad at neighbor kids because the game didn't go
my way. The next day I was out and
playing again. When I was in 5th
grade I was organizing my own plans and then roller skating across town to my
friend’s house to play. My 5th
grade son struggles to make plans of his own and wouldn't know the way to his
friend’s house. We were educated about
the dangers of strangers and the world and then allowed to go out and explore
it.
Our children are seriously missing some important life skills
because they do not have these interactions anymore. When I spent a week outside making a fort
with friends on the side of the garage I was learning to have a great work
ethic. When I would argue and fuss about
rules of a game I was learning to cooperate, negotiate, and compromise with
others. When I would fall down and get
hurt, but get back up I learned determination and persistence. When I was outside I learned to how to be
safe and aware of my surroundings. I was
aware when a white van circled the block a couple times and we all decided to
go in and tell our parents. The independence
taught me how to problem solve as well, which I see children in this generation
unable to do. Children complain, tattle,
and require their parents’ involvement before even trying to solve their own problems. Thomas (2013), explains some of the effects
of losing free play that we once had as children, “obesity; high stress levels;
rapidly increasing diagnosis of ADHD, depression, and emotional fragility;
social incompetence; excessive dependence on adults, and the loss of a
relationship with nature.”
In a changing world it is difficult to convince parents to
provide more free play time for their children.
So it is even more important that we work to keep free play in early
childhood programs! The children need it
more than they ever needed it before! It is not only a natural way to learn, but it is necessary!
REFERENCES
Thompson, Ph.D., M. (2013). The Impact of the Loss of Free, Undirected Play in Childhood (And What Camps Can Do About It). In American Camp Association. Retrieved February 1, 2014, from http://www.campparents.org/newsletter/0905/article2
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