In todays structured world of formal
education, coach directed practices, and parental & teacher
micro management - have we lost the ability to allow our children to
simply PLAY? From a very early age, the North American way
seems to be rooted in over scheduling our children's free time at
home and at school. As a parent, I feel like I need to control my
child's learning experiences through structure, adult direction and
guidance. How will my child learn life's lessons without adult
input? Play is simply play - nonproductive and a waste of time that
has a limited affect in learning........or is it?
When I attended a physical literacy
summit in Calgary a couple of weeks ago, this topic of 'Is play important
and powerful?' was at the forefront of discussions. This topic allowed
myself time to reflect as a parent and educator about the importance of
play. The freedom to be spontaneous and playful is rooted in the ability
to have fun. When I look back at my learning experiences, the
most enjoyable time in learning was without a coach, parent, teacher,
rule book, umpire or final product guiding my time. It was simply the fun
of playing shinny on the pond with friends, reading my comics and Hardy Boys
novels, drawing pictures in my sketch book, building an incredible fort
out of blankets and sticks, learning how to play guitar in my bedroom, playing
neighborhood kick the can or hide and seek, letting my mind go with Lego, tag
on the playground equipment, learning how to program my commodore 64 in my
basement and taking apart the old radio and trying to fix it. Why is it
that my children have few or any of these unstructured play events memories in
their lives? They are too busy practicing their formal sports with
coaches and trainers, at piano lessons, doing homework, screen time - watching
you tube and social media and rarely hanging with friends face to face to just
socialize. Could I be responsible? As a teacher and parent, I felt
uneasy to simply allow my children the unstructured time to play and
just be.
The keynote at the
conference indicates that play at its essence is about having fun.
He talked about Dr. Rachel White's article "The power of play: A research
summary on play and learning" where she outlines six components of play
for children. Her research supports the belief that play is learning.
1.
Play is pleasurable: why would we
play if it was not fun? I ask my daughter this all the time, are you
enjoying what you are doing? If not, can you change it?
2.
Play is intrinsically motivated: are
you getting any personal satisfaction participating? Does it bring a smile
to your face?
3.
Play is process orientated: it
is not about winning, getting an A or a pat on the back from a
coach/parent. It is just about letting yourself enjoy and being immersed
in the process.
4.
Play is freely chosen: It is
spontaneous and voluntary. Can we as parents/teacher avoid pressuring a
child to perform and simply get out of the way?
5.
Play is actively engaged: are you
connected to the activity? Does time fade away in your enjoyment?
6.
Play is non literal: it is okay to
enter a world of make believe. There is no expectation of product or
results.
Learning through play is a natural
event that occurs when adults get out of the way, allowing children to
naturally respond to their environment and learn about life. Play allows
children to build, challenge and grow their personal understandings through
self discovery and risk taking. Play based learning is the first step in
building the foundation for future learning, health and well being. The
scientific community is now indicating that neural pathways in children's
brains are influenced and advanced in their development through exploration,
thinking skills, problem solving and language expression that occur during
play. Research is demonstrating that play based learning leads to an
increase in social, emotional and academic success. Play and academic
ability are not mutually exclusive events - creating, doing and learning are
deeply connected. When children are engaged in purposeful play, they are
discovering, creating, improvising and building their learning. Play
based learning allows children to investigate, ask questions, solve problems
and engage in critical thinking. It also provides an opportunity to solve
issues without teachers/parents stepping in to control the event and 'make
things good again'.
The impact of play is huge!
Developmental psychologists, pediatricians, sociologists and educational
researchers all agree in the deep value of play. Cognitive skills grow by
way of problem solving, divergent thinking, creativity, language, task focus,
and organizational skills to name a few. Social growth allows for
cooperation and teamwork to overcome challenges, risk taking, peer feedback,
and sorting out their own problems/issues. Play provides the ability to
discover how to fit into a social situation by taking turns, following rules,
developing basic motor control and coordination, while also developing
skills to be leaders and followers within a group. The
foundational skills that play allows are deep and evolving with every change in
play focus.
It is time to allow ourselves and
our children to step away from the structured busy lives we all lead and
remember that it is okay to simply play. Give yourself permission to
allow our children to use their time to explore, discover, wonder, and be
unproductive without an end product. A very important part of human
development and learning is rooted in play. Play in itself can not vanish
by the time we enter kindergarten. It is simply the beginning, we
have to understand our role to get out of the way and allow our most precious
children to have the time to play. It is not simply wasted energy but
rather the foundation to growth and learning.
