Don’t They Just Play? Ingenuity
In my earlier post, Why Do We Keep Ignoring This Message?, I spoke of the importance of recognising play as the ‘work’ of children, as the way children of prior-to-school age learn. I mentioned a presentation which I used to give to parents where I used the Harvard College mission statement and the list of Skills for Success: What Employers Want (from Graduate Careers Australia) to list important life and learning skills identified by these two sources. In my presentation, I then demonstrated how children began the process of attaining those skills through play. In this post I want to explore this idea further by providing an example for readers.
Often adults look at children playing with toys without really looking at what they are doing or trying to understand what their play is about. Look at the photo below.
They are plastic megablocks which many parents will be familiar with (similar to Duplo). Simply looking at the picture, you might think that Immy is not particularly good at building with blocks, it certainly isn’t a very inspiring tower! That is because it isn’t a tower.
This is a family and they are driving in two blue cars. Immy has been playing with this ‘family’ for weeks now. Blocks of each colour are particular characters in the family. For example, the yellow is always Hannah (named after Immy’s favourite friend at playgroup), the green is Poppy and the red is Grandma, light blue is Daddy and so on. The ‘family’ go on excursions to the park, to the shops, in a pram and on a boat. They accompany her from the sandpit to the bath. The game is completely of Immy’s own creation and she becomes completely absorbed in the interactions between the characters, speaking for them and to them as she takes them on adventures. I find this quite simply ingenious. I love the way she has taken one resource and used it for something completely different to its intended purpose. I love the way she re-enacts her own life lessons through the interactions of these little ‘family’ members.
As an adult, I have watched and listened and interacted in this play with Immy to learn more about her thought processes. This is the way we can learn what young children are thinking, exploring and learning through their play.
What have you learnt about your children (and their thinking and learning) through their play interactions recently?
Related Posts
- Playful Learning
- Explore. Dream. Discover
- The Preschool Balancing Act
I love trying to encourage their play. My now-6-year-old makes "movies" with his toys, and my favorite part is that they all have soundtracks. So as the Legos are driving across the living room, we hear, "Huh, huh-huh, hu-hu-hu!" (For some reason, his songs never have consonants.) My 4-year-old makes the most extraordinary towers–not the tallest or the most structurally sound, but the most interesting and passionately designed. And my little girl just tells stories all day long about how Daddy is at work making chocolate.
May their imaginations always be this fertile and interesting!
Im a huge fan of play, and having lots of toys around. I think of it all as educational experiences. So to say a child has too much play sounds silly to say a child has too many educational experiences same goes for toys. I hear so many people say "they have enough toys" yet if you change the word to educational experiences how silly is that. They have too many educational experiences.
Play away
argh
it makes my hair sproing when people say 'it's only play'. How long do we push the educational and developmental benefit of play before it hits home?
Sorry – rant over!
Oh my goodness. Can I borrow her for my ped doc? Pluheeese!
Hehe.
On another note, I start practical on March 8th with k-2 {not sure which age group yet} and cannot wait to include play within their learning. It's how I teach, not how many primary trained do unfortunately 🙁
Great post, just found your blog! it's so true, we may think they aren't doing much, but they are smart little people!
Can't wait to sift through your blog!
alicia from coffee mugs and sippy cups
http://www.coffeeandsippy.blogspot.com
My 16month old was at the lunch table yesterday with Mom and Dad. She was done eating and decided to turn her orange slice into a car. We only know this because of the sound that went with it. Then the car was calling of a cliff and THAT was very funny!!!! Listening and Noticing is the key
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