MY CONNECTIONS TO PLAY








Essential play items when I was young:
1.Friends



2.Dolls                                                              



3. A bat and Ball (very versatile items)

Childhood connections

When I was growing up, play was a natural part of life for children and adults alike, it was in our daily routine. During summer vacation, adults would sit outside under a tree and watch us as we play games such as cricket, marbles, hopscotch, jacks, market, just to name a few. They would cheer us on and often times join in, while others kept scores or played dominoes while they commentate. Play was a community affair, and an important part of our culture, it was how we practiced to become adults

 Play was sometimes even more important than our meals and that was normal. I remember times when we were engaged in a game of dandy shandy or baseball (rounders) and no one thought of food. So it was with any kind of play, we lived to play as it was the most important activity to us as kids. When we were doing our chores, we involved play and then it did not seem like work at all. For example, when we were cleaning the floor, which was pure wood, we would sing songs and make extra sounds with the cleaning brush as we danced, it was beautiful and motivating.

Play today seems very different, the activities are not the same and the benefits are very limited. When we played as children, we were boisterous, noisy and sweaty, we used up a lot of energy. We learned skills that built our creative ability and sharpened our thinking, we were very confident because we made choices and enjoyed the outcomes. Almon (2002) says about play that, “It allows them to digest life and make it their own. It is an outlet for the fullness of their creativity, and it is an absolutely critical part of their childhood”. We were not familiar with the word stress. We did not sit for long periods of time except during church or school lessons so obesity was a foreign word to us. We played hard and slept hard and was ready to go again the next day. We made great friendships and lost some to a game or two, we made up with some and moved on with others, remembering the great times we spent together.

My three year old nephew (now 10) stayed in my care for a year, I taught him and gave him recess time. He was so excited about recess that he said he wanted to attend my school so he can have recess because it was fun. The activities that young children are engaged in is either sitting with a hand held electronic game. Their fingers, mostly their thumbs, do all the activities or the computer mouse does the clicking while they sit and eat. The children do not spend free time outdoors socializing and learning with each other. If they are outside playing, its instructor directed and formally scheduled. It is not a spontaneous choice decided by children who just want to have some fun.

Our attitudes and abilities that we display as adults can be traced back to the days when we were young children. The games and the roles we liked when we played, are mirrored in the way we function as adults. As children, we played with others and developed our social skills and creativity, flexibility and patience. We lead, cared, shared, bargained, some stole, fought, followed and made decisions as we role played the adults around us. However we learned to think, decide and function as children, is typically the way we operate as adults in our lives today.We probably still “play” in the same manner today, unless we experienced something different and by whatever means, changed for the better.

Reference

Almon, K. (2002). The vital role of play in early childhood education. Gateways, 43. Retrieved from http://www.waldorfresearchinstitute.org/pdf/BAPlayAlmon.pdf