My Connections to Play

"Play is training for the unexpected."

Marc Bekoff
Contemporary American biologist

"When children pretend, they’re using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality. A stick can be a magic wand. A sock can be a puppet. A small child can be a superhero."

Fred Rogers
American children’s television host
1928–2003

My beloved American girl doll.  I was 8 when I got her for Christmas.  Yes, I cried.  I was so excited.

 

 

Seems so simple a street.  Though this is not the exact street I learned to play on it gives you a good idea of the starting off point for our imaginations.  My best friend and I used a street similar to this one as a starting off point for many imaginative games.    We play lifeguards, runaway princesses, shot HGTV TV shows and pretended it was a house for our American girl dolls. 

Play was a huge part of my childhood.  I like to think of myself as a master of imagination.  My friends and I created stories that lasted years and we always preferred to be outside pretending (please note that I lived in one of the rainiest cities in Washington State, but we could of cared less).

My mom was a big supporter of play.  We had to play outside.  There was no choice about it.  We played in the yard, in trees, next door neighbors yards, in the forest and on the front steps.  

I feel that play is very different from even 10 years ago.  I feel that children are kept inside for safety reasons and they prefer the TV or computer.  I can remember my mom saying that I had to be outside for certain amount of time during the day.  Most the time she would say you have to find something to do and I can remember grumbling about it but I would always find something and then I would end up staying out for longer periods of time. We always had TV when I was growing up but it was very limited when we were allowed to watch it.  I am trying to think of my earliest memory watching TV.  I can remember periodically watching Sesame Street but I don't remember watching TV until I was about 8 or 9.  I have observed on several occasions parents using TV or the computer as a babysitter.  I see children obsessed with TV shows at an early age.  My niece is two and she could say "wiggles" by 18months.  It makes me sad, that children are literally becoming obsessed with TV and computers.  I think that it is parents role to monitor how much of TV or computer a child is using.  It is important as educators and parents to help children understand how fun play is and what we can use to make our world playful.  Children are often content collecting pine cones or sand dollars or flowers.  It can be fun to use kitchen utensils and nuts and bolts.  My hope is that parents and educators realize how much they used play is their everyday life growing up and how they turned out to be intelligent people.