My Connections to Play

Below are a few of my favorite quotes that regard play and the importance of it.

“It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them.” -Leo F. Buscaglia

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” -George Bernard Shaw

“Play is so integral to childhood that a child who does not have the opportunities to play is cut off from a major portion of childhood.” -Musselwhite

“If you want to be creative, stay in part a child, with the creativity and invention that characterizes children before they are deformed by adult society.” -Jean Piaget


Below are a few pictures of what I think demonstrates essential play for younger individuals.

    

When I was younger, I loved playing with Barbies.  My sister is a year and a half younger than me, and we always played with barbies daily.  We would change their clothes, do their hair and play "house" with them.  In playing house, we learned different things that needed to be done in a real house hold.  My parents also played house with us and they would ask my sister and I questions.  For example, my mom would ask "did you make dinner?" or "did you do the dishes?"  She was playing the role of the mother in a house setting.  My parents, sister and grandparents were constantly encouraging me to play with new toys.  This helped me learn cognitively about other toys and the benefits that could have.

Play today is very different than play when I was younger.  I am only 24 years old and there have been many new inventions that have came out that relate to children at a young age.  Just think what has happened with technology.  Now in a lot of kindergarten classrooms and elementary schools, each child is supplied with an iPad in which they get to keep and use for the whole year.  There are several different types of games on the iPad that the children like to play when they have free time or "play" time.  When I was younger, we had toys like: Hot Wheels cars, barbies, Leggos, blocks, American Girl Dolls and several other toys.  I hope that teachers and parents incorporate more hands-on activities when playing rather than sitting on an iPad and playing games.  Although the children are learning when they are playing these games, but this leads to the idea of obesity.  When children sit around and watch tv or play games, they tend to have a higher chance of being on the obese side of the spectrum.

It is very important that parents play with their children each day.  By playing with their child, you can talk to them about what they are playing with and ask them questions to get them to think.  For example: what color is this, what's this shape, where does this belong, and so on.  This will benefit children when they grow older because they will have had the experience working and seeing these types of toys.