My Connections to Play

I cannot put an age in years to what I remember as a child. This week I have been thinking back to my childhood, and I remember certain playtimes like it was yesterday! As a young child, when we visited my grandparents house, I was the happiest in an area outside the shed, like it was a sandbox. My grandmother sent with me a few pots, pans and old kitchen utensils. I would go to the water pump (the old ones where you have to pump the water up from the handle), fill up some pans with water and make mud with all the sand. My cousins and I made mud pies like nobody's business! Plus, my grandparents owned a lot of land, and my cousins and I would go exploring the woods and down the hills to the creek to skip rocks and what not. Nowadays, this type of unsupervised play is unheard of because of the number of children's death around water. In another context, as a younger child, I went to an family care setting. I remember being the most content outside under the huge tree in the back yard with plates and buckets full of grass, dirt, flowers from the trees that had fallen, and little tiny pieces (of what I think was from the roof) that looked like pepper! Years later, when I was about 9 or 10, I remember riding my bike with my best friends all over our neighborhood and the neighborhood behind ours. There was a cut through track through my friend's back yard that we always used so we stayed off the main roads. In that neighborhood, there was what we called the "Rock Lot" with these smooth boulders. We named them! There was flatrock, the hottub rocks, and the big one. There was also access to the huge lake. The city put in paved sidewalks and bike tracks from that neighborhood, around the lake to another neighborhood. We used to explore the lake, the dam, and we'd follow the water till it became a creek. That was where the teenagers hung out becuase it was so private...it took awhile before I understood what they were really doing back there (i.e. smoking and drinking). I just think back to all those times where we were independent and as long as we stayed together and came home when it started getting dark, we were ok.

 I wish I had pictures of my grandparents' land. The pictures I do have are all stored at home with my parents. But this is an example of the woods and the creek I used to explore at my grandparents and the neighborhood behind my house.

 When stuck inside, I also loved Barbies! My sister (8 years older), also had a collection of them, and I got her collection slowly through the years. I find it interesting how Barbie has evolved over the years, too. So much emphasis is put on body image nowadays...Barbie to me was dolls to play with, like puppets. They were never anything I compared myself to.

Another childhood favorite was the skip-it! My best friends and I all had the same outdoor toys, like bikes and skip-its (just different colors). I remember having a boombox out in the cul-de-sac with us, blaring Martina McBride and Tracy Lawrence, while we competed with our skip-its. Until the sun started setting and it was time to go home!

In reflecting on how play is different today, I was reminded of an article from the last class. Warner (2008) wrote an article about why children play. She shared a few experiences that demonstrate the shift from when she was a child to what children do nowadays. Common themes included independence, creativity and lack of supervision by adults (Warner, 2008). Today, most games are technology based, whether battery operated with lights and sounds, or a video game or form of media. The problem has become that children no longer have to think and process what is happening or decide what to do next; responses are automatic (Warner, 2008). Today, there are less neighborhoods and safe environments for children to explore independently. They may not be allowed to leave the front yard! Play has become less creative and self-initiated. Gone are the days families tell their children, "don't come home till it's dark outside and dinnertime!"

I hope I can expose my children to the types of experiences I had growing up. I wish we could feel safer in our environments to encourage more exploring. Fortunately, the land my grandparents live on is still owned by them. It may have become smaller, but all the parts I explored are still family-owned.

"It is a happy talent to know how to play." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn." --O. Fred Donaldson

I am also reminded of something we read this week from Rivera (2009). When it comes to play, not only do I have the opportunity to encourage play in my classroom, I am also paid to play! She writes, "Fortunate are those whose career is a form of play - mastery and continued building of competence - for which one gets paid!" (Rivera, 2009)

References:

Rivera, M. (2009). The powerful effect of play in a child’s education. Education Digest, 75(2), 50–52.
Warner, L. (2008). "You're it!": Thoughts on play and learning in schools. Horace, 24(2),1-6. (EJ849821). Retrieved from ERIC database.