Our preschool uses the Creative Curriculum. Alot of what you see going on in our classrooms looks like play and it is, but the learning is tremendous! I am proud of the fact that the children in our school make up games, create and act in their own plays, problem solve, learn to take turns, and use materials in the classroom creatively!
I hear people complain all the time about insensitivity, rudeness, anger, just bad behaviour in general in our communities. Perhaps it's because we've forgotten how to play. My best childhood memories are about play. We played from the moment we got up on a summer's morning until the fireflies went to bed. We came home when we heard our mother's call and ate our meals as a family at one table and then back outside we went! In the winter we escaped to our basements, porches, bedrooms to use our imaginations for hours. We didn't need TV's, computers, video games to entertain us and stay out of our parent's hair, we just entertained ourselves and did a great job at it. We learned to make up games, rules, and to settle arguments. Yet we knew we always had the safe haven of our parents arms to run to when the going got a little too tough for us to handle.
The New York Times recently published an article about the movement to restore children's play. Click on the link and enjoy!
What great pictures of play and playful learning. I love the way you describe your childhood. You must have learned so much about yourselves and the world while you played those long hours. This article in the NYTimes yesterday was excellent to see! As more and more people understand the value of play for child development, we hope to restore this culture of play.
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