Play is our brain's favorite way of learning.
Diane Ackerman
Contemporary American author
Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.Contemporary American author
Abraham Maslow
“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.”~ O. Fred Donaldson (martial arts master)
I always wanted to be a teacher, when I was young, my mom brought me chalk and I had a blackboard on my wall in my room. I pretended to play school with my dolls and my cats.
I loved playing double dutch jump rope with the neighborhood kids. I would always choose someone who would win with me.
Hopscotch was a great game that taught numbers. We teach our children today how to play in head start.
All of the quotes above remind me of what play means to me. When I was younger I did not know that play was so important to development under I completed college and learned that play is so important. My mom always allowed me to go outside, really she encouraged me to get out to jump rope and things of that nature.When I was a little girl I played hopscotch with the other little girls on street because I did not have a sister so I played games with the others on my street. My brothers are all about 15 to 20 years older than me so I had no none to play with as a kid but the children on my block, I was so fortunate to have such a friends and we are all still friends and we get together three times a years and do things together with our kids.
It is so hard to get children to play games that I played when I was young. Play is totally different from how it was when I was young , When I was young there was more activities that we were involved in that enable us to do gross motor activities such as jump rope, bike riding, hopscotch. Today children are more involved in technology that is not so physically fit. Children spend more time indoors rather that outdoors. I am very happy that game makers are making games more give children more choice of physical activities. I am so happy that I understand the importance of play in children.
Debra,
ReplyDeleteWow! I played school when I was young too. I was fortunate enough to have a younger sister and cousins to teach. I felt like I had a real class. I can remeber staying outside and playing all day in the summer. Now, my students complain about how tired and hot they are and they have only been playing for about ten minutes! Because I know the importance of play I let them get some water and then we go right back outside to play some more.
Debra,
ReplyDeleteI also played school with my stuffed animals and dolls. I would set them so that they were all looking at me I read books and wrote the ABCs, so fun! I agree, it is so important for children to get outdoors and play, being physically active is also imoprtant to the healthy growth and development of a child.
Debra-
ReplyDeleteI remember playing doubledutch during every recess. We had so much fun learning all the songs and different moves to go with them. I definitely dont see children doing this anymore, I have childcare sites that are located on the school campuses and I dont even recall seeing any jump ropes outside at recess time. I actually see children just wandering around or sitting at the tables, they definitely dont play like we use to!