My Connections to Play

  My Connections to Play

During the great Northeast/ Midwest Blackout of 2003, my complex was left without power from 4:10 pm to the next morning.  This was during the summer so it was a nice day outside. By 4:30 pm all I heard outside was yelling, laughing and happy sounds of many children as they ran and played on the playground or ran straight for the outside pool. This is surprising to me because I hardly see children play on the playground or swim in the pool all summer. In fact I didn’t even realize that it was that many children living in my apartment complex.  Since there was no electricity the children could not do there usually activities of playing video games and watching TV.

Growing up in Detroit, MI in the 80s and 90s, this would never happen. We lived outside. How else would I interact with my friends?  Our parents would never have a bunch of children hanging out in the house when the sun was shining outside.  I loved being outside. I was the girl so played in mud. I loved making mud pies and salad from leaves.  I also liked playing outside in the snow. Natural Materials such as sticks, mud, leaves and rocks were my essential play items.

“When playing with sticks in the sand a child learns about the properties of sand, how posts are used for building, the way materials must be retained from rivers, roads, and mountainsides, the effect of moisture on materials, the impact of wind and the nature of gravity, and ways of creating patterns, shapes, and lines by drawing in the sand" (Wardle, n.d.). Children today lack imagination and adventure.  They have become physically lazy which leads to mental laziness. Play is connected to the total development of an individual.   

“Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength” (Ginsburg, 2007).  When I was three or four I remember I had this long thick stick from our pear tree in the back yard. I would pretend the stick was a horse and ride on it all throughout the house. I really felt like I was a cowgirl.  One day after returning from daycare, I noticed my stick looked different. It had a head on it. My mom being the crafty genius she is, made a horse head out of jean material, yarn for the hair and a pair of button eyes. It really looked like a horse. My mom urged me to ride on it but I would not touch it. 

“That’s not my stick!” I protested to my mom.

 To this day my mom talks about how I rejected the horse. She rants, “That was a great looking horse. I can’t believe you didn’t like it.  I know somebody would pay a lot for it.”

And she is right. That was a great jester of her love.  But she killed my imagination by putting a horse head on "My Stick".  That was not what I imagined this horse to look like. A big part of play is imagination, curiosity, adventure and just plain ole FUN with friends, parents and teachers.

References

Ginsberg, K. (2007). The importance of play in promoting healthy development and maintaining strong parent-child bonds. Pediatrics, 119(1), 182-191. Retrieved from http://www.aap.org/pressroom/playfinal.pdf

Wardle, F. (n.d.). Play as curriculum. Retrieved August 1, 2010, from http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=127