My Connections to Play

"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

"Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold."  Joseph Chilton Pearce

"Play has been man's most useful preoccupation."  Frank Caplan

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."  Plato

"Play is the beginning of knowledge."  Anonymous


The materials that children need to play...



a bucket to share treasures with friends





 

a bucket for all collected treasures....treasures can be sorted, classified, counted and explored



boxes are a great material for children to play with ...they can be used to hide in and can become anything from a house to a car to a robot to a slide
boxes are a great tool for children to use to expand their imaginations and to use for experimentation and exploration

Materials such as tinker toys and legos are great for children because they are open-ended and children can use them to create anything they want.  The containers are also great for play as well.

Train track pieces that can be manipulated and created to become any type of track a child wants it to be are an important tool for a child.  They learn how to put a track to together so it will work and how they can criss-cross the tracks and use bridges and tunnels to create their very own design.



Books are great for children.  Books can be used to learn about many different types of items from trucks and cars to animals and families to pretend adventures.  When children are exposed to books a whole world of adventure and fun is opened for them.  Children who are read to when they are young and are shown the wonderful experience of reading will be more motivated to learn to read as they get older.



Having the opportunities to play outside and explore nature is very important to young children.  Being able to run, climb, swing, jump, chase and have fun are vital to a child's physical development.

Blocks are an important manipulative for children to use when they are young.  Blocks are open-ended toys.  Children can be very creative and imaginative when using blocks to create anything they want.

I've used pictures of my own children to show the types of toys I purchased for them when they were young.  They still play with these types of toys but have also gotten to an age where they want more video games.  I have purchased video games for them but limit the amount of time they may play with them. I want them playing with more open-ended toys, reading books and exploring outside.  I purchased for my children and created the same types of experiences for them that my parents had created for me.  I strive to buy the types of toys my children can use in many different ways, open-ended toys that require them to think, create, imagine and design.  I want them to have many different types of experiences as children because I understand how important it is to develop the whole child.

 In some ways I feel society has made some decisions for parents in regard to physical activity.  For example, in our town children are encouraged to become involved in organized sports at very young ages.  My 7 year old wants to play soccer in the fall and actually has to "try out" to make the team.  I feel that children at that young of an age should be given as many opportunities as they want to try many different types of sports and physical activities.  I do not feel children should have to try out for a sport at such a young age because they will never be able to learn the sport if they are not given the experiences of trying each sport out.  I think that our society has become focused on the wrong things for children in that regard. 

I believe that no matter what your age, you must play to enjoy life.  The people who are out enjoying life, having fun with life, laughing, smiling, giggling and playing are the people who experience less stress, less physical ailments and less health problems.  We all need to play and for children it is a vital part of development.