My Connections to Play

Freedom of exploring

Anonymous
 “It doesn't matter if you win or lose its how you play the game.”

George Bernard Shaw
“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

Imagination Play in the Park

Supportive Play in my childhood

As I grew up Play was essential in my childhood.  My parents always insisted that I go outside every day to play and allowed me to be creative in my play.  I remember making mud pies when I was about four years old.  My dad still tells me today that I wanted him to eat my mud pies.  I loved to explore nature if my mother would look for me I always found a tree to climb or somewhere in the woods making clubhouses with my friends.  Our clubhouse would be made of old furniture, wood we found and leaves for beds.  It was the coolest thing ever.  However being an only child the only ones that supported my play was my mom and dad.  I played a lot by myself using my dolls and stuffed animals as friends.  As I grew older, I learned to play at recess in school.  Tetherball was one of my favorite sports I played.  I like hop scotch and sing rhymes as we jump from place to place.  I use to practice it until I was very good at it.  Competing was one of my thrills such as racing, tetherball, jacks, jump rope etc.  I found a quote my grandfather used to tell me, “It doesn't matter if you win or lose its how you play the game.”  Therefore winning was not the option to me it was the thrill of playing against others even if I lost I enjoyed the game.

Engaged in Free Play

Role of play

Today I feel there is no importance to play, as it was when I was younger.  I went to this training last week at work and we had to come up with a game that taught cognitive and gross motor play.  I thought of the game I used to play with children in the classroom and when I was younger and that was, “Mother May I.”  When I mentioned playing the game to six other educators they did not know what the game was and it shocked me.  However, I did realize that they were all in their late twenties and I was the oldest in the group.  It started up a conversation about other games I used to play like dodgeball, jump rope, water balloon toss, and hopscotch.  All the games I mention they only knew about two of them.  It made me aware of how in the last thirty years how play has come to a slow down.  I even wonder today if children still play hide and seek.  I can only see that we can only help our young children by educating the teachers about the importance of imaginative, creative, and structured play.  They have very little insights on how to play games.  Even children in my neighborhood do not get into imaginative play, they seem to be into riding bikes, playing basketball or just sitting and talking. 

What happen to the concept of real play?

Computers

Play is different

• I believe the role of play had a big significant in my life as I was growing and as an adult today.  I enjoy teaching because I can use my imagination with the children to teach concepts and it is fun as well as rewarding.  When I played as a child, I looked for challenges but never really wanted to win but just to play and have fun.  Today I do the same thing at work; I look for challenges and love to be a part of them.  I love the outdoors and enjoy natural science and writing.  I believe that my playing as a young child in creative, imaginative, and structured play allow me to succeed and enjoy my work as an Educator.
  
• Field trip to the plastic factory

RESOURCE:

 Khurana, Simran.  (2011), Play Quotes-A Select Collection of Play Quotes.  Retrieved from http://quotations.about.com/cs/inspirationquotes/a/Play1.htm