People ask me, “What are the children learning? They are just playing….”
Play is a child’s work. To create an open ended environment, where children feel they can choose without limitations, takes an eye for knowing what children are interested in and allowing them to explore. Here are a few examples of what are children are learning:
When we easel paint we learn to develop eye hand coordination, imagination, relationships to size and space, symmetry, and that my ideas have value.
When I play dress up I learn to be flexible in my thinking, to express myself with words, to try on different adult roles, to sort and organize, and to improvise in a symbolic way to represent abstract thinking.
When I play in the sand I learn the concepts of color, size, volume and shape, I learn to solve problems, how to negotiate with others, and to observe changes in matter.
When I draw and scribble I learn to hold a pencil, hand eye coordination, concepts of color, shape, and to express myself with words when describing what I have drawn.
These activities go on and on, and with each one there is a skill set being acquired through play.
I have been defending play for 30 years and will continue to do so everyday at La Canada Preschool…please consider coming to play with us.