Play...do you have it?
Friday, June 26, 2009
As a nanny, I am daily confronted with children whose minds are an arsenal of creativity. They are not today's children, in fact they represent a small percentage of children whose parents still see the need for a young brain to flourish in creative and imaginative play. As a student of early childhood in college, play is essential to one's development and later function as an adult. I think that when I was a kid, play was lacking from my repetoire. I was reading this article from NPR and if play coincides with executive functions, aka ability to self-regulate, and non-play or structured play coincides with higher drop-out rate etc. then I definitely fall towards the latter, though I didn't drop out. Very interesting topic, very interesting article. In short, I was kind of a loner kid who loved my barbies, my little ponies, and sesame street. But I was definitely not the kid that decided to elaborate into grand, sweeping sagas of personal entertainment through creativity and private speech. I was the one who looked at the Barbie house, put the furniture in place, and then said "okay that's finished, now what?" These kids I watch, they make pretend/imaginative play seem like the norm...I like that, but not when they take my Lego creation and turn it into something far more spectacular...I need to get my play back!
