My Connections to Play

Things I remember playing with the most when I was little:
         

When I was little we had free-play with pots, pans, and pretty much anything we could get our hands-on.  My grandmother would always encourage the use of our imaginations.  If we said we were bored she would tell us, "then you are boring people".  We did not like that so we always found something fun to do.  I remember always being dirty from our play.  If we did not get dirty then she would say that we did not play hard enough.  My grandmother was very laid back and allowed us to do a lot with our play.  She also insisted that we play games and follow the rules established by the game maker, or create our own rules and write them out so everyone had to follow them. 

I believe that play should be similar to what I grew up with., free play with adults extending the play through open-ended questions and encouragement in the use of imagination.  However, most children today are preoccupied with electronics.  They seem to always have a phone or a tablet at their disposal.  I am grateful that the program I work with has removed electronics from our classrooms.  I agree children need to learn to use technology; however, I believe it needs to happen outside of Head Start and preschool classrooms.  I believe children need to play to learn and the articles that I have read support this.  Teachers need to facilitate learning through the play that children initiate in the classroom and on the playground. 

Play should continue throughout our lifetime.  We all learn better when we utilize more than one set of skills and have fun.  Play is a way to explore the things we learn and practice them.  It is a time of trial and experimentation that allows us to embed the information learned into our knowledge and skills.