Some Wonders of Play

    •    Children think and talk about play frequently and this is the primary focus of their daily lives.
    •    Children need large blocks of uninterrupted time in order to experiment with materials, develop play scenarios.
    •    Children find peace, solace and healing in play by themselves and with others.
    •    In play children often function at a higher cognitive level.
    •    Children enjoy small, cozy, cubby-hole like hidden spaces to play in.
    •    Play can be a minefield; it is not always easy to enter play with other children and do so successfully. 
    •    Children enact their own cultural experiences, enact the culture of peers and reinvent/explore culture in their play.
    •    Children often invite playful adults into their play as co-authors and co-players.
    •    While adults primarily use talk to communicate, children are multi-vocal and use vocalizations, gestures, movement, singing and dance as they playfully communicate.
    •    Children understand the communications of each other during play while adults are often baffled.
    •    Children find play to be a spiritual and holy place and express this in their silences and reflections.
    •    Children express feelings and provide empathy to others in play.
    •    Play promotes wellness and healing as children disburse tensions in their play.
    •    Playing in unstructured ways is a place of joy for children.
    •    Children have their own distinctly unique and shifting play styles, patterns, vocal habits and ways of playing.
    •    There is no “right way” to play.
    •    Children are capable of solving their own problems during play.
    •    Play is a platform for identity-making as children try on roles and explore and experiment.
    •    When adults play alongside children the children reveal their meaning-making.
    •    Children communicate empathy, tenderness, intimacy, sharing and human connection in play.
    •    Children have agency and are empowered in play; one of the few places they have this freedom.
    •    Popular culture including movies, computer games, stories read is appropriated in play.
    •    Children enjoy the creative flexibility of moving props from one play centre to another.
    •    Children need to move in order to learn.
    •    Children do not always use play materials in expected ways and their thinking is often divergent and surprising.
    •    The quality of the adult-child relationship is fundamental to the learning process.
    •    Children would rather “play” with adults and not have adult learning agendas integrated into their spontaneous play.
    •    Playful adults inspire playful children.
(As revealed by the children at Learning Tree Preschool, 2008-09)
Robin Adeney passed this along to me. I think it is a good reminder of why play is important for children and adults. Have a playful day!